Taz hearts Swedish dog food

Midsummer Day, June 26th Hallstahammar

Is it wrong to covet plastic goods? We are on the way to being a target for earth savers with the amount of plastic we are collecting. It seems to be the in-thing to have a special plastic container for everything caravan/campervan over here. I have tracked down my special folding plastic crate for carrying the washing up to the trough, my plastic basket for the laundry, we have plastic shoes for the showers and I'm trying to find where they all buy their plastic baskets to take to the washrooms ( I currently use a plastic Waitrose bag). It has reached the point that when we were in a camping shop David and I chorused "thats a nice plastic bucket" when we spotted a pile of them.

Its probably all a reaction to natural things, after getting lost yet again (sigh) last night in a nature reserve I'm beginning to shake whenever I see a sign for anything to do with nature.

really good day yesterday - Midsummer eve. Its a really big thing here in Scandinavia so we asked at reception and were signposted to an event 10k away. Off we toddled on our bikes and found it was being held at an open air agricultural museum. Really lovely, all kids and many adults had flower wreathes and there was dancing and singing round a kind of maypole. We joined in, of course, even tho we might have been praying to the antichrist of plastic containers for all we knew. The museum bit was good too and they had 2 special exhibitions on: 199 ways to trap a mouse and miniature Swedish outhouses! Overload of culture. So apart from managing to get lost on our evening walk - I am sooo over getting lost, again it was a lovely day.

Now planning our next move around somewhere with either a sports bar or signal for Turkish Tv so we can watch footie and easy access to Fiat dealer as we have a warning light on engine. David is torn between finding somewhere that Germans are staying in in the event we win or an empty field with good sat TV in case we lose!

Taz thinks nature is over-rated.

Tuesday June 22nd - Karlstad

Feeling lucky to be alive!!!!! On Sunday we couldn't find a free spot so went to what sounded like a lovely campsite in a national park between two lakes. It was a real back to nature place with a vengeance. Took us 3 attempts to find a place to park where we weren't under siege from midges and mossies (glad I had brought my mosquito head net) then we shut the door and whilst all the other proper campers boiled their billycans and recycled their contents in the earth closets before crawling under their 1 sq metre of canvas, we cooked up some lamb (yes baby sheep), turned up the telly and downed our gin and tonics (for the quinine of course)

But boy did we pay for it the next day. We checked out and decided just to do the 5k nature walk before we drove off. Left Taz in the van (thank God) and tottered off with the little leaflet we were given. Same old same old, we were lost after 5 mins but there was an orange line on the map which met up with the nature walk so we just followed the orange markers. Four hours later we gave up and called the campsite for help. Help was effectively turn around and walk back. The orange lines never did meet up!

Just a nice days walk you're thinking. Think again - it was 7 hours in total, no food, no drink, didnt see another soul just lots of forest, swamps and mosquitoes. Absolute hell. We couldnt stop for more than 15 secs because after 5 the mossies homed in. In fact it was a full body work out as we were waving our arms around fighting them off all the time except when we needed to use our hands to haul ourselves across swamps or clamber up or down rock faces. The leaflet was stuck together with blood in 30 mins from swatting the blood suckers. Forgot to say - the centre had signs up warning that bears, cougars and wolves had been spotted recently.

I'm taking 90% of the blame as I didn't think it was a problem that the orange lines dropped off the little leaflet map and I just assumed they joined up at some point in a neat loop - wrong. but it didn't help that when I was crawling along a log over a swamp heaving with mossies David told me that we were now following the black markers and when I looked up I realised he meant the black lines round the trees where the orange had been burnt off. In other words the rangers had diverted the walk because it was impassable in their opinion.

But we survived and we've spent most of today sitting around our new campsite doing nothing much more than tending our bites and looking for dressings big enough to cover the ginormous blister on my heel.

Phew, too much movement must stop now.

Taz tests the water

Saturday 19th June Lake Vanern

Shouldn’t have disrespected the Turkish commentary for the footie. It was the only part of the game we enjoyed. Once we realised that Carragoosh was Jamie Carragher we knew that a cornoosh was a corner, Mamoosh was the Algerian player Mamour etc. And just as we were about to turn off in disgust Sean Wright Flips came on so we stuck with it.

Parked up in a lovely spot next to a lake just above Lake Vanern. There is a 5km walk starting just in front of the van so we set off at 8.45pm thinking we’d just go a little way and over an hour later arrived back with Taz still on his feet. Unlike the walks we go on in the UK it was all beautifully marked out with bits of info in Swedish and English along the route. Past a sauna at edge of lake and an abandoned outdoor theatre in the middle of a fairytale woodland glade. Taz had a paddle at the spot named as the Pensioners’ bathing place. Very appropriate.

Taz dips his toes in Lake Vanern - briefly

Thursday 17th June

Lake Vanern

From the ridiculous to the sublime. Spotted the road sign next to a lake in the middle of nowhere. But we didnt worry about it for too long as we don't have the car with us and our bikes are washed in the rain.

The sublime - found our own little beach to park up next to for a night. David got a bit carried away after dinner on the sand and stumbled off muttering about fire, long grass, and sunset. Came back 30 mins later with empty box of matches. Just as well - the sun takes an awful long time to go down in this part of the world!

Settling down for footie now. Too wet and windy for town tonight and there is little hope of much atmosphere in the TV room on camp (part of the kitchen) as the Germans will be licking their wounds and the Norwegians and Swedish are disinterested. Never mind we've started on the wine and pringles, beer and crisps to come! Hey ho - which reminds me: if its "hie" in Denmark, "Hei Hei" in Sweden, will it be "ha ha ha" in Norway - sorry

Just watching BBC 24 hur news to get the lineup and as much info as possible as we can only find the match on Turkish TV on our telly and we understand even less Turkish than Swedish. But we can make our own commentary cant we?

Taz has been practising his defensive moves in case he gets a call from Fabio

Monday 14^th June Orust Island

I know why the old lady swallowed a fly. She was cycling uphill gasping for air. (memo to self: try to find a non-sticky lip balm for cycling)

This is a lovely part of Sweden. We’ve done lots of cycling round the island and the stunning views go along way towards compensating for the hills. I thought David was being very gallant when he said “after you” whenever there was a car behind us, but then I realised it meant that I was always the one having to pull ahead on a hill. After that we had a very sticky couple of minutes exchanging several “after you”s and “no, after you”s on a long hill with a lorry trying to overtake. We discovered there is a new gear on our bikes after first: walking.

Its very odd visiting all these lovely spots when everything is closed. Apparently it all goes mad after midsummer (26^th) but at the moment it feels like we’re having a bit of a sneak pre-view.

Think we’ve only spoken to one other British couple since we crossed into Denmark. The Swedish couple we sat next to when we watched the football didn’t even recognise the English flag. Guess they only see the Union Jack. Don’t know why Sweden isnt more popular with Brits. Stunning scenery, lots to do and not as expensive as France. It is a little bit Stepford Wives tho and the birds are very cheeky.

Taz saw the IKEA bag but meatballs weren't on the menu for tea

Friday 11th June Tjorns island

Too bad a day for photos. Finishing as we started with David trawling for TV channels to watch football on. Mild panic when we realised its nearly 10pm and no CBS Action channel for NCIS but then we realised we dont ever follow whats going on - we just watch the pictures and take it in turns to say "what did he say?" or "what happened then?" so it doesnt matter if we miss the start.

But thats the least of our worries.

Coming in at number 1 is: after various niggles to start the day David mistook the hose that you use to clean the chemical loo tank with the one for drinking water --eeeeuuuuuw. It took us most of the day and several shops to find something to sterilise the fresh water with. Tomorrow will reveal how successful we were!!!!!!!!

After various set backs made it to lovely island off west coast of Sweden but cant see much through the rain. Might head up to Oslo tomorrow as it looks sunny and we are in danger of rotting soon if we dont dry out.

Taz spots first IKEA in Sweden and wonders if the meatballs taste the same

Thursday 10th June Goteborg

Struggled to find a sentence (or an outfit) that could connect "glamour"' "rain" and "toilet block"!

Sadly left our little campsite by the sea between Hoganas and Krapperup and we're on our 2nd night in Goteborg. Lovely city - lots to do and see and easy to get around. And for about £3.50 you get a pass thats valid for most of the museums for a year. Bargain.

On to the islands up the coast tomorrow. We've given up trying to track the weather and we're going to have to take the Swedish approach of ignoring it. They're barking! On my evening walk with Taz for his constitutional we've passed a playground full of kids (apart from a few trying to herd ducks), a couple sitting out watching the rain under their open-sided awning, and a group of cyclists having a picnic under the trees. Don't they know that rain is wet? We obviously need to toughen up before taking on Norway. oops there goes a guy wandering past in his tshirt.

Taz wishes Mum hadnt forgotten the iron - too many wrinkles in the morning

Tuesday 8th June - In a good place

We went to our wedding in a bus so I guess it was OK to cycle to our anniversary meal 25 years later!

David asked the waiter to recommend a good Swedish schnapps to finish the meal. After we'd drunk it he told us it translated into English as "wormwood" - sounds about right. We had a lovely view of Hoganas harbour and we agreed that we weren't into boats. After all, david told me, he'd sailed around the world, "well the Isle of Wight anyway". Glad I had a big serviette to cry into.

Taz scents wedding bells

Monday 7th June, Hoganas

Jodie and Ian getting married in Ibiza today - would put in wedding bells if I knew how!

Tomorrow its our Silver Wedding Anniversary - think I've got David an appropriate card but no idea what it says really.

And on June 19th its the wedding of the Swedish Crown Princess at Sofiero Palace near Helsingborg. We stopped off there on our way to Hoganas to break the journey - roughly 30 -40 km from last stop! Very nice gardens - bet she's got lots of photo opportunities mapped out.

Last stop was place called Raa - outbursts of Lady Gaga and Boney M after each mention of the name. Not too sure where we are now apart from north of Hoganas but its very nice. Seems to be part of a conference centre and church right next to the sea. Only 17 spaces for camping and there's only 3 lots of us here. Best of all we get to use conference "facilities" - staying on an extra day just for the showers! Well not quite, there are some outlet shops 2 min bike ride so could find that important silver wedding anniversary present.

Taz adds to the shopping list

Thursday 3rd June, Malmo

Another country, another language. Took a few dodgy days in Denmark to work out that the “enstrette” signs pointed to a one way street and not, as David interpreted, the High Street. The Danes asked Carol for more consonants, but the Swedes have gone for “new vowels, please Carol”. Still we worked out enough to successfully buy 300 more poo bags for Taz. Less successful was this morning’s cup of tea. I thought David’s looked a bit curdled, we’d bought yoghurt instead of milk. Never mind, there was enough old milk for my cup (priorities, priorities).

Had a look around Malmo today. Nice city. Looks like school kids celebrate end of year the same way all over (first photo).

Was a bit worried about getting David back in one piece. He was a little too intent on checking out whether or not absolutely all the adshells displayed women in very little clothing.

Taz gets out his passport and David gets breathalysed

Wednesday 2nd June

Crossed the Oresund bridge from Copenhagen to Malmo in Sweden today (you can just about see it in the background!). Before they let us into Sweden Taz had to get his passport checked and they breathalysed David - because he was driving, not for fun. Good job we couldn't afford to get too drunk celebrating my birthday.

Lovely sunny day today. Yesterday was very wet and windy so we abandoned our trip to Tivoli Gardens and spent a few hours cycling round in the rain, lost as usual, blaming each other, as usual, and managed to visit one museum. But went back in and had lovely meal in the evening and then got lost walking in the rain for a change - looking for a bar brother Steve recommended - top of a hotel looking over Tivoli Gardens apparently. Tried 2 then settled on the third and despite the fact we were both melting in the heat of a huge fire in the bar we spent as long as we could over a gin and tonic and glass of red wine. Why? Because they cost us £20 - thats why.

Despite the weather we enjoyed Copenhagen and will try and go back later in the trip. Loved the trains with the special carriages with bike racks in them and there are channels at edge of stairs so you can get your bigs down to tracks (hard work tho).