Sweden - Roadtrip, Forest & Such - 1

The trip up north started in the morning of the 14th of August. We set off from Gothenburg and decided to hurry out of our usual play ground and not relax before we were some ways off. That meant a 7 hour drive to Uppsala, where we stopped for the night. We thought we would be there faster, but road wasn't really what we expected. The drive was quite slow, as the so called motorway constantly changes to a regular road so you keep having to slow down from 100kmh to 80kmh to 60kmh, back to 80kmh, down to 60kmh, up to 100kmh, down again. Very frustrating. 

The first night we spent in the town of Uppsala at a hotel, Arena. The plan was a visit at our favourite shop during vacations - Decathlon! Wohooo!!! Those are only established in the vicinity of Stockholm, to our great disappointment. We've been wishing for one on the west coast for quite a while already.

The hotel seemed fairly new, budget type. A bit plastic. To my huge disappointment there was no water boiler or tea or coffee in the room. We didn't go to the bar for that though, but bought our evening meal at the supermarket 100 m off. After dinner it was already pretty late and we headed to bed.

Day 2 we started off with a nice hotel breakfast before heading of to Decathlon. There we decided to go glampers and bought three legged stools to make sitting around the camp area easier (something that later was a real blessing). I also got a new fleece sweater. I tried on a regular jacket the same brand as a pair of my hiking pants, but had to admit that I'm way too fat for that one at the moment. Ben's eyes bulged as I tried it on sending me into a laughing fit. That face!
Oh well, I look forward to not being preggo anymore.

Afterwards we headed off first to Falun to visit one of dad's oldest friends. After a coffee and a cinnamon bun there we drove to Timrå and found a nice spot by the waterline where we set up camp. It was at the outlet of Indalsälven, the Indal river that crosses most of Sweden horisontally. We had borrowed our brother's 4 p tent and decided to start off with that one. We did bring our 1p tents too, in case the big one was too problematic or just if we couldn't find a camp site large enough.

This evening we found a good enough camp ground for this huge tent, though. This watery area had quite some mosquitoes and we actually had to use our head nets. The fore room of the tent we had is big enough for the three of us to sit there on our stool, with our backpacks and the trangia, so we made dinner and hung out in there. The evening ended with a fabulous yellow full moon over the water of the Baltic Sea.
After a late dinner we settled in each with our own stuff, such as listening to audiobooks, writing this blog and just relaxing.

Fishing along the coast, Sweden

So, we haven't been up to any craziness lately. Summer was slow in coming and we've been busy doing regular everyday stuff, such as working and studying.
Last year at this time we did a super intensive drive up to Norway and checked out some boulders and sports routes along the way, slept in a tent and such.
This year that was not in the cards, so we did the next best thing, we went fishing ;)

There are some few things you need to know if you intend to go fishing in Scandinavia. The rules are different in for example Denmark versus Sweden, the latter being a bit more liberal. Denmark has quite a long coast line in need of constant work and up-keeping which is why you need to pay a fee if you intend to do some fishing. The same goes for fresh water fishing. Many areas are also rented by different fishing clubs, meaning you can't fish there unless you're a member.
Sweden on the other hand has free fishing with a rod along the coast line. If you want to fish along rivers and lakes you need a fishing permit. You can get more info on the rules of those online HERE.

Trout
Fishing along the coast does include some important rules though. Along the southern coast it is not allowed to fish
trout from the 15th of September to the 31st of December. Along the west coast the trout prohibition is not lifted until the 1st of April.
Size also matters. The smallest trout allowed is 45 cm in the west and 50 cm in the south.

Mackerel
These fish arrive at the west coast during May-June and stick around until August, which is when they move farther away from land until they go to wherever they spend winter time. Most people fish these from boats, but you can catch them from land too, although you need to get a little bit lucky, since mackerel never stay put, they are in constant movement between surface and bottom, looking for something to eat. If you're on a boat you can use several fishing rods and try your luck at different depths simultaneously.

Where to go and when depends on time of day and weather. A tip is looking for information from other fishers around.

There are loads of good spots along the coast line. We've mostly been to the beautiful west coast rocky areas. During summer the rocks get warm in the sunshine and even though it might get windy you can keep warm sitting in a nook between a couple of boulders. These pictures are from the island Hönö.
When the water is warm enough it is also a superb place for swimming and snorkeling.


Hönö is also a good climbing destination for those who like bouldering. Bring your crash pad and prepare to experience hundreds of boulders in all grades.

In retrospect - Road trip on the Swedish west westcoast and southern Norway - Part 4

On a lovely sunny day we found our way to Ravnåskollen in Drammen, Norway.

Ravnaskollen-crag














Driving there went through some remote area with very few houses and we had a little bit of trouble finding the site at first. The last part to the site is a gravel route, and we had to use GPS to get there. You'll pass some single houses on the last part of the way and if I remember correctly there is a lake a bit off behind some forest to your right and the rise is on your left. At one point you come to a small open gravel area that could resemble a parking lot. There was nobody at the site when we got there, so not very crowded ;)

Probably there is a path up to the rock, but we didn't look for it. Instead we took the straight route up and the walk was short, but really very steep. The steep was covered with leaves and just a tad slippery, but with some struggle we got up to the rock.
There we found several sports climbing routes and this is where I did my first outdoor lead climb.

Ravnåskollen has 9 sports routes, the easiest being 4+ and the most difficult one being a 7a+. The 4+, called "De første stegene" or "The first steps" was my maiden climb (pic). As I have not done lead climbing indoors (which wise people consider to be the way to begin) this was an easy alternative way to start.  The rock had some lichen to be cleared away at each step. Wearing gloves might be an idea too depending on your skin status.

We had brought our picnic stuff and had coffee and snacks with us. We had a great weather with sunshine overhead and shade from the trees that surrounded us.
There were lots of signs of this being a moderately frequented spot, even if not as much as the previously mentioned Vindön. Nonetheless I guess we were just lucky to have all the space for ourselves.

Ben tried a 6a+ route among other routes here. The last one he did was "Opp til utsikten" - "Up to the outlook/view point". That is a long route of over 30 meters (pic) that seems quite fun. Abseiling down is not so bad either. :-)

At some point we realized we had to travel on, we had a hotel room waiting for us some ways off. So pack the climbing gear, dust off all our stuff - there are ticks in the Nordic forests, and off we drove.

The hotel I had booked had a sauna and a pool - one night in the forest in a tent, one night in a hotel with all extras. Whats not to like?

The hotel we went to was Arendal Herregaard Spa & Resort, a beautiful building placed near to the water in Arendal.The main building is visually very pleasantly decorated. Our accommodation was not so impressive, however. The room was tiny, the building had signs of age and water damage in the door so it was difficult to lock. The place was pretty nice even so.

We got there a bit late in the evening and hurried to get to the pool to get as much time there as possible. It's funny how childishly much you can enjoy splashing around in pool of water, no matter your age, your university years or how much authority you express on a regular work day. ;-) We spent the evening in the pool and sauna until the spa area closed.

The next morning we had breakfast included and I really enjoyed the buffet. The coffee was good, they had alternatives for allergics and they made omelettes on the go if you wanted that.

Our next goal on our super short, mega effective road trip was  Froland, a spot that also can be found in Arendal. All about that in the next post.

In retrospect - Road trip on the Swedish west westcoast and southern Norway - Part 3

Our plan was to sleep out in the free this night, somewhere near the coastal area of southern Norway.

We actually arrived so late at our destination (due to a mishap earlier in the day - forgotten item at a stop, so we had to drive back and ended up more or less going in a circle for 3 hours due to that) that it was already dark. No worries though. We looked up something that resembled a foresty area on a map and headed there.

It had actually been quite rainy and stormy earlier in the evening, so I guess being late had the positive of the storm having ended. Otherwise I bet we would've been quite miserable, being late AND wet.

We had, of course, brought our head torches, so that we could rummage around in the car with the torch light and only bring what we needed for the night and next morning. So off we headed into the night-moist forest. We each had our own tents, mattresses, sleeping bags, under layer of warm clothing in case the night got chilly (wasn't so bad actually) and one of us brought a pillow. I actually brought two mattresses, because I usually experience that the cold conducts through the mattress and I end up freezing. I have one of those old style mattress rolls and an inflatable one too. I even considered using a foil blanket to really boost heat saving.

Yeah so we had those too, foil blankets. 

Aside from that we had a storm kitchen (trangia), a gas burner, water for coffee and porridge in the morning, other food stuff (bread and such) and regular hygiene stuff.

 

The right of public access to the wilderness otherwise known as the freedom to roam is strongly established in the Nordic countries. The rights include hiking in the wild, picking mushrooms, sleeping in a tent ( although not too near private residences), swimming in lakes, kayaking, fishing with a rod in fresh water. They also include some obligations, however. You are not allowed to harm, disturb or damage wildlife or crops or pick endangered plant species. Littering is forbidden! If there are no trash cans, you bring all trash with you out of the nature zone.

Sometimes in the summer using open fire is forbidden. In Norway this applies from April to September, in the other countries it depends on forest fire risk, which from time to time can be substantial in some or many areas.

In Norway the freedom to roam applies to the so called "utmark" - areas without private residence, industry, farmland etc. Crossing farmland is only allowed during winter.

Right-of-access - Norway

After a while we found a tent site in the darkness. We picked it for its open space and trees that could be used for a tarp, rain cover. A bit of fiddling in the dark got all tents erected and by that time it was time to go to bed.
The first picture above is actually taken at about 1 AM, so the sun doesn't completely set even at that low latitude.

We had expected more rain, but luckily got to wake up to a fabulously sunny morning.

Before long we had breakfast underway, boiling water for coffee and porridge, setting up a little breakfast area. The colours were crisp and clear and the air fresh and uplifting.

Packing our gear went swiftly and luckily the heat of the sun dried most of the tent fabric. I always find it unsatisfying to pack a moist tent cover or under-layer.

Next we headed off to a crag not too far away from where we had spent the night.