Winter is coming …
… not only for the „Game of Thrones“ guys. The Swedes are getting prepared, too.
Summer holidays are over, the kids are back in school. The grown ups are fanning out in the forests, checking their firewood and bringing in their large, noisy equipment for wood cutting.
Slowly turning South again
Bad news for us. We used to retreat to the woods and avoid camp grounds and bigger parking lots, because we were overwhelmed by the masses of RVs or „Weissblecher“ (white tinners) as a friend of ours calls them.
Sweden seems to be the new go-to place for those who don’t want to expose themselves to the heat of the Mediterranean. They want „coolcations“ with the comfort of their own home on wheels, as we could read in a newspaper article the other day.
So, we looked for hidden, quiet places (as we showed you in former posts), where we could be by ourselves and just surrounded by nature. Up to now, we have been lucky and found nice spots off the beaten track most of the time.
These are going to be harder to locate now.
Another downer:
Meanwhile, the temperatures at night tend to be at the single digit level. This is becoming a little uncomfortable, even in our cozy sleeping bags.
And – the weather has been great so far. But now it’s getting rainy and windy more often. Not ideal for people who live in a little camper van like we do. Once our clothes are wet, there is no space to store and dry them properly.
So, sooner or later, we will be turning South again.
Thumbs up!
After five weeks on tour with Big Paul, it’s time for an appraisal.
Was it a good idea to buy an old Postal Service van, make it „liveable“ according to our own needs and wishes, reduce baggage to a minimum and hit the road?
Absolutely!
We’ve had a great time! Big Paul has been runnig smoothly and accepting even the narrowest, bumpiest gravel roads with the largest and meanest potholes, we have ever been caught in.
So, we could experience the country like no „normal“ tourist would do.
We learned so much about the land, the wilderness, the Swedish mentality and lifestyle and the very special Scandinavian touch.
Being outdoors a lot, adapting to sun and drizzle, wind and haze and temperature rollercoasters between 9 and 40 degrees Celsius (Big Paul doesn’t have air condition), has been an enormous boost for our immune systems.
Also being confronted with a completely different diet.
Usually, our camping stove would boil water for tea and coffee. We didn’t have many opportunities to cook a full meal.
Also, we adapted to the Swedish taste quite fast. As we already mentioned: The Swedish taste buds are wired differently. They have a tenency to go for „sweet, sweet as can be“.
My intake of sugar during the last weeks will suffice for the rest of my life, I’m sure.
At least, this sugar orgy made me the most diligent teeth brusher ever. 
My berry spree
But the real treat has been, what the Northern woods are offering generously at this time of the year: blueberries.
When I was little, I loved them very much. Not only because of their delicious taste. The clou was that after eating a handfull I always came up with a „Chow Chow tongue“. And I could proudly present it to everybody without getting punished for bad behavior.
Apart from the sweet blueberries I find the red lingonberries really luscious.
When they are fully ripe and dark red, they are very juicy and their „off-dry“ aroma is at least as nice as chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa.
Chanterelles are plenty
Another gift of the woods are the mushrooms.
When I was a kid, my Mom took me mushroom-hunting every August. She had what they call a „green finger“ and had a deep knowledge of the European flora.
I wish she were still around, because I think there was no mushroom she didn’t know.
Now, the forests are full of them, but I only remember some of my favorites and am cautious what I pick.
Anyway, with chanterelles you can never go wrong and they make a wonderful add-on to our lunch.
Wish I could take the "badplats" home
Our daily routine to check for a „badplats“ (place for swimming) is another benefit of our journey to the North.
Out in the wild, there often are a lot of bogs and reed beds to pass or slippery rocks to climb, before you reach a lake and get into the water.
And since the Swedish love being in and on the water as often as they can, may it be rivers, lakes or the ocean, the local communities take care that you have an easy access to the aspired „vatten“.
Such a „badplats“ oftentimes has a sandy beach or a little stage or jetty that makes diving in really comfortable.
No matter what temperature, as long as we have the opportunity to warm up again after the swim, we go for it.
And it’s always refreshing and energizing.
Never felt healthier
BTW, this is what the Swedish seem to be doing all the time. Neither rain, nor hail, nor cold can keep them from taking a quick dive after work and on weekends.
So, you very rarely have a badplats for yourself, except on stormy days – and this is when you really don’t want to be wet and cold yourself.
