Sweden

Working our way north, Sweden was the first country that we could easily wild camp every night. We were quite happy to leave behind the packed fields and campgrounds and be on our own again. We only spent one night in a campground - when we needed to do laundry. Laundromats are not common in this part of Europe so campgrounds are the best option for getting the washing done. Park4Night continues to be our best resource for finding places.

We realize we barely touched Sweden, but with Schengen rules requiring us to leave the EU after three months, we have been moving faster than was ideal. We also wanted to get north as fast as possible before we were facing freezing weather. It was a challenge to try to keep to our guideline of not driving more than three hours a day.

We were impressed with Sweden and its endless rolling forested hills. The national parks that we made it to were beautiful.

*Our first night - camped and went for a coastal walk outside of Falsterbo*

*Drove by this interesting art installation - commentary on broken beach chairs left on beaches*

Harald Bluetooth - who knew (we didn’t), modern Bluetooth named after a Danish king with a discolored tooth who figured out communication systems to unite tribes across Denmark, Norway and Sweden. No idea how accurate a depiction this wood carving is of the actual guy.

*Continuing the tradition of the daily picnic, never a lack of beautiful spots*

*Today’s feast, amazing fresh bread, cheese and of course, chocolate.*

Our first real tourist spot was Ystad, an old wooden town dated from the 11th century. Our visit inspired us to download the first Detective Wallander book (series based in Ystad) on Audibles to listen to as we drove. It kept us entertained and helped us understand how to pronounce Swedish place names.

*Wandering the streets of Ystad, so many interesting old buildings!*

Our next visit was to the ancient stones of Ales stenar, a mysterious iron age stone monument with stones placed in the shape of a ship. We could definitely feel the history here.

*Spent the night outside of the Kivik harbor (see the truck in the far left corner of the photo.)*

The next day we hiked the coastal trails of Stenshuvud National Park.

*View from the top of the highest peak in Stenshuvud*

*Camping at the harbor in Karlskrona - lots of harborside camping in Sweden.*

From Karlskrona, we made our way to Kalmar Castle to continue our education on Scandanavian history. We learned more about the string of wars between Denmark and Sweden, both using Norway as a pawn and the attempt to unite the three areas with an agreement signed at Kalmar castle in 1397. In the end the agreement fell apart and the castle was the site of several ugly blood baths.

*Kalmar Castle, established in 1180, renovated and rebuilt through the 16th century.*

We wanted to see the coastal islands of Sweden and opted to go to Öland. We considered Gotland which sounds amazing but it was a bigger time and financial investment for a ferry.

*For some reason Andy’s container is bigger . . .*

*We finished our visit to Öland by going to Eketorp, a reconstructed Viking ring fortress*

And then it was time to leave the countryside and head to Stockholm. On our way we made two worthwhile stops.

*Glasriket (The Kingdom of Crystal), area of Sweden full of glass blowing artists and manufacturers*

*Beautiful old wooden town of Eksjö. With amazing bakery stop. Too busy eating to take a picture of the pastries.*

In Stockholm we opted for a hotel outside the city center (less expensive) but on the metro line so that we had easy access to city life. We parked the truck and started our explorations on foot. Stockholm is an amazing collection of connected islands with a dizzying variety of sites and architecture. Once again we opted for a free walking tour to get us oriented.

*A Stockholm metro station - a work of art - an easy option to get around when we got tired of walking (we logged 10 miles of walking the first day).*

*Heard and saw this unfortunate taxi drive take a wrong turn. Guess they can get lost too.*

*The narrowest alley in Gamla stan - reputed to bring you fortune if you walk the whole way touching the walls. Andy was up for the challenge.*

*Ever budget conscious we sought out the cheapest lunch and found a delectable bargain at Jerusalem Kebob - less than $20 for lunch and drinks.*

*Vasa Museum in Stockholm - warship built in 1628. Andy visited here and Dawn went to the Moderna Museet*

We left the craziness and activity of Stockholm and resumed our journey - finding water to camp by (plenty of that!) and hikes along the way.

*Midday coastal walk - found on the Gaia app*

Our next stop was the famous Skuleberget - highest peak in the area including a cliff side cave We are convinced that Swedish hikers are serious, trails tend to go straight up (switchbacks are for wimps).

*Dawn not such a big fan of heights or stairs on cliffs*

*Then it rains some more. The rain, it raineth every day.*

*Then its sunny. Then it rains again . . repeat.*

Our next national park was Skuleskogens. Great hikes and an impressive rock ravine to walk through.

*Our camping spot near the entrance - its sunny! Towels drying.*

*Loved the fairytale red mushrooms. Never saw a gnome though.*

*More hiking at Skuleskogens - happy outdoor faces*

*And then on to another beautiful lakeside camping spot*

Our final scenic stop in Sweden was Fulufjället National Park. Home to the country’s tallest waterfall and endless forested vistas.

*Somehow the image of standing in the forest waving sausages at the sky made us laugh.*

Before leaving Sweden we had some business to take care of. We headed to Bauhaus (local hardware store chain) with a shopping list that included two screws, a tiny piece of wire mesh, a magnet and a fire extinguisher. We felt eerily like we were in Home Depot but couldn’t understand anything. It took us 45 minutes. The label machine in the screw section took us 20 minutes as we had to Google translate the instructions to figure out that it was out of paper. Thank goodness for Google translate or we would have been there all day.

So our shopping trip allowed Andy to install his new favorite hack. We are actually that lazy that when sitting at our dining area, we can access the beer in the fridge without getting up. But the beer opener in the utensil drawer was not in reach. What a problem. Now solved. Beer opener attached to wall by dinette.

*And then, probably more importantly, replaced the year old expired fire extinguisher.*

*One final lakeside Swedish camping spot*

*With temperatures falling and a crisp in the air as we head north, Dawn makes the momentous decision to swap out the summer camp shoes for the winter ones. The winter ones allow for wearing socks.*

Ready for the next adventure we prepared to leave Sweden for Norway. Oops, this border was closed. Probably should have done more research, after a two hour detour we made it to Norway - more on that soon!

Norway- Part 1- the South

Resources-Truck Camping across Europe