June/July 2004 The
Voyage Home from North Cape We
headed back through the tunnel, along the coast of 
Porsangen
inlet to rejoin the E6 which we followed as far as the small town of
Karasjok. From here we turned onto route 92 across 93km of tundra to
join route 93 south leaving Norway and crossing
into Finland. The scenery was almost intimidating, as far as the eye
could see in every direction there were small
trees, rocky humps and swamp, and this continued for the next several
hundred miles. The only change was that the trees grew larger as we
moved south. There was very little habitation and we seldom saw another
vehicle.
Clicking on an image will take you to the gallery
North Cape to Lulea
This was the view from the campervan window on the road between Karasjok and Kautokeino on route 93. We crossed the border into Finland at Kivijarvi and crossed again at into Sweden at Kaaresuvantu, continued south through Vittangi, Maimberget, Jokkmokk and Boden and, apart from the built up areas there were well, a lot of trees. Boden is a military town, pleasant enough some 28km from Lulea on the Gulf of Bothnia where we stopped for a couple of nights. From here we drove south to the pleasant town of Umea for a couple of days.
The Skuleskogen National Park
We left Umea and continued south through Ornkoldsvik (Örnsköldsvik) to our first real objective was the High Coast of the Skuleskogen National Park. The National Park is a World Heritage site reserved for its natural beauty and geographical uniqueness. During the last ice age a vast glacier, estimated to be 3km thick covered this part of Scandinavia. The weight of ice has been estimated to have pushed the earth's crust 800m below its present level. When the ice began to melt 20,000 years ago the pressure eased and the land began to uplift. The shore line after the last ice age is now 286m above sea level and is continuing to rise at about 8mm per year. Hence the coastline is known as the Hoga Kusten, the High Coast. A nearby rocky mountain known as Skuleberget 295m contains the most elevated sea cliff in the world near its summit, reached by scrambly path or chair lift. The summit features a restaurant and exhibition centre but no boutique and swinging hot spot (Joni Mitchell).
Along the coast is a long distance walking path, served by several sleeping huts. Suzy and I completed a couple of sections of the path which crossed some beautiful countryside with lakes, ravines and boulder fields that were once shore lines. Much of the park is densely wooded however and views are only possible at sea or lakesides and on rocky prominences. , dinnertime on the end of a rocky peninsula, with typical High Coast scenery behind.
Stockholm
I'm not normally much of a city person, Suzy probably more so than me, but Stockholm, is a super place and I could easily have spent 4 or 5 days exploring it, rather than the 2 days that we had allowed ourselves. See about Stockholm page for more information. We stayed in the campervan at Bredang Camping (bredangcamping@telia.com) close to the wooded shores of Lake Malaren and some 500m from the train station. There are several concessional cards available to the tourist but the Stockholm card though initially quite expensive proved to be the best value for money. (48h 390kr), about £33 each from the campsite, giving access to 75 museums and attractions, free travel by public transport, free sightseeing boat trip, reduced water taxi fare and free parking.
Picture 3 shows Stockholm's City Hall, taken through a boat window, hence the strange reflections in the sky. Looking at the sky, I'd say that this was taken on our trip to Drottningholm Palace, just another World Heritage site.
The palace was began in 1662 after the first palace on this site burned down. This palace was commissioned by the dowager Queen Hedvig Eleonora. Since 1981 Drottningholm Palace has been the home of the Swedish royal family. Three, just approaching it, the palace beneath a glowering sky. Rain didn't start for an hour or so but lightning kept striking down. We wandered around the splendid interior then visited the Chinese pavilion, a magnificent little creation built by King Adolf Fredrik as a surprise present for his wife Lovisa Ulrika's birthday in 1753 before dashing back to the boat before an imminent downpour. There were other things to see but the weather thought otherwise. A visit would not be complete without a visit to the Old Town Gamla Stan. Here, 17th and 18th century buildings crown above delightful squares and alleyways. Five, a Mozart recital is due to begin.
No description of Stockholm would be complete without reference to the bikes. Most people have one and I can only surmise that they stopped making them in the 1930s'. Six, a fairly racy little number circa 1925, Sprite bottle in pannier.
An essential visit (one of the many) is the Vasa museum located on the island of Djurgarden reached by water taxi. The Vasa, pride of the Swedish fleet sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. Design faults, a result of the designer's inexperience with such a large ship, caused her to heel over in the first squall, take in water through the gun ports and sink with the loss of 55 crew. In 1961 she was salvaged and has been restored complete with rigging in an immense three story exhibition centre. This was excellent, the ship was magnificent and the story of its recovery from the sea bed fascinating. This is a must. In one area, there was a chance to redesign the ship using a computer program. Confident, I reduced the width of the hull, increased ballast, relocated the gun ports and pressed the launch button. It sank. Seven, a 3.5 second exposure of the Vasa with the camera balanced on a banister rail.
Not far from the Vasa museum is Grona Lunds Tivoli with lots of scary rides and behind that there is Skansen. Skansen is the world's first open-air museum, first opened in 1891. Since then it has grown to 300,000 sq.m. It's enormous, a map is needed to find ones way back. It's pretty attractive to most adults but probably irresistable to children of all ages. Amongst other attractions it contains historic houses and farmsteads, folk dancing, animals (an elk at last), crafts and design, restaurants and cafes. Atendants are all dressed in traditional clothing and speak good English.
Stockholm to Lake Vattern
Suzie birthday July 5th. We headed out of Stockholm on the E4 towards the country's second largest lake, Lake Vattern for a bit of rural solitude. Eventually we reached the small town of Motaka on the north eastern shores of the lake. It's a pleasant little place with a busy marina and an excellent car museum that contains a lot more than cars. If you're a 50s' and 60s' fan don't miss this one, it's excellent. After an exploratory afternoon we pottered dorn the coast to an excellent overnight parking spot on the coast near a marble quiarry at Borghamm, (eight).
Next day we visited the moated castle at Vadstena, and more interestingly the nearby abbey church of St. Birgitta. The church was consecrated in 1430. The town is steeped in history and there is a Brigittine Nunnery next to the church It's a wonderful old church and many of the catholic statues remain even after its Lutherian conversion, though their hands have been removed in order to dispel their power. see 9. For a faith that didn't believe in them this seems a little strange.
Ten, this is what happens to you if you don't behave. A large dog with horns comes and chews you up.
South of our parking spot at Borghamm is the Omberg nature park. It was an attractive area with steep forest and cliffs on the west side and gentle slopes nature reserves on the east. Suzy had a field day with the reserves and we say lots of orchids that would be regarded as very rare in the UK.
Left to right we have (I think) Broad Leaved Helleborine Epipactis helleborine, Early Marsh orchid Dactylorhiza ochroleuca, Fly Orchid Ophrys insectifera and Suzy in flower drawing mood.
A few miles away was the Rok-Stone (Rök-stone), the largest collections of runes of the Viking period found in Sweden. The Rok-stone is 2.5m high and is covered with 700 runes. The writing has been referred as the country''s first poem. In the poem, Varin alludes to heroic epics, myths and events that were familiar in the 9th century. Some are difficult to understand and there is a fragment of a poem by Theodor the Great. The conclusion remains unclear and many have tried to solve the riddle of the Rok-stone.
Lake Vattern to Oland
Oland? Well, it's that long thin island off the south east coast some 120km by 15km, joined to the mainland town of Kalmar by a 6km long bridge. I guess that one of the reasons that we went there was that no one else here seemed to have even heard of it. We drove down the east side of lake Vattern to Jonkoping then almost south to Vaxjo then east to the bridge at Kalmar. The island is well, long and thin with a low profile but it turned out to be packed with interest.
From the mid 16c until 1801 Oland was declared a Royal hunting ground with scant regard for its inhabitants. Things were always bad but got worse with repeated Danish attacks on the island in the early 17c and the a series of disastrous harvests in the 19c. Eventually the farmers had had enough and a quarter of the population packed their bags and headed for the US of A. In 1970, the poulation was down to 20,000.
It's an island of unspoiled beaches, mysterious forests, pretty meadows and wooden cottages and has long been drawing the Swedes there. The islands attractions include numerous ruined castles, Bronze and Iron age burial cairns, runic stones old wooden windmills and forts set amongst some varied fauna and flora and some striking geography. To the south are barren limestone plains known as Alvaret. At either end of the island are lighthouses, fifteen is a view looking south from the northern one, Lange Eric. We stayed in a pleasant site Wikegards camping, some 35km north of Borgholm the capital. Next day we explored the south end of the island which is rather more barren and visited the lighthouse at the southern tip, Olands Sodra Odde complete with its 194 steps. The weather was beginning to crack up and next day was decidedly gloomy. Sixteen are some standing stones with a windmill in the distance. It wasn't all gloom and despondency though, and 17 is an Avocet just behind our campsite. It's slightly fuzzy as there's a howling gale, the camera lens is set at 300mm and Suzy, my mobile camera support was wobbling with excitement.
Oland to the Oresund Bridge
The weather became grey and wet as we made our way along the south coast to Malmo and the Oresund bridge. Had the sun been shining this would have been pleasant countryside, even so, we managed to visit a cider factory and a huge magalithic tomb on the way.
Picture 18 is the 16km Oresund (Öresund) bridge which links to Copenhagen in Denmark. Its a remarkable construction, part of it is a tunnel to allow the passage of large ships I suppose. Suzy tookthis through the campervan winsdcreen.
So that was it. Copenhagen was nice but busy and not as attractive as Stockholm. We visited some magnificent castles in Denmark (Helsinor, Fridricksbourg, crossed into Germany - now I know where Heligoland is, spent a couple of days in the Hartz mountains - too many trees, then on into Holland to catch the P&O ferry to Hull.
chris.jackson@zen.co.uk