Sweden

Family was our focus for the final leg of our journey. It had been 3 years since we last saw Ludde and Sara and their children, Laban, Irma and Ines. They now live in Knivsta, close to Arlanda airport so we were so lucky to have Sara and Ludde waiting for us in the arrival hall. Then home to meet the rest of the family and celebrate being back together. We had our own little house with a bathroom and kitchenette which Laban had kindly vacated for us.

Our visit coincided with Midsummer celebrations which were a lot of fun. Ludde cooked special Midsummer food for dinner that night and the next afternoon we went for a BBQ at the home of a friend to celebrate Midsummer Eve. The house was 80sq m: 3 bedrooms, a big living space with the usual Swedish structure of adjoining buildings: a guesthouse, garden shed, solar powered amenities shed, etc. Cristina is a very keen gardener and so all sorts of herbs, shrubs and flowers were nestled between glaciated rock outcrops. Along with others of their family we went to the local village green where we danced many traditional dances around the midsummer maypole. A woman in the centre was the caller and Sara translated for us visitors. My favourite song and dance celebrated the Swedish woman’s household routine. Scrub the floor, do the washing, peg it out, fold it, iron it then off to church!! Lots of the women wore floral garlands. It was all good fun. 

A swim in the lake to cool off then it was back to Cristina’s house for music and food. She is Laban’s music teacher and her mother, Suzanne, is a professor of music at Stockholm University. Her father had set up a stage and we had an impromptu concert of traditional and modern songs as we relaxed with a wine and delicious food.

Our Midsummer celebration continued after our trip north to Sundsvall. Janne had arranged a family gathering, 29 people in all. All of the Sellen family (Anna and two of her sons from Lulea in the north, Jenny and Gandolf, Eva and Anders and two of their children, along with Janne’s brothers Pelle and wife Barbro, Ulf and Titti and their daughter and family, Lasse……..) so many cousins to have fun together. We sat under the Swedish flag on long tables and ate traditional Swedish food: pickled herrings, pickled pine shoots, moose, potato salad, special sponge cake. Many could speak English and we did enjoy catching up with all the family.

Several trips to the lake Hulitjarnen to cool off and caught the last sun on Titti’s deck with leftovers!

In fact at midsummer it is daylight all the time, quite disconcerting! Steve was up at 2 am one day returning a phone call and it was bright daylight. Certainly makes gauging the time to wake up rather tricky! 

One of the highlights of our stay in Sundsvall was the trip to Smitigens beach and the nearby lake. It is a typical Swedish beach, fine gravel with glaciated boulders at each end. The lifesaver’s post was intriguing with a ladder attached as well as a buoy. Perhaps to put out on the ice for winter rescues? As we drove through Harnosand a sea fog came in and by the time we were at the beach the horizon had disappeared! 

After a relax and food we walked through the forest to the lake. 

The forest floor is covered in blueberry and lingonberry plants and, on closer scrutiny, pretty flowers.  We also saw juvenile pines with the tips that Lasse had gathered and pickled. There was also the odd troll evident in the woods!!

There was a huge rock face and a rope swing at the swimming hole – it made for some spectacular photos!

In the car park was one of the vehicles Laban had told us about, designated with a red triangle on the back. They’re called A traktors, can’t have a rear seat and are limited to first and second gear. You only need a moped licence to operate them, and they have a 60 kph limit which poses problems when you are behind them on a narrow road as we were on our return trip home!

Another highlight was our visit to the Selanger Pilgrims’ Centre. This was in the construction phase when we were last there but is now an impressive base for the pilgrims walking the St Olav’s trail. Olav landed near Selanger in 1030 AD and walked across to Norway. Sea levels were higher then and Selanger was a port. The St. Olavsleden, or St Olav’s walk, starts in the town of Selånger, and ends in the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. A distance of 580 kilometres from start to finish! It follows parts of the road that Olav Haraldsson travelled when he returned from Novgorod in Russia in the summer of 1030 to recapture the Norwegian throne. A journey that ended with the battle of Stiklestad, the death of Olav Haraldsson and the start of the era of St. Olav.

The church owns and built the centre which  provides accommodation, meeting and conference space, a children’s playground, a museum profiling the life of St Olav, and in particular a great restaurant with buffet lunch. A great spot on a sunny day, on the verandah overlooking the cloister gardens.

And of course there was the'traditional' hike up the hill behind Lake Hulitjarnen. Great views and lots of colourful flowers. Ann loved the lupins so was rather chastened to learn they are viewed as pesty weeds!

Then it was time to drive to Leksand. We were amazed at the amount of water in Sweden: everywhere we looked there was a lake or river, usually with people swimming or chilling on beaches. A map we passed clearly showed this; it seemed like the area was 50% water! Drivers are very courteous; pass and pull back in immediately which made the 5 hour drive pass in a relaxed way.

 Irma and Laban were competing in a huge football tournament in Borlange (at least 20 fields, all ages of youth, 9 a side) , and Sara had arranged accommodation at Sodra Slimsvagen, near Leksand on the river. The property was aptly called Little Paradise and had one main cabin with bathroom and two small sleeping cabins spread in idyllic grounds adjoining the river.  We ate dinner in the summer house which kept out the rather vicious mosquitoes and lazed on the pier: well some of us took out the rowboat while others chilled and took photos. The second day was dogged by rain after the previous scorcher, but we saw both Irma and Laban play and enjoyed the buzz.

The drive back to Alsike was through Dalarna region, the home of decorated horses and we certainly saw some edificial ones. It was also marked by a call to tell us Megan, Ann’s mum, had died after a few tough weeks. We’d kept in touch with her over this time so weren’t surprised.

The final day of our Swedish visit was earmarked for present buying! We caught the train to Stockholm and walked to Gamla Stan, old Stockholm, where we recalled a lovely amber jewellery store. Impressively we found it directly but as it opened at 10am we had time for fika first. Delicious kannebulla in a café that was first established in 1649. It had an amazing original painted ceiling.

Enjoyed a wander through Stockholm, then on the train home to Ludde and Sara and the next day back to Arlanda and home!