Sunrise: 3.55
Yesterday we arrived in Sweden. Sweden is as beautiful, as all the other Scandinavian countries, but in its own way. We woke up in a forest next to a lake, a very nice and quiet place, we all slept well, or I at least hope so, since I did. We ate breakfast, as every day, and went back to the polar circle, because there was a service station for the camper. We refilled water, cleaned the toilet, and filled up our water bottles. Meanwhile Klara, Hanna and Philip played volleyball at our sleeping destination.
The day continued, as we picked them up and drove further. The Swedish landscape, at least in the north, is quite similar to the landscape of Finland, with the difference that here are more needle trees and not birches. South is our new destination, and we stop everywhere we like to or when we see something we think is interesting. For today our first stop was at a rosa church in a small town, and if you ask yourself, what is so special about this church, it is not just about the church but before the arrival we drove hundreds of kilometers without seeing anything else than trees, lakes, stones, and marshes. In addition the church was cute.
We took a walk along the lakes coast, that was next to the church, ate an ice-cream and drove further to an 800-meter-high ski resort. Of course at this time of the year there is no snow, but we went there because of the view, and it was absolutely stunning. You could see lakes all around the hill and there was no place without visible water, either there was a lake, a river, or a marsh. Still, we struggled to find the place, since the road was completely new, and the navigation did not seem to know it that well. We soon decided to eat lunch there and because Philip wished “Kartoffelsalat” (potato-salad) for his birthday and it takes a little more effort to make, mum prepared it in the evening before and we could enjoy it together with a delicious steak.
Our way, as always, continued and on the road, we met some old friends of ours … the reindeers. We haven’t seen them for a long time, they kept us company along the way to our next destination.
Our next stop was at one of the biggest rapids in Europe. Also, the way there was quite hard to find, but we luckily made it to the parking place. To keep ourselves in shape we took another walk across the bridge and along the river. On our way we often had to stop since there were so many blueberries, which you absolutely could not resist. We planned to walk to the top of the rapids, but eventually made our way back, because the rapids seemed to have no end. On the way back we tried to eat as many blueberries as possible and headed with our camper further south.
Yesterday we calculated that we have to drive about three hours a day to make it to the ferry in time, but for today it was enough. We found a quiet place next to a lake, once again, and prepared ourselves for the night, as we became company from ca. 12 younger people. Nevertheless, the night was quite calm, and I could read a few pages of my book as the day was coming to an end.
Sunset: 21.41 (kilometer 6.617)