Freedom is Calling - Page 5 of 21 - Blog about following the call of freedom

And suddenly the Police stopped us

GEF August 11, 2024

Was it Big Paul’s conspicuous color? Or the cocky u-turn we made?

In search of a supermarket to buy groceries we followed our navigational system and abruptly changed the direction. Just to find out that a police car behind us did exactly the same, coming up and flashing their lights.

We stopped and eagerly waited to see what would happen.

Surprise, surprise ...

A handsome young policeman turned up and gave us a friendly smile. He seemed a little puzzeled. Whoever he had thought would drive a strange vehicle like Big Paul, it was definitely not an elderly couple in leisure gear like us.

The policeman checked my partner’s drivers license. „Are you on holiday?“ he asked. We nodded. „Staying here?“ We told him we were just traveling through and actually looking for the next ICA supermarket.

„What did I do wrong?“ my partner asked. „Nothing“, the policeman replied and had a short conversation in Swedish with his colleague. For sure, we were curious, but unfortunately didn’t understand a single word.

„Routine control“, he then added and came up with another challenge. Would my partner agree to take an alcohol test?

Boring, boring ...

Since we had enjoyed our last beer with our friends on the coast about a week earlier, of course we didn’t have any objections. My partner blew into the test tube and the result, again, might have been a little disappointing for the policeman. Not the slightest hue of alcohol …

„Negative“, the policeman stated.

I was cheeky enough to ask him whether I could take a photo of the scene. „You can do whatever you like“, he smiled. And I did.

Well, Sweden is known for being one of the best democracies in the world. And for friendliness, helpfulness and patience.

Our nice policeman made it easy for us and gave us directions to the next big mall in the area, where we would find our supermarket and he wished us a good time.

Getting a peek of Lappland

We hadn’t planned it, but heading further north the next day, we crossed the boundary to Lappland. This region is shared by Norway, Sweden und Finland and is the home of the Sami people who migrate with the reindeer.

The landscape reminded us of Eastern Canada. Rolling hills covered with pine trees, birches and spruce, lichen and moss. A lot of little lakes and bogs. Some small scattered villages and very few individual farmsteds.

The weather had a Scottish note to it. As they say in the Highlands: If you don’t like our weather, wait five minutes.

So, nature surprised us again and again with amazing views. Have you ever seen a rainbow painting the forest?

We loved to take a swim in the morning. I would have never thought that I – a convinced lover of hot showers (and I mean hot!) – could get used to water temperatures around 14 degrees Celsius (about 57 degrees Fahrenheit).

See our video: https://youtu.be/u022HDCjc6Y

The real challenge

On the road there were warning signs: Moose crossing, reindeer crossing and a lot of advertisings hyping the big brown bear.

We didn’t see any of these.

What we met a lot of though were the really challenging creatures: bugs of any kind and size.

Whenever we settled at a quiet place to spend the night, they sniffed us out immediately and landed on Big Paul’s warm and cozy windshield and hood.

Apart from the well known gadflies, mosquitos and midgets we got pursued by flying ants – it was their mating season and they must have taken Paul’s attractive yellow color for an entree to their queen.

Watch them buzzing around on my short video: https://youtu.be/WMrsYkPmPKg

Thanks to our flexible mosquito screens and effective flyswatter we still had very relaxed and undisturbed nights.

That’s it for now. More to come.

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Traveling the Swedish backroads

EW August 4, 2024

During summer holiday season, even Swedish mainroads seem crowded. There are tourists everywhere. Admitedly a lot less than you would see on the main continent, but still, if you look for solitude as we do, the backroads are a much better choice.

On YouTube, you can see one of our rides on a backroad: https://youtu.be/QGox4usx2Fo

If you get out of the car into the woods

We are lucky – so far – and did not encounter too many of the bloodsucking inhabitants. Up to now, I caught only two ticks and a countable amount of mosquito bites as demonstrated on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XbjWdcdnv0Q

Friends at the seaside

Our route took us from the quiet lake to a friend’s house at the Swedish archipelargo on the western shore.

We spent some days together eating, hiking …

… and we enjoyed the scenery …

My partner filmed the panoramic view. You can watch it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/wf8h1HapFIs

That’s it for now. More to come.

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Being alive

GEF August 4, 2024

No events, no parties, no sightseeing. We want to explore the beautiful nature of this glacial area, expose ourselves to sun, wind, water and the unique stillness of the land and just be alive.

At least most of the time.

Reuniting with old friends

After two weeks on the go, we met good old friends we hadn’t seen for 10 years. They are retired and have a gorgeous secondary home overlooking the archipelago of the Swedish Atlantic coast.

In my little video, you can see what a great „vista“ they have: https://youtu.be/wf8h1HapFIs

Having lived from what the average Swedish supermarket in the countryside had to offer and being too lazy to assemble our two flame camping stove in the evenings, we now enjoyed an awesome change of cuisine.

Our friends are great cooks. They go fishing, collect mushrooms, grow herbs and salad and know the best places where you can buy extraordinary meat, cheese and organic bread and pastry.

What a feast we had!

Taking a walk across the pittoresque coastline, we reached a little pond that invited us for a refreshing swim and a sun bath on the warm, smooth rocks.

The next day, we were strolling along a little marina, where the local people have their sailing boats, fishing cutters and lobster baskets. That looked really promising.

Maybe we should return in September, when the lobster season starts.

We are so grateful for our friends‘ hospitality and wonderful company. And – their washing machine.

Launderettes are rare in Sweden. Something we hadn’t been aware of.

Paying with plastic

The same is true for cash money. At least we had known that before and armed ourselves with plastic.

Until now, we have not been to any shop or gas station, large or small, out in the woods or in a bigger city, that would not accept cards or payments per smartphone. You can get around easily without a single Oere or Crown in your pocket.

In Germany, on the contrary, we love our cash money, that makes daily book keeping so much easier (in our opinion).

You always know how many Euros you carry in your wallet and keep the overview.

The Swedish, due to a problem with rising bank and shop robberies a couple of years ago, decided to make a drastic cut and reduce the use of cash money to an unavoidable minimum. For them, this seems to work well. For us, it’s a matter of habituation.

Now, we are leaving the coast again and travel along the Norwegian border to the beautiful Province of Vaermland with its quiet hills and lakes.

That’s it for now. More to come.

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Discovering Sweden

EW July 28, 2024

Sweden is quite different from Germany: less populated, more nature, no traffic jams, almost empty roads, patient people.

On the other hand, many things remind me of the US and Canada: shopping malls, 7-eleven stores, lack of the typical German net of little access roads between fields and in forests.

The landscape is just gorgeous

And what are we doing besides driving?

Foremost swimming. Well, we are not adapted to the temperatures as you can see: https://youtu.be/8-aQxTkOVI0

Of course meals take a big part of our time: https://youtu.be/Ed_toUYZe-4

That’s it for now. More to come.

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