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Wednesday, July 15th
Ljungskile (Dirhuvud)
map link
During the morning’s breakfast (prepared by Dan, of course) I heard some geese honking and looked up in time to see a flock of Greylag goose fly over. Very cool to see and hear them, although they could have been Canada Geese for the sound they made.
Breakfast at the OK Corral
Our lazy camping breakfast is just instant oatmeal with some dried fruit added in for extra flavor. It is nice because it is easy and fast to make, tasty, and then easy and fast to clean up afterwards. The campgrounds have had some decent kitchen areas – maybe not as nice as our first one in Denmark, but still, there is always an area set aside for washing dishes.
We packed the motorcycles and with a little more care, packed up the rest of the van. Some of the packing limitations at this point were due to a lack of more appropriate bins, but still, it was an improvement. And we had so much more space: we could have brought our bicycles after all! We had mentioned it before leaving home because, you know, we have a VAN! but we didn’t realize how easily they would have fit if we had been more careful at the start.
So much more space!
The van rolled out of the campground and we headed west. There were no extra activities planned for today’s journey so we just chilled in the van and watched the countryside roll by. Eventually we stopped for a “Willys Lunch”, eaten farther down the road when I spied a nice-looking church poking out from the trees.
Not our lunch spot
Construction
Beauty shot
Willys lunch stop – taters and onions!
The lunch church spot: Longs Kyrka
The Swedish countryside was continuing to roll by as we covered the last few kilometers to the campground when suddenly a geologic anomaly appeared: Hunneberg Park.
Hunneberg is greatly developed for outdoor adventures and activities. So many trails and lakes and things to do – I wish that I had realized it before so that I could have planned some time to experience it. Instead, we kept on driving pass the cliffs and trees, unaware of what we were missing. The geology alone would be amazing to experience.
Windshield cliff view
And one Very Tall Barn!
Near our planned campground we made a slight detour in the town of Vänersborg. This town was on the “other big lake” (Vänern) of the region, the sister lake to Vättern where we slept last night. The Göta Canal ran through here and we thought it would be fun to check out another lock.
Leaving the van in a central parking lot, we headed towards where we expected the locks to be. Instead, what we found was an exceptionally nice waterfront park. Instead of continuing ahead to check out the locks we detoured along the lakeside trail and appreciated the view.
Kayak rental box
The shores of Lake Vänern, Sweden’s largest lake
Tourists…
Amazing flower beds
And yet another classic car sighting
A clever downspout debris filter
We left the waterfront and walked down some of the side streets of Vänersborg. I enjoyed the various architectural styles, the public spaces, and the artwork.
I’ve never actually seen anyone on their hobby horse in real life – adorable!
The lock stayed out of sight during our walk. By the time we had followed the waterfront park, and then meandered back through the town and reached the van again, we were ready to keep moving. We did, however, see the lock from the bridge that spanned it.
For my Seattle peeps:
We pulled into the registration spot for “Anfasteröd Gårdsvik“, our Tent Mahal spot for the next two nights. After getting our camping plot number and a map, we got in the van and went hunting for our spot. It was quite the campground! It was built on the side of a hill and the campsites (or more accurately, “caravan sites”) were plateaued along a winding dirt road that gained rapidly in elevation. While the setting was very beautiful and private, I did not look forward to the walk to and from the restaurant at the water’s edge. I felt this even more so when the road crested at the facilities building and then started back down the hill, but dead-ending before going very far.
Once we found our plot number (which was surprisingly hard to read, considering how well laid out the rest of the campground is), we backed the van into place and set up our tent and canopy at the back doors. We were in the Tenting Section of the campground and they really crammed the slots into the limited space available. Oh well – there are pros and cons to every campground.
Pack ’em in!
We brought out the motorcycles with the idea that they would be a great way to get to the start of a little hiking trail further down the coast. With a few supplies strapped onto the rear rack, we got on the bikes and motored our way up and then down the hill. The road was paved as it passed through fields and then forests and then onto roads marked “Private”. There were two cars parked at a junction and we figured that we could tuck the bikes out of the way well enough – but when we saw the parking tickets on the windshields of the cars (equivalent to 60€), we didn’t want to chance it.
We intended to follow the red trail
We retreated back to the Reception and looked for somewhere to tuck the bikes. Nowhere obvious, really, but then the guy at reception said that we could park near the golf carts. As we finished putting the bikes there a woman came by and forcefully told us that we could NOT park there, regardless of what the guy inside said. We asked her about an unlikely place near the reception door: “Sure, that’s fine.” Um, ok. So we parked with the bicycles.
By now we had abandoned the plan to take the Red Trail hike and instead were going to focus on getting into the water. Dan was excited about this, but I had no intentions of going in. He went in, said it was nice, and managed to convince me to join him.
The water was salty.
Ok, so I hadn’t really scrolled out when looking at the maps on my phone. I had assumed that we were camping on another Swedish lake (there are thousands of them, after all!) but no – this was a long, inland arm of the Baltic Sea. Salt water!
That’s me, not wearing a bathing suit because I wasn’t going to go in the water
The seabed was mostly just soft sand (with a crab scuttling over my foot at one point!) and the water temperature was very comfortable. But it was amazing how the temperature could change in just a few feet. Pockets of warm and cold water were very distinct, and surprisingly by how many degrees they varied.
After bobbing around in the water for a little bit we got out to head back up to the campground. I have been swimming in salt water before, but I can’t recall the residue ever being so icky and sticky. There weren’t any showers nearby so we popped back onto the motorcycles to get back to camp – and the showers – quickly.
Oh my! The shower and kitchen facilities were amazing! I would swear that they had just been built this year, and no expense was spared. While there were only five showers in this particular building (there were other buildings scattered around the campground), each one was self-contained: toilet, sink, mirror, and full shower. All materials looked great and rivalled many homes I’ve been in. Then there was the kitchen area with a massive picnic table, double sink, freezer, fridge, shelving for goods – and the outer wall was an all-glass sliding door.
Kitchen area
Sitting area off of the kitchen (with a pond just across the road)
Shower room
After a refreshing shower we hung out at the campsite for the rest of the evening. That is, until I noticed the sunset colors creeping across the sky. Dan declined to join me, but I skipped off to find a nice place to hang out and watch the sun disappear from view.
It was the most amazing sunset I’ve ever seen. I think that it was a combination of how clear the sun’s outline was, how massive it was, the silhouettes of the trees, and how fast it moved. Simply gorgeous.
