Tues 30th - Wed 31st July - The Göta Canal - Going Up

The Göta Canal stretches from Sjötorp on Lake Vanern to Mem on the East coast of Sweden.  It has 58 locks and is 190 kilometres long.  Of this distance 87 kilometres are constructed and 103 kilometres are made up of the 5 lakes through which the Canal passes – Viken, Vattern, Boren, Roxen and Asplången.  The highest point of the Canal is on Lake Viken, more than 90 metres above sea level.  The steps in the cross-section below indicate the flights of locks, up and down, which we went through.

There’s quite a lot to do when going through locks, so we were pleased to have the whole family plus Gareth on board for this part of the journey.  It’s helpful to have two people on shore to catch ropes, two on board fore and aft to throw ropes, one on the helm – and one making the tea!

Here we are in the first set of ‘up’ locks at Sjötorp on a rather grey day.  We are at the front on the left hand side of the picture …

The person ashore puts the rope round a ring on the quay, and the person on board pulls it in with the help of the winch on the mast as the water fills the lock and the boat rises …

Then we’re out of the first set of locks and off down the canal …

Unfortunately the weather got greyer and wetter …

… and even wetter!

Some of the locks are in ‘ladders’ or ‘flights’ like a flight of steps, all linked together so you go through several locks one after another without any gap in between.  Then the people on the shore can ‘walk’ the ropes along to the next lock, rather than having to throw and catch them again.

Here we are going into one of the ‘flights’ of locks …

… and this is looking back down from the top of the flight …

This is the rush of water coming into the lock when the sluices are opened – you have to control the boat with the ropes so it’s not thrown around too much by the turbulence …

Some lock gates are decorated with pot plants …

The countryside was pretty, but it was so grey and wet that we didn’t really see it at its best …

It was still raining when we tied up in the small marina at Vassbacken ...

However, in the early evening the weather quite suddenly cleared, and we all walked, jogged and cycled back down the canal to see the views we’d missed – lovely reflections …

… expanses of corn fields …

… a rather beautiful, ethereal mist rising from the surface of the water as the air temperature rose …

… and another pretty sunset …

Here’s the boat alongside in the marina which looks calm and peaceful now it’s stopped raining …

The next day dawned much brighter and Vassbacken marina looked quite a pretty spot …

We set off down some quite narrow, wooded stretches of the canal …

Occasionally the locks are not automatic.  We had to open and close the lock gates at Tåtorp ourselves …

… and the sluices had to be operated manually …

We took turns at taking the helm going in and out of the locks.  Here’s Caroline driving out of the final ‘up’ lock …

… and into Lake Viken where we anchored for lunch …

Later we moved to another beautiful spot for the night …

It became quite dark as a storm approached …

… and passed.

Monday 29th July - Mariestad to Sjötorp

The new crew, Gar and Jo, settle in (to deckchairs!) as we leave Mariestad …

Meanwhile the rest of the crew practise their knots …

We sailed through the islands, some wooded, some barren and rocky …

… and anchored near this tiny, uninhabited island.  We swam to it and walked all round, which only took about 20 minutes, before lunch on board…

… then whiled away the afternoon sunbathing and relaxing on deck …

We arrived at the first lock of the Göta Canal at Sjötorp to discover it had just shut for the night!

So we tied up to a stern buoy in the marina, using our new metre-long steel hook.  You hook the buoy as you head in towards the jetty to keep the stern in place, then someone has to do a flying leap onto the jetty and tie two bow ropes, one port and one starboard, to the jetty to hold the front of the boat steady …

It was a lovely evening …

… so we walked round the marina and village, played crazy golf, had an icecream!

… had a good look at the locks we would go through the next day …

… and enjoyed the sunset and beautiful reflections …

Sat 27th - Sun 28th July - Läekö Slott and Mariestad

We visited Läekö Slott, originally a bishop’s palace and stronghold in the Middle Ages, which was converted into a residential castle in the 17^th century by Magnus Gabriel De La Gardie, a very famous Swede at the time …

We had a very interesting and entertaining tour of the interior of the castle from a young guide who spoke, as many do, fantastic idiomatic English with an American accent …

We could see our boat anchored in the bay from the castle windows …

We also enjoyed a photographic exhibition of remote parts of the planet and endangered species by Swedish photographer Mattias Klum …

Later that afternoon, we made our way to Mariestad and went alongside in the harbour …

The following day was wet and miserable at first – an opportunity to do the supermarket shopping and make up the beds for yet more crew arriving that evening – Jo and Gar.

We also had a wander round the old town when the rain subsided a bit – wooden buildings dating from the 16^th century – this used to be the hospital …

… and the impressive late Gothic Cathedral built in 1593 when Mariestad was the diocesan capital …

I went for another jog/bike ride wth Rebecca and saw Mariestad from across the harbour …

… and Lake Vänern looking silvery in the watery evening sunshine …

Wed 24th - Fri 26th July - Lake Vänern

Wed 24^th – Rather a grey day, so we caught up with some domestic drudgery – 3 loads of laundry, a ‘big’ shop at the supermarket and a trip to the Systembolaget, the government owned chain of liquor stores in Sweden.  It’s the only place to buy wine, spirits and beer or cider with an alcohol content greater than 3.5%, and it’s open for quite short hours and only in sizeable towns, so it’s important to make sure you catch one open!!

In the evening we went to a free concert at the local museum – two young music students playing piano and trumpet – very pleasant and a chance to look around the museum, too …

Just as the concert finished, we heard a roll of thunder and the rest of the evening and most of the night was taken up with a spectacular storm – lightning that turned the sky pink, loud thunder overhead and at times torrential rain …

By complete good fortune the rain just held off for 20 minutes at the precise time that Caroline arrived at the station.  Other than that, we battened down the hatches and stayed inside – except briefly when the people on the boat next door brought over some ice-cream for us!  [You have to finish ice-cream up immediately as most people don’t have a freezer on board.]

Thurs 25^th – More new crew – we now have both Caroline and Rebecca on board …

We left Vänersborg, past this rather striking piece of art …

… through another lifting road bridge …

… which looked like this from underneath as we went past …

… and out into Lake Vänern, the third largest lake in Europe, which contains about one third of all Sweden’s islands.  As the morning wore on, the sun – and the boat’s hammock – came out …

Later that evening the sky looked pretty awesome …

… but the ‘mozzies’ came out in force, so we abandoned plans for a barbecue on the rocks and battened down the hatches again!

Fri 26^th – The day dawned very misty …

… but by 10 am it had cleared up into a beautiful day with perfect blue skies and sunshine.  It was warm enough (20°C) to go for an early morning swim, then we went for a walk round the small uninhabited island of Storön …

… which was beautiful and very peaceful …

… with wildflowers growing out of the rocks.

Back to the boat, then 'up-anchor' and we carried on through the rocks and islands …

… and some very narrow channels …

… and tied up against a jetty provided by a boat club, with an ‘honesty box’ for people to make a contribution towards the services provided, such as loos and a barbecue pit …

This time we did manage to have our barbecue …

… plus a swim (now 21°C) and a walk through the pine forest …

… to the small holiday village of Spiken …

Later there was a lovely sunset over a perfectly calm lake …