It was just a short walk across town to Avis to pick up a car. The Avis man said, “You have ordered a compact, would you drive something else. I have a minibus which needs to go back to Sundsvall." I must have looked a bit dubious, so he said, “I can give you a good discount”, “Convince me,” says I. “I can give you 1000 kronor discount”, “Yes that will do it,” and we chatted away while he did the paperwork, then he gave me my copy and he had given us a 1400 kronor discount for delivering our little bus.
In I hopped and set up TomTom who had been asleep since
April. She was very surprised, having gone to sleep in Italy and woken up three
months later in Sweden. Ann was a bit surprised too, when I arrived back at the hotel, but at least there was no
shortage of space!!
The drive to Sundsvall is through low rolling hills, lots of trees, lots of water but
no really large lakes. Driving on the right comes pretty easily now, in fact
driving on the left when I get home has become a process I have to think about
for a while, which is probably a good thing. Initially it’s the roundabouts which are a
bit challenging, a look to the left, not to the right! It’s about a four hour drive to Sundsvall from
Stockholm, but we had a head-start from Uppsala which is about 90km north of
Stockholm so we were well on the way. The highway is pretty new and mostly
multi-lane, and with good passing areas when it does narrow to just one lane.
Drivers are pretty good at keeping left (right that is, but you know what I
mean). That’s one of the key differences between driving in Europe, in NZ there are always
drivers doddling in the right-hand lanes on multilane highways. Here is Europe people pass and then drop back into the right hand lane. There is no one dawdling in
the 'fast' lane slowing down the traffic.
Gavle is the first largish town on the way, but the highway skirts around it, a little further north we stopped at Hudiksvall, a small seaside town with a marina to peruse while we had our travelling lunch. TomTom was behaving as we continued north.
Gavle is the first largish town on the way, but the highway skirts around it, a little further north we stopped at Hudiksvall, a small seaside town with a marina to peruse while we had our travelling lunch. TomTom was behaving as we continued north.
As we approached Sundsvall that all changed, TomTom
suddenly depicted us driving through the open countryside; who needs roads? Not
her fault really, it is a brand spanking new highway, and it's all a lot different to
our 2014 visit. So in the confusion we ended up having a trip over the new toll bridge that bypasses Sundsvall
town, but we had a chance to get off at the turn-off to Alnon Island and we
headed back into Sundsvall. A quick trip to Lidl, which I think is the local
Aldi owned supermarket. Supermarkets here can sell beer, but only up to 3.5%
strength. But it’s really about the taste isn’t it, so a pack of Heineken later
we were back on the road to Akrom.
We didn’t have a postal address for Janne and Margareta, but
I did have the address for Svante Ekholm, who initially took us to Akrom in 2014, and I could
remember how to get to Akrom from his house. So we drove to his street, then
turned off TomTom and set off on the short drive, luckily no road works had changed the route. The road up to Akrom is off
Timmervagan and in just a few minutes we were back to Carl Erik’s birthplace.
It’s great to see Janne and Margareta again, and it wasn’t long
before Janne brought out the now much modified family tree we left in 2014. He
had been at the local library, and had had some very good help, so we are starting
to know a bit more about great-grandfather Charles. We also know now that it’s
not Janne and I who are the matching generation. It is Janne with Scott and
Ross!! I need to change my story; it is my grandfather’s great-grandfather
and Janne’s great grandfather’s great-grandfather who were brothers. So we’ve
decided this makes me some sort of relic from a past generation. Some interpret
that as meaning that I should be dead. I prefer to see it as making me the
elder statesman in all this. Perhaps we should go home and send the boys next
time
Sundsvall is known as the city between two mountains, and
Janne took us for the initiation tour and started our education. He is a great
raconteur, and there are now lots of things we know, that I'm sure many of the locals don’t!
We started the tour on the North Mountain (Norra Stadsberget)
which has a Friluftsmuseum where Janne’s mother was a volunteer, and which has lots of old buildings and equipment on display. There is also a facility for
caring for animals which she was involved with for many years. We took in the
views of Sundsvall city, the river valley and surrounding hills.
As we
walked back to the car we had to pass a lookout tower. Janne suddenly took off
with a “we shall race to the top”. And we did, up all 8 or 10 flights, Janne
got there just before me, but he was worried that I wasn’t puffing and he was.
So that has become an oft repeated story among the cousins over this weekend, Janne is very competitive and likes to win! The view from Sodra Stadsberget, the south mountain (logical people these Swedes), was just as good.
We learned more about Kalla …..a Swedish skiing world champion who lives on
Sodra Stadsberget. Janne has named his latest mare after her, and she (the mare)
comes home from grazing and training in Estonia while we are in residence at
Akrom. There are horses in the blood here, with brothers Lasse, Sven Olov and Pelle also owning or farming horses. Janne leases the farm's old milking
buildings to a very good trainer, Marcus aka Team Philstrom who has 21 horses stabled and training. Janne is about to
build another six stables so Marcus can train a few more.
The next mountain we went to, to complete the day was above
Hulitjarn, a small lake near daughter Eva’s house which gives great views back across Akrom towards Sundsvall.
The walk up to that point included gathering blueberries and lingonberries
which grow with abundance in the woods and are ripening very well.
The day finished with an introduction to a new mix of whisky, Martini and water which was very pleasant, and and a very nice end to Day 1 back in Akrom.
So for now it's Hej da (goodbye) to Akrom and to Janne and Margareta and thanks so much for your kindness.
We were very surprised to
see a snake on the path as we walked. Sweden has two snakes, a grass snake and
a viper. Pretty sure this one was the grass snake variety, and quite small by
Melbourne tiger snake standards. It was about 65 cm and slid quickly off into
the grass, so no photo.
First job next day was to put up the marquee for Saturday’s
party. Sven Olov, Janne and I managed that, despite a bit of a breeze. We did think that the little pegs supplied to hold it down must have some mystical strength, they certainly didn’t look big enough to do the job.
After lunch we
hopped into the Volvo and headed for the Hoga Kusten. The road north takes
us over the high suspension bridge, built to cut out a long drive around a
large inlet.
The Hoga Kusten is the fastest rising land mass on the planet. It
is still rebounding after being pushed down by a 3 km thick layer of ice in the
last Ice Age. The coast is very convoluted and deeply indented and there are
some lovely old fishing (now holiday) villages.
Norrfallsviken, a large
camping area with a small village nearby was first call and we stopped to talk
to a man repairing a 200 year old cottage on the inlet where he was intending
to live permanently. The sea level, when the house was built was about 2m
higher, and the fisherman who owned the place originally could just drag his
boat into the shed, not possible to do now, but then no one really needs their
boat in the living room.
Bonhamn was the next
stop, some nice historic pics of the herring industry on display in the loo, and a very nice place for a coffee stop.
There are also many lakes and sea inlets and it's hard to
tell which is which sometimes. Lots of very picturesque villages, and the flattish
areas are farmed, lots of hay bales and some in crops. We took in Barsta and
then the open rocky coast of Rotsidan which we had visited last time, but
having locals with us added a dimension to the whole experience.
On the trip back we did a tour of Harnosand where Margareta
was brought up and worked initially as a teacher. Then it was another diversion
to see the beautiful castle Villa Merlo built by Fredrik Bunsow in the 1840’s
at Timra - as a summer house!
Fredrik was the second richest man in Sweden, second only to Mr
Nobel who we all know and recognise for his humanitarian legacy of the Nobel Institute and its awards. Fredrik made all his money from timber and
employed 700 men at one point, as he amassed his fortune. He was a relation of
Janne. His grandmother was Bunsow’s granddaughter! A crash in the price of timber and some frivolous treatment of the
finances dissipated that wealth, unfortunately for the descendants!
Our time in Sweden is all about family so the greats and the
great–greats are all around us in our conversations, as are the cousins and
family of Margareta. It was pretty late when we got home but we had a fantastic
day.
Next day we headed NW from Sundsvall to visit an area where
Fredrik did a lot of milling. We called in and met Janne’s brother Pelle and wife
Barbro. They have a farm now operated by their son. The farm had milking cows
in the past, and had then been used for grazing horses. It now has only a few
horses owned by Pelle and Barbro and other brother Sven Olov and wife Birgitta.
We had coffee and some lovely Swedish cake. We then travelled on to Liden where we
bought a picnic lunch which we enjoyed while sitting at the top of a couple of
old ski runs. We had a marvellous view down the Indalsalven which is home to
some very nice salmon.
From here we drove to Osterstrom, a village on Holmsjon, a
very large lake. This is where Margareta and her family used to spend their
summers. Heaps of berries here too! These are Lingonberries, just in season. Delicious.
There Fredrik Bunsow had mills and eventually a small
railway to replace the horses to move timber around. A memorial by the lake and a few more buildings are all that remain but there is signage and buildings are being restored so the memory will live on. On the drive we saw a very
large eagle - Kungsorn Klor. It was just 10m in front of us as we drove past, a
magnificent bird, but unfortunately there was no camera at the ready to capture
it. This picture gives an idea of its size though.
The day finished
at the Selanger church and a tour of the Sellen family grave and community facility Hembygdsgard, used to host local gatherings. The facility was set up originally by Janne’s mother and he also was the chairman of it when she died.
Thursday was the day to return our “compact” car, which hadn’t
really had much use other than the drive up. Janne had taken time out of his
work schedule for our first week so we changed our planned Dag Ekstrom and
Osterlund visits to the next week. We dropped the car and then went to the museum
to check out the Viking and industrial aspects of the district. 1500 years ago,
the water level here was about 10m higher, and so the original settlement was at
Selanger on the banks of the inlet very close to Akrom. There are more of the
burial mounds associated with the Vikings here, so… having been told last trip
the Vikings were to the south, we find that they were very close to Akrom. Perhaps
close enough that we can claim some Viking blood. The museum also gave us a lot
of detail on the timber industry which has always been a mainstay industry in
this region.
We had planned to head to Alnon with Janne after lunch, however we had
to return home, via the building hardware supplier as the party marquee was
about to fly away. We bought some 6mm steel and a quick visit to the workshop
turned them into proper pegs. So marquee secured, we headed to Alnon to see
some of the very nice beaches and small harbours.
Again we met some more locals, went
aboard a boat owned by a friend of Janne to see what they do differently here.
This one was set up for cruising, no fish on these pristine decks and sofas. It
was a very pleasant afternoon and our trip home took in more of the local
sights and flavour; we feel almost local after a week of driving around with
Janne and Margareta.
After dinner Janne’s horse Kalla was supposed to be back
from Estonia, so we went to the local trotting track at Bergsaker to check her
out. Unfortunately she’d only got as far as Stockholm, so we didn’t get to see
her, but we did watch a few of the races.
Some of these are for thoroughbreds
and some, referred to as coldblood, are much bigger animals and not so fast.
Kalla did arrive on Sunday, and she is a very pretty two year old, who
hopefully will do as well as her mother who was a big winner.
First thing Friday it was back to the track with Janne's trailer
to pick up the chairs and tables for the Akrom Party tomorrow. The trailer is a
very neat covered affair, with a light aluminium canopy, I could think of lots
of applications for this at home.
A little bit of rain around gave us a wet departure for the party
shopping. The shopping team was Eva and Ann and Janne and I. The groceries took
the whole foursome, provisioning up for 40 guests tomorrow. Ann and Eva went
back to do their household shopping, Ann for ingredients for a “guests cook the
dinner” night tonight. We had Granny’s famous fish pie with salmon and prawns.
It was very nice, and to add to the “NZ local” flavour we had a NZ Sauvignon
Blanc.
Janne and I went to the proper alcohol shop where you can
buy strong beer (5%) plus wine and spirits. This is a government-owned shop in this
very regulated society! No grog shop on every corner here.
I bought three bottles each of NZ St Clair Sauvignon Blanc,
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, plus two bottles of port. Not overly expensive at
about 1300 kronor for the lot, about $NZ 218. Pretty good for these wines on
the other side of the world.
Friday afternoon was pretty relaxed, with a bit of book
reading and resting up for a long day tomorrow.
The guests started arriving around 10 30 on Saturday morning,
and by 11 00 we all had a welcoming drink, and a piece of soft, rolled bread,
filled with smoked reindeer meat and a horseradish sauce. It was, to use Janne’s
terminology, very lovely. Janne had made this Friday night with a bit of help
from me as the sous chef doing the trimming of the smoked meat from the leg.
Today we met most of the cousins, all of the brothers and
sisters and some of the grandchildren. Our smattering of Swedish, helped by the
guests' English made for a really informative day. Interestingly there was some
debate about the 'antipodes' for NZ which I recall from my first atlas as being
Portugal, and some of the locals had been taught at school that the antipodes
for Sweden were NZ. However my atlas prevailed.
Janne spoke early on about Carl Erik, and also his own family
history as we sat around with our smoked reindeer and a drink.
Then on to lunch in the marquee, with assorted quiches bought yesterday at ICA. After lunch we set off for Hulitjarn by horse and dray for
some and by tractor for others, for coffee and cake. Hulitjarn, a small lake,
features much in the local community, summer swimming, winter ice skating and
water supply for the locals to boot.
The raft was supported by about 15 or
16 200 litre drums, and powered by a 2 hp electric motor. We did a very slow
but very pleasant lap of the lake, with about 30 people on board and many many
stories being told. Some of the cousins hadn’t seen each other for 30 years so
there was plenty of catching up to do.
Then we were back to Akrom, for dinner and the evening. But
first there was target practice for those with a keen and competitive eye.
Then a real highlight when Eva and Jenny, two of Margareta and Janne’s
daughters, sang. All four of their daughters sing and have performed in many concerts and
competitions, Sara at a young age being judged as the best in Sweden. Jenny and Eva entertained
us with songs in English and Swedish.
The weather treated us well, the
rain of Friday stayed away, also the wind of Thursday, and it was a very special
day. After dinner, I talked about Carl Erik (now Charles Nelson) and his NZ
story and his family. Mine was in English with Janne translating as required.
The locals are very interested in the Carl Erik story and also in NZ because of
the imminent departure of Sara, Ludde and family to live and work in Auckland.
At the end of the evening, it was just Ann and I sitting
with the Sellen brothers and sisters having whisky nightcaps. Pretty amazing to
see a family who get on so well. Lars, Ulf and Titti, Janne and Margareta, and
Gunnilla have lived here at Akrom, all within literally a stone’s throw of each
other for many years. Pelle and Babro, Sven and Birgitta live a few km away.
It’s an impressive family and an impressive achievement.
Sunday was a relatively quiet day after a tidy up, and
return the chairs to the racetrack. Then a look at the local market, which
includes the annual fair and other entertainment, including some interesting food.
Monday Janne was back to working at the church, and we spent
the day with Sven Olov and Barbro.
We started with a visit to the ruins of the
ancient church at Selanger, the Hogom burial mounds at Granlo, and then a walk around the town, with its impressive stone buildings, all built post 1888 when a fire razed the town to the ground, for the third and hopefully final time.
We saw the statue is of the king
who declared that the town of Sundsvall should be built as a trading port in 1642, as the
original settlement at Selanger is a few km away up the river now water levels
have fallen. We then revisited the museum for some local input to the mainly
Swedish interpretive stuff.
As last time, we saw plenty of Sundsvall dragons. The first
dragon, atop the town’s main administration building, was made after the fire
to protect the city, but now more and more dragons have appeared – it’s the
town’s mascot, on the municipal crest and the name of the local basketball
team.
After lunch we headed south of Sundsvall and out to the
coast at Lorudden, another small village with perhaps 50 houses and a small
marina.
It is very good to do this travelling with the locals, we
have a very good appreciation of what it’s like to live here, and especially what
the climate is like here in North Sweden.
So in Sundsvall, the sea can freeze over!! In the winter at
one point, many years ago, and a bit further south, it was possible to drive by
car to an island 25 km away offshore towards Finland. That is scary. That said,
the ice on Hulitjarn, the local lake, can be metres thick. In the town there is heating under
the town’s square and walkways to keep them above freezing. This is seriously
cold. No wonder Carl Erik left.
We finished the day with a lovely meal with Janne and
Margareta and Sven Olov and Birgitta at their apartment in Sundsvall. We dined
on Sven’s rainbow trout and a 'red trout', very delicate in flavour.
Tuesday we picked up Dag Ekholm at his brother Svante’s
house in Ridvagen not far away. We went then to visit Lunkentuss at its new
restoration base.
This is the yacht that Dag and his friend Gunnar
sailed round the world in 1963 and which he is now restoring to go on display
at a local museum. He is making a beautiful job of this and we saw progress
since our last visit in 2014. We then went back to have a coffee with Svante
and Dag stayed to keep the work progressing on the restoration. We owe a lot to
Svante who was the person responsible for finding Janne at Akrom and setting up
our meeting in 2014. Without him I doubt it would ever have happened.
Back home and it was harvest time. Eva was in full swing
picking red currants and Margareta and Ann harvested the black currants. The
berries are so ripe and off just four bushes Eva has gathered 60 litres of
berries, now all in the freezer.
When we met with Janne and Margareta in 2014, we also met
Karin, a neighbouring farmer and very good friend. Karin came for coffee and we
had a very nice catch up. The morning was also my first chance to catch up with
Kalla, back from Estonia and ready to pose for a photo with Janne. She is a
lovely and good-natured young mare.
We then headed to a great hardware store called Jula, where
I needed to buy some Swedish trousers. These are fantastic trousers with
numerous pockets. They’ll be great for the island and for the workshop. I think
every tradie in Sweden wears them, so you can carry lots of stuff; whether it
is possible to remember where you put everything remains to be seen. I’m
enthusiastic about the concept though.
We had a lovely lunch with Ulf and Titti, who live in the
house adjacent to Janne and Margareta. Lars lives in the single storey house
below the double storey red houses. It’s been a lovely time getting to know
all, and Akrom itself. For our Last Supper we went into Sundsvall, to a
recommended restaurant called Opus. Delicious food.
Again
the classic cars provided entertainment.
So for now it's Hej da (goodbye) to Akrom and to Janne and Margareta and thanks so much for your kindness.
Thursday morning Margareta drove us out to the airport, for
our SAS flight to Stockholm and then on to Gothenberg. A bit of a delay
initially, but flew Stockholm to Gothenberg leg in the natty little Bombardier
CRG 900. Amazing views from plane – so many small lakes. Our first stop once we arrived was to
the Feskekorke (Fish Church). so called because it looks like a church, but really it’s a fish market which has heaps of fish including the famous shrimp ‘sandwich’ which we shared.
The afternoon continued with city walks
and touring the harbour area.
This is a lovely city with great stone
buildings and it is small enough to provide some great walking from our
Riverton Hotel by the harbour. The view from our room was of the harbour and yes, that is a
parking ship/building!
The harbour area with heaps of ferries shuttling people between the north and south side was so pretty that in fact we picked up a picnic and had
dinner down there. The cranes are from a prior ship building industry, now defunct in most cases.
First thing Friday we went walking in Haga, a very old part
of the city with mainly wooden buildings, some quite ornate, but now mainly
shops and cafes.
The shops here keep very leisurely hours, weekdays, 11
00am to 4 00 pm Saturdays less and Sundays not at all. Probably good for the
owners but not great for tourists. One however is open Sunday so we have a
chance to look further.
Cousin Ingrid picked us up at 11 00 am and took us off for a
tour to the south. We first went to Cross Harbour, where Ingrid and Rune had
lived, just near the bigger harbour of Kullavik.
The terrain is all smooth
granite boulders, and low hills and valleys. This was all glacial ground down in
the last Ice Age I’d imagine. Offshore are hundreds of small islands.
Vegetation is short and sparse, lots of heather in full bloom, but the harbours
are magic little places. Summer swimming and diving, and at Cross Harbour you
can see slides set up from the rocks and diving platforms.
We then headed to Tjoloholms Slott, (pronounced Shoolahalm) a
truly magnificent mansion or castle, built as a summer home from 1898 to 1904
by Scotsman James Fredrik and wife Blanche Dixon. It is laid out in the
traditional English style with lovely grounds and gardens.
This
was well worth a visit, and although the guided tour commentary was in Swedish,
there were very good notes for us to read. Here are Ingrid and I in the billiard room waiting for the tour to start.
They were featuring Jane Austen with
clothes from various TV series and movies and witty comments from Austen’s
books in both the original English and Swedish. I wonder if the irony survives
translation?
Rune, who we met at the party, was away shooting in North
Sweden, but Ingrid took us back to their house and farm for a visit. When they
sold their property at Cross Harbour, they bought 75 hectares at Harestorpsv near
Asa, with the proceeds. The rural property gives good space for the hunting
dogs and also has a nearby lake, Olmevallasjon, plus three largish dams which I imagine are great for duck shooting. They are probably used for that, given the large drum of grain placed near each lake to feed and encourage the birds to stay! That’s obviously a trick not restricted to NZ duck shooters!
We spent the evening with Ingrid and her daughter Lotta and
grandson Oskar at Asa. Ingrid had prepared a lovely meal of pheasant and
partridge served in a creamy sauce. Asa (there are two dots on top of the first
A, so pronounced Oar sa) is another lovely spot on the coast, with a beach and
small harbour just a couple of minutes’ walk away.
Again it was great to
meet more of the Swedish connections. Ingrid dropped us off at the railway
station in Kungsbacka, and the train ride home was a pleasant 20 minutes or so.
They do public transport very well in Sweden we’ve decided.
Saturday we set off for the Southern Archipelago on the
ferry and, in warm windy weather had a great walking day.
The islands
are low granite affairs again; some islands have cars, but most just little
motorbikes or electric buggies. Note the taxi fleet.
Even the
smallest granite outcrops often have a shed/ fishing cottage and jetty. Some
nature reserves here, many trees with great loads of berries, not so many land
birds, but some seabirds and water fowl.
It was a day of great scenery, this picture shows the
harbour at Vrango, the most modern part paid for with EU money.
We did lots
of walking, and plenty of hopping on and off ferries. The ferries are
impressive, they turn in their own length (good side thrusters), accelerate
very quickly, and don’t have to tie up when they load passengers. The boat
noses up to the block and engine power holds the bow against the wharf for
embarking passengers, so it does a very quick turnaround at each stop.
Probably
wouldn’t work at home. Here they have the advantage of very small tides as the
entrance for this body of water, out to the North Sea is a narrow gap between
Sweden and Denmark. So the whole body of water to the east of Sweden, really
has nowhere to go under the changing influence of the moon and the other 26
factors that influence tides. My Tide Times app won’t give me tide information
here (it does recognise I’m in Sweden) but I suspect that the tidal range might
be about 300mm. That associated with the relatively sheltered water makes it
pretty easy to work with landings.
We did lots
of walking, and plenty of hopping on and off ferries. The ferries are
impressive, they turn in their own length (good side thrusters), accelerate
very quickly, and don’t have to tie up when they load passengers. The boat
noses up to the block and engine power holds the bow against the wharf for
embarking passengers, so it does a very quick turnaround at each stop.
We had a great dinner at Smaka, Swedish food – shared herring 4
ways for entrée, Ann venison and lingonberry sauce and me sirloin.
A short walk back to the Riverton, and then it was all over, bar packing
up and getting organised to go back to Stockholm tomorrow to catch our flight
from Stockholm to Los Angeles on Monday
This has been a fantastic time in Sweden, my parents, but Dad
in particular would never have believed his research would have such positive
results. The whole experience has added an enormous dimension to our lives.
California here we
come!!
