Sweden onwards ...

Upward and onward, weather turned nasty for 98% of journey through the west coast of Sweden.  Nightfall was dark and so were tempers as we arrived at our destination to a closed reception.  Fortunately the Apelviken has English-speaking staff and the Lloyds have enough clues (?) to access to a windy pitch.  Just as we’d hitched the power and sorted water - the first of fifteen trains passed through the night.  Mrs L is a railways girl and slept like a baby.  

We liked the spot so much once the rain went away, we stayed another night.

Cycling around the Apelviken coast is a must do.  2kms of rolling surf and small unobtrusive beach baches (posh beach-huts to the English) dot the coastline.  

As with most of our European cycling, we haven’t found a challenging hill and the cycleways are superb.  Found centre-ville and chatted with locals.  Ate Thai at 8.8 SEK (£16) for two.  Bought pickled herring fillets for later, yum.  Evening time we spent a few SEK’s on beer in Johns place along the promenade chilled out and relaxed a definite place to visit again and next time eat some of there fantastic food as well.  Following day, Mrs L emptied the chemical toilet for first time during trip.

Mushrooms growing on lakeside ... we din't pick any ... better to know what you're eating

Our second Swedish experience was at Lidskoping next to a lake.  Inland Sweden reminds Mrs L of Central North Island but with more villages breaking up the barren terrain.  Found next campsite via ‘follow-the-arrow sign’ (FTAS) strategy.  Worked well.  The overnight temperatures are dropping so we tried the heater/blower in Cally.  Can get the blow to work - heating not so successful.  Will update on progress in a later blog.

Recharged and having emptied chemical toilet again, punched towards Stockholm armed with a new Swedish camping guide.  380kms later (broke up time moose spotting) we found the most gorgeous rural Flottsbro site 20kms out of City.  Reception closed.  Confident we could crack it, listened to the phone message.  No luck.  A carload of German lads parked behind us.  They tried.  Bugger. Getting desperate, the collective cajoled a mad Swede staying camp to help… 

Spent Saturday night sat in a site closer to town in Brendang (after using the FTAS strategy). Brendang proved to be a bonus as located 750m from subway into Stockholm.  The old town is beautiful, full of pomp and ceremony.  

Postbox in the old city - Stockholm

Watched changing of the guards and amazed how close to the royal residence spectators could get.  The pints are expensive (75SEK = £7.50) so we behaved. 

From Stockholm we headed back south on Monday to Vastervik.  We stopped en-route in Gamelby for a break and found the best handyman store plus best second-hand shop in Europe.  

Swedish campsites start winding down mid-September so we struggled to find a site that didn't charge €14.50 for a SwedeCampingCard and eventually we "wild camped" in a car park.  

Vastervik is how Lloydy imagined all Swedish villages would look i.e. with wooden buildings blah blah.  

NB: The SEK saved on accommodation was splurged on Swedish lager!

We thought we'd supplement our diet with some local rain deer, moose etc.  Found two steaks on offer in the local supermarket, only to find ... from Nya Zeelands.  Needless to say ... deer was not on the menu (think food miles)!

Our final leg in Sweden was southwards so we could catch the ferry from Trellegborg to Rostock, Germany.  We found a great site in the middle of the Soderason Forest close to Klippan on the fourth attempt.