Çîroka rûniştin û dîtinê

'And then you also have to have time to just sit there and look ahead.' Astrid Lindgren hit the nail on the head with that. This beautiful Sweden invites you to stop every 500 meters, if possible sit down and just watch. Most of the time, you have to force yourself to continue walking or driving.

That's why we continue to move north along the coast after the archipelago. From Norrtälje, a small town on the Baltic Sea, we drive to Kallerö, where we make ourselves comfortable for 2 days in a nature reserve (this was a designated place, as you are not usually allowed to stand in nature reserves), just sitting and watching.

But since the Pentecost weekend is also very popular with Swedish pensioners and the place is well known, we decide to drive a bit inland, towards Fulufjället National Park. Our route takes us via Gävle to Svärdsjö, where we enjoy the beautiful view of the lake on one hand and experience the not-so-nice outcome of the German Bundesliga on the other hand. We spend the night in the picturesque Sunborn, near the city of Falun. We remember, Falun is the city where the famous Swedish red paint comes from. But Sunborn is picturesque not only because of the work of the Swedish painter Carl Larsson, but also because of the many artistic details on the houses and signposts.

We drive through seemingly endless forests on seemingly endless straight roads without oncoming traffic. We still don't spot any moose, but we do see new road signs that say 'Caution Ski-Doo' and, according to Christine, they are called husky farms. Both snowmobiles and dog sleds seem to be common means of transportation, as there is a huge network of signs and directions in the forests. We are now at an altitude of almost 800m and combined with the latitude, one can already speak of winter in summer. The only thing missing is the snow, which we then see from our next spot. Near the national park, we spend the night with a breathtaking panoramic view of the snow-covered mountains and a temperature of just below 0°C. There, because Christine is now very interested in tracking, we found moose tracks and droppings on the forest floor, but the moose itself is still waiting for us. The next morning, we set off early to hike through the Fulufjället on partially snow-covered paths and visit the Njupeskär waterfall. Again, the motto is: sit, look, and pull our hats back over our ears, simply amazing.

But honestly, it's a bit too cold for us, so we decide to drive back to slightly lower areas and end up near the city of Sveg at a small (possibly) former slipway in the middle of the forest. Here too, we have our peaceful moments, sitting and watching the magnificent sunset over the lake. 

A plan emerges. Actually, we want to drive along a well-known panoramic road, but we have to realize that the whole route can only be driven from June 6th onwards due to the amount of snow, which is simply too long for us, so that we don't lose track of time due to sitting and watching. That's why we go back to the coast, where we visit the next national park, which leaves us speechless once again.

The Skuleskogen National Park impresses with a mixture of mixed forest, mountain lakes, and an absolutely stunning panorama, about 300m above sea level, from rocky, bare hilltops to the Gulf of Bothnia. Pornography for nature lovers! For the 14 km we cover in this wonderful place on earth, we need a whole day, because we keep sitting down and looking, whether it's on the warm rocks at the summit (including gusts of wind at 50 km/h) or down by the sea with our feet in the sand. A deep sense of peace overcomes us.

This park impresses us so much that the next day we drive to another entrance to take another walk here. But since the weather gods seem to have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed (they always got eaten!), we use the remaining day to head towards Umeå, where we can do some shopping and make an appointment with a veterinarian for the next day. For a change, we don't look for a place in nature in stormy weather, but rather make ourselves comfortable directly in front of a well-known Swedish furniture store in the motorhome.

The next morning brings much more relaxed weather again, and after the visit to the vet, which we need for the entry into Finland or Norway, we decide to drive away from the sea again and go to the Storforsen Nature Reserve, where we find a picturesque parking space far away from civilization (at least it feels that way), right by the Piteälven river at the Storforsen rapids. The Storforsen Rapids are Scandinavia's largest rapids and move up to 870 cubic meters of water per second into the valley along a length of 5 km and a drop of 82 meters. The sound of the rapids lulls us to sleep before we walk to the visitor center the next day to see the last 600 meters of the Storforsen. There, they plunge a full 50 meters into the depths. We like it here so much that we decide to stay another night.

How our journey to the North Cape continues, why Christine suddenly starts screaming hysterically from the passenger seat out of nowhere, and what Christian's wish for a photo with an old man is all about, you will find out in our next post.