Monday 4th August 2014.
We were going to move on this morning but we had yet to see the caravan museum so we elected to visit that today and leave tomorrow.
Closed. It’s closed again!
Rather than spending another day at the van doing nothing we headed off to Hällingsåfallet Waterfall which like the others we have visited was amazing, very high with a good amount of water flowing over it. In spring with the melt waters coming down the river it would be unbelievable.
On this trip we have seen many roadside warning signs, beware of reindeer, beware of moose, beware snowmobiles etc, etc, today we saw “Beware of Bears” sadly we saw none despite looking hard.
Having nothing else planned we bought a chicken which we BBQ’d whole together with potatoes, sweet potatoes, we cooked broccoli on the stove and had a traditional roast chicken dinner complete with stuffing.
Tuesday 5th August 2014.
At last the caravan museum is open for visitors, there is a small newish fibreglass caravan outside that despite it’s short length and narrow width was a real “Tardis” inside including a separate bedroom with a double bed in it. Inside the museum were caravans dating from the early 60’s to the late 90’s some with very interesting features, although the most interesting fact was that a huge number of the 90’s vans are still in use today. It was an interesting visit and one we would recommend.
We stayed in Dorotea at Doro Camping while we explored the “Wilderness Road” but the distances were sometimes long and in hind site we may have been better to have taken the caravan and wild camped (there are apparently no official sites off the main E45 road) but a number of beauty spots do allow wild camping in parts of their car parks one or two even providing electricity.
Wednesday 6th August 2014.
Moving day again today. We have moved another couple of hundred kilometres further south to Krokum. The site we are staying on Krokumvikens Camping is, if not the worst site we have been on, is certainly not the best as the ground is a very boggy, which was not helped by last night suffering the worst thunderstorm we have ever experienced in the caravan, it lasted several hours while the rain came down in monsoon like quantities, after which the site was more a 100mm (4”) deep lake than a caravan site. The facilities while clean are more of the 60’s school showers and inadequate for the numbers on site.
This area has one major thing in common with Scotland - Nessie, known locally as Storsjöodjuret or The Great-Lake Monster we looked hard but never saw it any more than we saw Nessie herself at Loch Ness last year. This link goes to a YouTube video about the monster.
Thursday 7th August 2014.
We went of for a drive to what is billed as Sweden’s largest waterfall today. On the way we spotted a rather strange church bell tower so stopped to have a look, there was a tourist information centre in the village just a few yards from the bell tower but the lady there was non-plussed by our enquiry about the tower saying it was just a tower quite common in these parts and not thought to have any tourist interest, she did say that if we went and found the caretaker he would, she was sure, unlock it and let us have a wander round, unfortunately he was no-where to be found but the church itself was open so we looked in there, it was quite different from churches we have visited in other parts of Europe and with carpeted floor and gated pews was warm and inviting.
We had been advised to visit the village cafe for waffles before we left so we followed a path to the rear of the village where we found first a tower that was also a museum of local living and, when we reached the top, a great viewing gallery. The cafe was in a little clearing behind the tower, and what a gem. we were served large flower shaped waffles with cream and cloud berries, a sweet wild berry. My word they were delicious.
During our time in Scandinavia we have found the scandinavians very reserved, people don’t say a cheery “Good Morning” as they pass you on your way to the facilities and unless speaking for a reason will generally not make eye contact they seem very shy. I was certainly surprised when a young lady wearing a see through blouse and no bra ran, yes ran across the car park - I had to lay down in a darkened room to regain my composure.
After our stop and snacks we continued to the waterfall. Another great spectacle, I’m running out of superlatives for the waterfalls we have seen so have a look at the photos, not that they do justice but they give you an idea. From the waterfall we were off for a cable car ride where (according to the blurb) you are whisked straight up for 800 metres. Unfortunately we arrived at twenty past four. Twenty minutes after it closed for the day, Oh well thats a couple of hundred quid saved.
It seems that as a result of last nights storm many mobile WiFi credit/debit card readers have ceased working. The mobile phone system did go off for a while during the storm and it seems it may have damaged the card readers either when the mobile phone system went down or when it came back on either way we have been having to pay cash for out shopping and site fees - nightmare!!
Saturday 9th August 2014.
Today we visited a stone age exhibition that nearby had drawings carved into rock six or seven thousand years ago. Driven by an extraordinarily enthusiastic person the local community have created a museum of the elk. Or to be more precise the people whose lives revolved around the elk and it’s traditional migrations. None of the items in the museum are original but copies made using the tools and materials available when the the rock drawings were cut into the rock. The beauty of this is that you are encouraged to pick up the items and examine them, feel how sharp a flint scraper actually was, how heavy and well balanced an elk antler axe was. It is used mainly for school groups who spend the day dressed in elk skin clothes, studying the rock art and making a musical instrument of the time with the tools etc that would have been used all those years ago. We had a traditional flat bread wrap with elk meat served on an elk shoulder bone plate, it was delicious - the wrap not the bone plate!!. The whole place is staffed by local volunteers, who if the chap we spoke to is anything to go by are very keen and very well informed. A great afternoon.
Sunday 10th August 2014.
Moving day. They seem to be coming thick and fast. We were going to stay longer at Krokumvikens Camping but it’s not getting any drier and there is no internet. We have stayed in over one hundred mainland european sites and every one has internet access of some sort, some good, some bad, some expensive, some free but they all had it, except here.