8th – 10th September
The day after the race
Numb leg muscles, and in Lynne’s case, ribs, needing love and attention. A day of rest and recovery. Except for Chris, who had booked an early flight with Norwegian, after British Airways’ flight cancellation.
Peter joined him at 5.30 in the morning, for a brisk march to Stockholm’s Central Station, comfortably catching the Arlanda Express to the airport. Peter enjoyed a more leisurely walk back to the hotel, along empty streets, witnessing the developing red dawn sunrise.
Much later, we sauntered out on the cobbled medieval streets of Gamla Stan, finding the cafe we had visited previously, sharing a “Skagen Toast” – a large prawn and egg open-sandwich. On our walk, we visited a number of art galleries, resulting in our purchasing two water colour paintings, small enough to safely carry back home in our luggage.
Dinner at a nearby restaurant was enjoyable, taking a break from supposedly “traditional” Swedish food – steak for Lynne and a burger for Peter.
Leaving Stockholm
Our return journey started with a sunny morning walk to the station, where we were met by…. Chaos! No other word for it. The concourses and platforms were heaving with anxious passengers, most struggling with heavy baggage, some sitting on the ground trying to work on their laptops.
A signal failure was compounded by passenger messaging failure – on the screens and inaudible loudspeakers. There were trains marooned on platforms with no known time of departure, forcing incoming trains to change platforms.
Trains had updated departure times but still in the past. In the confusion, we boarded the train to Göteborg as advised by the platform indicator, only for all Gothenburg passengers, including us, urgently ordered OFF by the train manager as the train was going to Linköping instead…
Finally on the right train, a helpful inspector said that we just MIGHT catch our connection at Örebro, to Motala, if we ran. Getting closer, he admitted that there wasn’t a chance – but he would organise a taxi instead…. Wow – an offer we could not refuse – the wait for the next train would have been 3 and 3/4 hours!
The comfortable taxi journey, paid by the railway operator SJ, took just over an hour, and we arrived at Motala Station just seconds before a car pulled up behind us – Anders’!
Such a delight! We met Anders and Hamida on our long train adventure from Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania to Cape Town in South Africa in 2016. Over our beautiful salmon and quiche late lunch we connected as if we hadn’t parted!
After freshening up, we were invited to a tour around the grounds of their beautiful home at Ulvåsa Slott. Unbeknown to Peter, Ulvåsa, and the surrounding area, have deep historic historic roots, much centered around the medieval Saint Birgitta.
The air was fresh and cool clouds promised rain, but we thoroughly enjoyed the walk through forests, beside the grand lake Boren. We came across a flock of sheep, with a ram that had caught his horn in wire fencing. With a bit of a struggle, Anders and Peter managed to free the unfortunate animal, without loosing fingers! The ram shook itself and immediately returned to eating apples on the ground. No thanks there…
We walked out on a wooden quay, where we were told about the steamboat traffic in the summer, on the Göta Canal, linking Gothenburg to Stockholm. Anders also lifted a metal lobster pot out of the water – filled with Crayfish, one of the most popular Swedish delicacies, and subject to great partying with plenty of Snapps (not “Schnapps”!). We decided against a swim.
Coffee and cake went down well, as did a lovely dinner of local lamb and Chanterelle mushrooms picked by Anders, with much chin-wagging, taking us to a well earned bedtime.
A Historic Day
Lynne and Peter set out early to walk the 3 1/2 km forest path to the historic “Birgittas Udde”, Birgittas Peninsula. Now only inhabited by sheep, it was a strongly defended homestead, connected, rightly or wrongly, with Birgitta. It took us longer than we planned to return for breakfast, as we had mistakenly thought the 3 1/2 km was for the round trip, not one-way!
Peter was very much taken by the sounds and smells of the damp forest, bringing back powerful memories of growing up in Sweden.
After a beautiful breakfast with home made bread and the best of Swedish cheese and ham, we were driven to the important historic town of Alvesta, where there is a monestry and cathedral dedicated to Birgitta. We enjoyed the lightness and space of the cathedral, and also an unexpected musical performance with a female singer using the long cathedral reverberation to full effect.
Cathedral The only Swedish cash used…! Monastery
A short walk through the sleepy streets of Vadstena took us to a lovely ‘Konditori’ for a welcome coffee and break. Onwards to our next visit, to Vadstena Castle, from the 14th Century, to protect Stockholm against foes in the South (that’ll be the Danish then….). A well maintained moat connects to Vättern lake, Sweden’s second largest, serving as mooring for small yachts and occasionally the steamboats plying the Göta Canal.
Further down Vättern, we stopped at the ruins of Alvastra Monastery, founded in the 12th century by French monks. A last destination on our historic round trip was the Rök Viking runestone, considered as the first piece of written Swedish literature, carved in the early 9th century.
Back at Ulvåsa we were treated to a magnificent ‘Fiskgratäng’ (fish cassserole) and plenty of chat, enlivened by good wine from Sardinia. We retired exhausted and fulfilled.
