Another sea kayaking trip to Sweden!
Tuesday
I took the early train to the airport from Johannes’s flat in Munich, where I’d been staying and flew to Gothenburg arriving a few minutes before Ari. We took the bus into the centre and found our way to the rental car depot by the use of unpaid public transport. Unpaid because we couldn’t work out how to pay for it. Soon we were driving North and after a couple of hours we were at Saltviks camping by the coast pitching our tent in the wind next to Phil and Julie’s bus. It was cold and grey and not so inspiring for our upcoming kayaking trip. Still, it was good to see the others and to celebrate we ate some very average pizzas at the camp restaurant in the evening before retiring for the night.
Wednesday
The weather had improved and the wind had dropped. We packed and drove a few kilometres South to Gronemäd. After some faffing with loading kayaks, parking cars, and collecting water we were ready to leave in two double kayaks. Ari and I had a speedy composite and the others a bulky plastic kayak. We’d both have rented plastic kayaks but they’d run out so we ended up with the slightly more expensive and precious composite. We paddled out from the small stony landing next to the kayak rental building on the water’s edge. The weather was improving and the water was flat enough. There were small rocky islands dotted around and we kayaked out between them stopping after a while on a sandy bar jutting out from one of them. We took a break and climbed around on the grippy rock above the kayaks for a bit.
Continuing we paddled South between more islands, rounding one large one that was apparently a nature reserve and landing in a sheltered spot for lunch. We walked around on the rocks some more before continuing to a couple of islands to look for a campsite. The first was too crowded with two people already there and after kayaking a couple of hundred metres to the second, it at first, looked like there would be nowhere to camp, just a small patch of grass near the beach, big enough for, at most, one tent. Phil and I went walking around the island and in the middle of the right hand side found a depression with grass perfect for a couple of tents. We set up there for the evening. I took a dip in the sea to wash. We cooked dinner and later in the evening we went and watched the last of the sunset. The boat that had landed in the afternoon also left and it was just the four of us on our island. I took photos of the stars and our tent for the sponsors. We’d been lent a tent for free on condition that we took photos of it for the local company that produces them.
Thursday
We packed up camp in the morning and set off with a quick pitstop on the neighbouring island. We headed out to sea circumnavigating the large island, the nature reserve where we’d landed for lunch yesterday. The wind was predicted to come up later so we paddled quickly to move out of the more open water back to the shelter of surrounding islands. Phil and Julie had swapped into the composite kayak for the day and followed behind us after we’d had a close encounter with some submerged rocks in what had seemed like deep open water. We decided the plastic kayak would come off better in a faceoff against some submerged rocks.
Once in between the islands we took it easy again spotting a couple of seals in the water before finding a little beach to land for lunch. We lunched and lazed and then continued back towards the kayak rental base. The wind was picking up and we had a strong tail wind pushing us towards land. We slotted between a couple of islands and then headed along the coast, the wind now coming from the side and pushing small waves into the side of our boats. It wasn’t much further and we landed with the start of white caps forming out on the water.
After unloading the kayaks we drove to an apartment we’d rented in the small town of “Ed”. Julie and Phil came along too and cooked us a tasty lentil curry for dinner.
Friday
The lurgi had been catching up with me, so had the work so we spent a lazy day in the air bnb before heading out for a short walk in the national park on the border to Norway in the evening.
Saturday
We drove further inland to “Alcatraz Camping” where we’d booked more sea kayaks. The area is full of many lakes connected by locks and/or short portages. Phil had been recommended the area from a friend who’d been there and we’d thought we’d try it out. By midday the friendly staff had sorted us out with two plastic kayaks and we’d crammed our gear into them. Due to the amount of food I’d packed, Ari and I had to take some gear with us in the cockpits of our kayak. Ari was not amused with the quantity of food that was coming. We had the option of heading in one of two directions to two different lake systems accessed by a narrow canal. We took the advice of the camping staff and headed East kayaking along the narrow canal until it opened up onto a huge lake. The weather was good although windy and a little cold. Ari was coming down with the lurgi too and we stopped on a little island after a short while for her to put on more clothes and a windproof jacket.
We headed South down the lake with a tail wind passing a few canoes coming the other way. The canoe seems to be the more popular mode of transport, and they passed us laden with piles of gear better suited for a week of drinking beer at the shore of the lake. After a few hours we reached the highlight of the day, a lock station that promised to transport our kayaks slowly up to the neighbouring lake perhaps 30 vertical metres higher than we were. Unfortunately it turned out we were 10 minutes late and they’d closed for, not just the day, but the season. Instead the highlight of the day turned into the lowlight as we carried Phil and Julie’s kayak up to the adjacent lake and then, given the extreme weight of Ari and my kayak, unpacked it and then carried it to the other lake. My back began to hate me.
Our new lake was more complex than the one we’d just been on with multiple options for exploration and more islands. We headed out to the closest island ready to camp but after hearing the shrill bleating of children decided to look somewhere else for the evening. We noted canoes on the island behind and decided this wasn’t a good thing either. Instead we continued kayaking. The sun was sinking lower and the trees were bathed in a golden light. Ari and I landed on the next island but after taking a look decided that the group of men with multiple canoes might also have several kegs of beer and hence the desire to sing badly and loudly into the night. Continuing on we opted for a campsite on the mainland in the sunshine. There were also canoes and men but we found a spot to land further along the long stony beach and two places of acceptable quality to pitch our tents.
I made a reasonable attempt at a lentil and potato curry with minimal burnage despite the trying conditions created by the camping cooker and my titanium pots. We were happy to have something hot and as the sun set, the temperature quickly dropped. Luckily we had twisted-fire-starter Julie with us and she whipped up a fire in the nearby fire pit. We sat in the small wind shelter and pretended to stare mesmerised into the fire while I took photos. There may have also been some authentic mesmerised staring too broken briefly by the loud sound of “Ich und mein Holz”, a holiday classic of Ari and mine, playing from the bluetooth speaker I’d brought with us especially for the job. Later the more soothing tones of Angus and Julia Stone played quietly and the mesmerised staring continued. I took a few quick photos of the plentiful stars in the sky and then crawled into the tent. It was a fairly cold night, too cold for Ari with her light weight sleeping bag and only acceptable to me due to the number of layers I was wearing.
Sunday
It was another day of sunshine and by midday we were underway… The general feeling was that the arms were tired so after about 5km of kayaking towards what looked like interesting islands on the map we decided we needed another plan. Instead we kayaked into a cove. On the map it looked like it might be possible with a small portage to cross a road and head up on the other side of a peninsula so that we could create a small loop complete with small islands to visit. The map showed a very thin section to portage with a larger section of yellow, whatever that was, to kayak through.
The yellow turned out to be long reeds. I’d just finished telling Phil about the reeds we kayaked through last year near Stockholm and how someone had cut a nice path. These reeds had no such path, however, we decided that perhaps we’d be able to cut our own path. So after obtaining ramming speed we entered the reeds and were happy to see that they yielded to us. Ramming speed reduced rapidly to no speed at all and it crossed my mind that reversing out might be physical impossible if we got stuck. The reeds were growing in a watery sludgy mess and abandoning the kayak and swimming would have also not been an option. Despite this realisation I shouted “es geht” (it’s ok) to Phil and Julie behind us. Surely, if we were to get stuck it would be better to share the experience with the whole group.
We paddled and pulled our way through the reeds and after recovering from one ill advised turn to the right, we found ourselves at the shore next to a narrow road that connected the peninsula to the mainland. Phil and Julie struggled through after us and after seemingly becoming stuck for a bit made their way to the edge of the reeds to. We portaged the kayaks to the other side of the road and launched again into the reed-free water. Exploring further around the little islands, we looked for a place to stop for lunch. Some flat rocks on the edge of an island looked good and we spent some time there chilling and eating. It was a nice warm afternoon and I felt like we could happily stay in the area for another day but instead we kayaked into the evening, back across still, open water and between islands. The map showed a narrow passage between islands that turned out to be a portage and weary of too much portaging we continued around the island in the other direction heading back to the lock. Another portage and we were back on the first lake we’d been on the day before. The campsite was a few hundred metres South and soon we were pulling up our kayaks and setting up camp. There was an intense sunset over the trees far away on the other side of the lake in the evening. Ari and I ate nachos and beans for dinner and then it was already time for bed.
Monday
Unfortunately the lurgi had returned with vengeance in the night. The sun had also gone and it was raining as I got up in the morning. I made breakfast under the trees that were managing to absorb the light rain. It stopped and we left later on a completely flat lake with an overcast sky. The lake was a big mirror and we could clearly see the sky and hills reflected in the water. We crossed directly to the other side and kayaked on the opposite side to our route which we’d followed a couple of days earlier. The mood was to get the kayaking over and done with and we kept a good pace for an hour or so. A big patch of blue sky opened up at one point and then closed again and we headed towards islands looking for a place to stop. Again we stopped on the mainland. There was a circle of rocks and some charred wood and we decided to build a fire for some warmth. Phil and I collected small twigs and then the others got to work making fire. I made a curry that we all ate for lunch, Phil and Julie washing down their hot chocolate with it.
After a small navigational blunder we were on course again and with the sounds of the Cat Empire playing from the speaker, now on the top of the kayak, we kayaked towards the narrow canal leading back to the campsite. We unloaded and then on queue it began to rain. We returned our kayaks and then said goodbye to Phil and Julie before driving South to a small studio apartment near the sea for the night.
Tuesday
The lurgi continued to be unkind in the night and Ari drove us to the airport where I opted to leave the rental car, rather than making the trip back into town to return it. Ari left and in the evening I flew out back to Munich.
