28 29 july Wonderful wonderful Copenhagen

Tony’s infected foot was still like a balloon. Liz’s ankle recovered enough for a self guided walk in the city. She of course found a new best friend, a mexican called Paco. Hobbled around the cobble stones of Copenhagen, orientation skills on demand, dodging bicycles and trying to recognise the bike lanes. Saw lovely old architecture mixed with stylish modern architecture, waited patiently for a photo of the mermaid without tourists patting her for their photo opportunity, treated ourselves with ubiquitous pastries/breads and coffee shops.

Danes consistently ranked the happiest people in the world, most expensive country, stylishly designed evrything, best ratio of 2.5 million bikes to 5 million people, and of course home to our Mary and also the blond haired, blue eyed eco warriors, see renewable resource (wooden) disposible cutlery from train station coffee shop. Enjoyed our last night in Scandinavia with a Carlsberg beer.

22 -27 july O-ringen

Shared a strange, funny evening of beer and cask wine, talk, discussion on life and religion and dancing with crazy excitable host Yadviga (from Poland), and our new best friend, Thomas (the 79 year old ex road cyclist and rock climber who had heart surgery, died in hospital and recovered just 4 weeks ago). Went to bed at midnight and noticed the days are getting shorter quickly. An easy early morning walk on the Skrea beach (soft nature as  described by Thomas). Back to the B & B, packed our bags, a quick good bye,  2 minute walk to local bus stop. We looked up the timetable – next bus due in one minute, the next one in four hours. And wouldn’t you know, the bus came, we paid the $2 fare with credit card and so pleased not to have to walk the 5km into Falkenberg centrum.

Killed a few hours blogging on library Wifi until our rondez vue with Jan and Marie. Jan was also competing in O-ringen. Marie was training for double Ironman in Florida. Our campsite for two nights was almost in the competition arena for Day 1 and 2! We woke up, had our breakfast and watched the thousands of competitors streaming past our tent on the way to the start. We bought two Northern hemisphere thumb compasses,  and registered for five days of Open (enter on the day) course 8 (Hard navigation 4.5km) with the luxury of just wandering up to the start when we felt like it. The terrain for Day 1 and 2 was not too hilly but was wet. Lots of unavoidable blue and plenty of mud. Liz and Tony both made mistakes but enjoyed the challenging courses.

A veteran Swedish orienteer, ArneYngstrom, was camping right next to us. He had competed in almost 40 O-ringens and invented the thumb compass! His current passion is making orienteering maps for blind people. It is a map where the features are raised in relief on special thermal bubble paper. Normal OCAD symbols are used with V shapes indicating uphill or downhill instead of contours. Blind people can navigate using these maps, but a compass needs to be developed to allow the blind to participate in their own competition.

We travelled back to Falkenberg to stay in the home of Jan’s kayak friend Eddy. Tony’s birthday was celebrated with gourmet food and pavlova and icecream. Day 3 was beautiful forest with soft moss covered ground and then sand dunes on the beach. The little kids string course was right on the beach. Liz and Tony spending their usual 60 minutes on the course in about 200th place out of 300, while the winner was under 30 minutes for the 4.9km. Jan had a great run with no errors. The rest day turned out to be quite dramatic. The four of us walked to the beach. Thousands of sunbaking Swedes, a volleyball comp and kids jumping off the end of the jetty. Liz and Marie had a short swim and Jan donned his wetsuit, cap and goggles for more serious triathlon training. Jan seemed to have an altercation with a pedalpowered boat but swam on for another 50 m to reach the ladder for the jetty. He removed his swim cap to reveal his billiard ball head completely painted red with blood! We got Jan laying down with head and feet up while an unofficial looking lifeguard rang 112 and Marie ran about 400m and back for a compression bandage. Unaware of the neat 10 cm gash in his head, Jan was still talking about running day 4 of the O-ringen. We said Ej, and ambulance officer agreed. He got nine stitches at Varberg hospital and told not to run for a week.

Liz and Tony enjoyed the sun and orienteering on day 4 and and a tough course through rocks and cliffs on day 5. Unfortunately it was over – 25 thousands of competitors, thousands of bikes, hundreds of club banners, hundreds of portaloos, hundreds of finishers per minute up th 8 finish chutes, hundreds having a shower, a hundred bus loads, thousands of cars in the fields, collecting hired sport ID sticks in 44 gallon drums. Just a great big giant event! Jan kindly drove us to the Halmstad train station for our trip to Copenhagen, Denmark. Our muscles cooled and injuries became apparent, Liz with extreme pain in left ankle and Tony with bruised and battered big toe. Wind turbines in the Oresund sea, we crossed the bridge, the Vagen on the Tag to Kopenhalm magically turned into a Vogen on a Tog to Kobenhavn. We hobbled the 500m to our hotel and settled in to watch the London Olympics opening ceremony.

A big ThankYou to Jan and Marie and good luck in Ironman in Kalma and the double in Florida.

16 – 21 july sweden west coast

We are on the go again. Today, local bus to Finspang, bus to Linkoping, bus to Mjolby. Wonderfully clean and smooth and total of four other passengers. Had been trying to contact Monica and Anders (lovely Swedish people from our 2007 Oringen travels) on wrong phone number (too many digits) and lucked on contacting them, giving them 30 minutes notice of our arrival in Mjolby! What a wonderful day! We caught up with their news of new grandchildren, ate a delicious meal of sijl, meatballs, salad and freshly dug new potatos. Drove to Talkan See (lake) for bird watching, went half way up the highest “mountain” in Ostergotland, looked out on the windy wild Vattern see, ate candy sticks at Branna and dined on Moose sausages and beer.

Took the ferry over to Visingso, home of Per Brahe’s medieval county, and Liz sweet talked the young ferry worker into driving us the 3km to the youth hostel on the island. Next day continued the weather pattern of rain and shine every five minutes. Crazy summer! Walked to fort ruins, forest/coastal walk to cafe and returned via a beautiful little church. Liz who does not get enthused about churches liked this one- “warm and comfortable”. 12th to 17th century Romanesque quite different to lavish cathedrals we had seen.

A big day next, hitch a lift to port, ferry, walk, ask about bus in town, walk, hitch a lift to the stop for Swebus to Goteborg hoping to pay on board. Driver says the only way to pay is by phone but lets us go to Jonkoping anyway. Then this same bus is full, so catch two trains to Goteborg. Muck about for two hours trying to get accommodation and decide to continue on. Another train, another bus to guesthouse in middle of nowhere. The joys of travel, but we are now going south! The scenery has changed to rich pastures, cows and wheat, wind farms, golf courses and caravan parks.

Had Swedish breaky – egg, bread with pickles and cucumber, jam, yogurt (no muesli!) and then bus to Falkenberg. Very helpful turistburo, explored town, cobblestone square, historic bridge, long walk to hostel where we could only get one night.

Next day at B & B, where Thomas the 5 times married and divorced  79 yr old Scotsman befriended us and showed us all over town in his 3 cylinder Chevrolet. Guided tour of the beach, the port, the countryside and the icecream factory. We were not brave enough to try the lemon and licorice.

11- 15 july Lotorp Sweden

After messing about with boats for a few days, we caught the bus to Norrkoping. Did the tourist walk around the industrial scenery which was reminiscent of Manchester’s Salford. Our good friend, Jan, collected and drove us to his home in Lotorp. A neat little unit in a neat little community with neat gardens and fantastic wild forest a few minutes walk. We dined on Abba brand “classic” herring, onion herring, mustard herring and garlic herring and beer.

We spent a restful couple of days catching up on emails, loading pics and doing the blog, walking, picking blueberries and chanterelles (mushrooms) and orienteering. Come to think about it, we were still busy! The best thing was Jan’s hospitality.

Jan went off for a long weekend sea kayak trip. Liz and Tony explored the countyside on bicycle. The weather was threatening all the way to Katherineholm. Lakes and forest, lakes and forest, small ups and downs, no distant views, easy riding. We found a 17th century foundry with a 750kg hammer which used to be driven by a waterwheel at Havla. It looked as if the men had just walked off the job yesterday! Piere, the volunteer guide also showed us through the straw and clay cottages of the same era.

We rode all around Katherineholm and it was like nobody was home. Almost everything was closed for summer. A town as big as Albury and not as busy as Howlong. We don’t know where the people were.  Supposedly there are only 8 million Swedes and they go “into the nature” for the summer hols. We stayed at a delightful YHA at St Djulo and on Sunday rode the 70 km back home via Vingaker. We got wet a few times but not cold and stopped for coffee and icecream. Swedes like their icecream almost as much as the Russians and say that there is a second stomach for icecream!

6 – 10 july Gota Canal

We caught the express bus from Stockholm to Linkoping and then the local bus to Berg on the Goto Kanal hoping to catch Marg and Geoff on their way thru. Enquired about the progress of Skookum, the Canadian yacht. The gorgeous lock keeper in Berg Sluss made one phone call to equally beautiful colleagues up stream reported that Skookum (the Canadian boat with 2 Aussies aboard and big BIG bumpers) was only one hour up stream. Hooray, left our rollies with gorgeous lock keeper and had a run up bike track alongside canal assured we couldn’t miss them. What a thrill it was to see them and we were so warmly welcomed.

After a photo shoot of Skookum in aqueduct above (!) a roadway with cars, and dodging the ugly tourist charter boat/barge (poor things) who had priority thru locks, we immediately started pulling and tying off ropes through the locks. Hesitantly at first under calm tuition from captain oh captain Geoff, and we eventually became independent experts with our own special roles and responsibilities.

The Goto Kanal is a remarkable system of gates closing water off at the top and bottom of a ‘pond’ to raise or lift boats. I believe the Kanal was made by Russian prisoners of war in 1800’s.The canal is a remarkable achievement, a marvel of engineering. It travels, obviously, from sea level thru umpteen locks and lakes up to a lake at 92 meters. Then thru just as many lakes and locks back to the other side of Sweden. West coast to the east coast! Many times the yacht was above the country side of immaculate pastures and post card type houses and farm buildings.

Liz loved the return to boat life and fell into the routine quickly. Compact area, everything has an ingeniously designed place to stow, the galley with gimballed stove, lift sliding  drawers, foot pump, fold out table, shelves with anti-fall out devices in rough weather. The head (toilet) was up forward on an impossible angle and height for comfortable use. We slept in the little bunk hole where you had to slide in feet first, less than a foot above our nose  and almost unable to roll over.

Skookum is a proven all weather ocean going yacht, quite unique and a draw card in the canal where most boats are for weekend pleasure. She is immaculate but obviously a hardier sturdier outfit. Marg and Geoff have sailed from Canada down west coast America all the way to Antarctica. Then round cape horn and all the way up to Britain, Greenland. This time from Orkney to St petersburg.

Tony was learning new skills like hauling a few yards of rope (halyards) to raise the sails and Liz was on the helm with the spinnaker. Thank goodness Geoff is a calm tolerant character who guided us as required. No raised voices or haste. Quite the contrary to other captains docking who became anxious and loud. Hilariously the canal has become known as “the divorce ditch”.

Anchored one night in the most superb lake imaginable like in a Monet painting. Glassy calm water reflecting trees and rocks on the close shore line, water lillies both yellow and white, reeds with many birds even 2 magnificent white swans with their cygnet and an eagle whom we obviously disturbed on our arrival, no wind at all, slightest roll when unsighted boat went past behind island, warm enough for short sleeves. The evening brought rumbling thunder way off and some gentle pitter patter rain. Of course it didn’t get totally dark.

We tied up at guest harbours on other nights and had access to toilets, showers and washing machines. We ate like kings as Liz took over the galley. Soup, quiche, cakes, muffins, wine/beer etc. Took Marg and Geoff’s new fold-up bikes for a 25km tour of the countryside, lake views, ruined castles, pretty valleys, a chocolate factory and the path beside the canal.

Sadly our sailing adventure ended for us after 5 glorious days on board Skookum and we dragged our embarrassingly big and heavy rolly cases thru Sodekopping, a beautiful old town famous for its absurd icecream concoctions. The lookout over the town was impressive and bushland en route offered blueberries that we patiently picked then carried home in Tony’s shirt. Afternoon, we treated ourselves to a much anticipated waffle, strawberries and cream with Marg and Geoff. We inadequately thanked them for this wonderful opportunity and got on a bus for Norrkoping.

1 – 5 july – Turku to Stockholm

Turku the medieval capital of Finland, home of Paavo Nurmi (5 gold medals in 1924 Paris olympics) and Nokia (not doing too well at present). A very big stone cathedral has had a few reincarnations after several fires and therefore is medieval, renaissance, baroque and roccoco architecture. Of course, there is a ship hanging from the ceiling!

We stayed two nights in Turku and enjoyed wandering around the streets, walking is easy here. Cars give way to bikes and pedestrians. Bicycles everywhere. Have started to take an interest in what people are using – mostly hybrids or town bikes – you need big tyres to manage the cobblestones. Alice would love some of the old equipment in the Pharmacy museum – just add  cyanide and leeches to your favourite Hogwarts Potion. Bought more clothes at a charity store but don’t seem to be getting rid of anything.

Caught the night ferry to Stockholm, didn’t have a cabin for the ten hour crossing, but the scenery was spectacular. Sunset at 11pm but didn’t get dark. Beautiful full moon and dead calm. The ferry is big (11 decks) and so are the other cruise ships which find a way through and between the 30 000 islands in the archipelago. We heard that Geoff and Marg are currently sailing through the Gota canal in Sweden on route to russia. They will love it here – hope they have good charts!

Stockholm calls itself the capital of Scandinavia. Wonder what Finns and Norse think of that. It is an amazingly pretty city, complete with harbour, islands, castles, palaces and city hall. The old quarter with narrow cobblestone streets on its own island. A clean and efficient metro. Hard not to compare with Russia. New v. old, modern simplicity v. extravagant marble, $4 v. 40c. I vote for moscow. Liz did the tour of city Hall, very impressive. Tony was museumed out. Luxury hotel room tonight after another big day walking everywhere. Helsinki olympics here 100 yrs ago. Home of Bjorn Borg and Pipi longstocking.

26 – 30 june Helsinki Finland

Our first luxury train today! The “Allegro” from St P to Helsinki, 300km in 3 hours, including the border crossing which was a non event. Leaving the land of gold teeth and shots of vodka for breakfast. Arriving in land of mission brown and maroon buildings, forests and lake and ginormous strawberriess. Beat the visa deadlines which have hurried our travel for the last few months. looking forward to slowing down (and slowing this blog!).

We were greeted at train station by Andrew and Anneli Calder, our wonderful hosts for the next few days. Opportunity to relax and enjoy Finnish hospitality. Tourist stuff included Suominlinna fortress, built by Swedes (king Gustav and others), garrisonned by the Russians and now a pleasant museum island enjoyed by the Finns. Cathedral (a couple of), train station, and delicious fresh salmon and new potatos in the market square on the wharf.

Visit to Poorvoo, ancient trade city with cobblestone streets, 15th century cathedral, runeberg cakes, where Alexander I made Finnland a Russian Grand duchy. Met two of Anneli’s great friends, Inga and Inkoo. Vege lasagne, pickled fish, beer, wine, lots of laughs and an unusual musical concert in local church. The  difficult composition for string quartet, oboe and harp was “interesting”. We all had difficulty appreciating.

Andrew has certainly embraced both summer and winter life in Finland, with the opportunity to enjoy walking in all seasons. We shared Andrew and Anneli’s enthusiasm for birds, forests and swimming (the lake in Nuuksi NP in the nudie, the first person said it wasn’t cold – brrr!). It was sad to leave, the breakfast routine of muesli or porridge with blueberry soup, toast and tea, delicious homecooked cakes, “two hat” coffee in the sundeck. The lovebirds can now have their bed back.