Friday 19th and Saturday 20th June - From Sweden to Denmark

No Wi-fi again last night folks so a double dollop now.

Now, it is admission time. In my quest for popularism I have sacrificed factual accuracy. It has quite rightly been pointed out to me that through ignorance - which I admit - and a little bit of mischievousness - perhaps - I am causing some confusion re the EEC, EU and Eurozone. I am reliably informed by my European Correspondent who knows these things that “The EU includes all Scandinavia except Norway and Iceland. Denmark and Sweden, like the UK are not in the Eurozone. The EEC is an older larger concept which is not very relevant today”.

Well, there you are. So no more Europe bashing

Had a great night in a small hotel in Oresund with a kind receptionist who let me put bike practically in the foyer.

Froggy was really taken with the size of their leggo sets here – we saw it on the way out of the hotel complex - and wants one.   

I intended to take a leisurely ride down to Jonkoping along the eastern bank of Lake Vattern.  I’d heard it was a really attractive route and it didn’t disappoint. It was more on the tourist route than I’d really been on before and as it was a National Holiday Weekend it was busy.

In fact there’s been floods of cars driving north over the last few days - like a Volvo tsunami.

I’ve had a rethink about those guys that name caravans and motor homes. I can now see why they are needed. I saw a motor home today called Home Car which although I guess is technically correct is pretty boring isn’t it. I see they are manufactured in Lommel in Belgium – now, there’s a comment there I’m not going to make!

The ride seemed to pack a lot of different elements of “days out” into one. There was a really old fashioned “sea side” town,  Granna – ok on a lake - with about 10 rock shops in a short street – somehow I’d always thought of that as a British thing – wrong again. Looking on t’nternet I find “Gränna is known for its red and white polkagris (literally "polka pig" in Swedish) stick candy, also known as peppermint rock. This was first made by the widow Amalia Eriksson in 1859”.

I caught sight of this as I rode along ..... 

 and admit my first thoughts were ”How fortunate to be able to build something like that and with that view”.  As I drove passed though I saw the sign Café so went back to have a look. What an amazing place. It is a “Nature House” -  a concept attributed to the architect Bengt Warne -  and is the brainchild of Bodil Antonsson who showed me round. 

 Her father was a gardener and so Bodil had grown up with the rhythms of seasons and plants and told me she had wanted to create somewhere where you could be at peace and at one with nature.   As I sat and had a coffee and one of their beautiful cakes the world certainly seemed to be a pretty ok place.

It was 6 years in coming to fruition but now is a café – though that word really does not do justice to the cakes I saw - a B&B, a meeting place and a venue for courses and small events.  

The “loft” which is where the concerts would take place - has to be seen to be believed – can you imagine listening to live music here on a sunny evening – or better still with a sunset!

I didn’t get a full technically spec but it must be nearly self-sufficient and self renewing And there were solar panels outside.  You can see more pictures at www.Uppgrennanaturhus.se  though most of the text is in Swedish – or better still go stay there.

Vadstena was another beautiful town on the lakeside. It’s got a 16th Castle which was quite magnificent.    

And see, even in a place as steeped with class and history as this they know quality when they see it and put it centre stage.  A Volvo Tractor – what else would it be in Sweden!

At one point the country side was again like the prairies with little red and white homesteads dotted about. On this predominately green canvas the purples of the lilac and lupins had been joined by bright yellow laburnum and pale blue cornflowers. I have absolutely no artistic ability but I can almost imagine what an abstract painting of the area would look like.

These are the ruins of  Brahehus Castle on a hill overlooking the lake but I  couldn’t seem to find a way up to it. Built in the 1600s by a politician as a country retreat – no change there then – it was ravaged by fire in 1708 and was never repaired.

Though you wouldn’t know it from the weather it is of course mid-summers day soon and as I've said one of the biggest holidays. Here it seemed a bit more traditional than the dashing up north to the cabin.  There have been hundreds of people along the way picking wild flowers from cornfields, meadows and even the verges. And in the towns they are adorning everything – and I mean everything -  with birch branches. 

Stopped over night near Jonkoping and then off this morning to Denmark. Another long haul really and more has to be done on faster roads.

I pulled off to have a bite to eat – another picnic -  at this little village off the main road

 and came across a ruined church with this stone outside the grounds.

It is a Brudsten or Bridal stone and was where the bride or sometimes the bride and groom “to be admired by the congregation”.

Then back across the Oresund Bridge and into Denmark.  Now, you will notice a marked lack of photos from this bit of the trip. Well, a) I was on a motorway so stopping was a bit tricky, although I risked it for this snap of the bridge

but mainly b) it siled it down – couldn’t see a flaming thing.

To make sure I clocked up the miles I had e-mailed a camp site near Odense in Denmark to ask if there would be any cabins if I made it. Got a lovely reply back from Angelika who said yes they had a cabin and she would be around until 10 so I’d be welcome

I did make it by about 8.30 and was greeted by Angelika. . Angelika is not like other people. Angelika is a one off – or at least I hope she is.

The reception is a shop for garden gnomes – I don’t know why. She draws pictures all the time she is talking to you. She goes off on tangents in broken English. She explains the “camp rules” in even more broken English. My head is spinning.

Let's see what the night brings - my cabin door is going to be locked!!!!

Night night.......