Southwards to Stockholm

Our ferry back to Sweden was not until 1.30pm, so we had a relaxed morning, time for a final Finnish supermarket shop before heading back to Eckerbrö. Now at Baltic crossing number three in as many weeks we knew what to expect, a ship already crowded with booze cruisers who had been partying for two hours on the outward leg and were all set to continue on the return.

On board diversions - Duty Free Shop scrum, 

and scrumptious prawn open sandwiches

So impressed were we by the Rioja Reserva we had bought previously we headed for the duty free shop to buy another. It was a bit of a scrum, and a tad hazardous as people jostled trolleys piled with shrink wrapped pallets of beer - not everyone was careful or sober. We found a box of 12 of the Årland craft brewery 'Wild Flower' lager, so we picked up one and a half bottle of Tio Pepe for good measure. For the final hours of the trip once again we found ourselves in the bar during the entertainment - a lone male singer/pianist/guitarist - 'Great Balls of Fire' was probably this crossing's musical nadir.

Our plan was to stay overnight at the motorhome parking on the quayside at Grisslehamn, but we realised that because of the National Day holiday weekend it probably would be full. As the ferry edged towards the dock we could see the parking area, as we predicted, there were no spaces. Plan B was to head to the stellplatts in the southern suburbs of Uppsala; Gill entered the co-ordinates, the Sat-nav predicted a 90 minute journey but around two hours at moho speed.

On the way here we ignored the sat nav route and kept to the main roads. This time we followed it. The minor roads were prettier, but quite narrow, vigilance is required as verges were often gravelly and steep. I read somewhere that Sweden is 60% covered in forest; it felt even more wooded than that hereabouts. It struck me that 350 years ago the whole of Northern Europe would have looked like this before we cleared our woodland for fuel, fields, to raise barns, construct navies and smelt iron. People now are calling for us to re-forest the earth in response to rising carbon emissions. That would be a beautiful thing.

After an hour or so we ran out of trees and reached the E04 motorway it was only a couple of junctions down to Uppsala and the stellplatts looked be be easily accessible from the city's southern junction. When we arrived at the location there was not a motorhome to be seen. Gill double checked the co-ordinates on Campercontacts, they were fine. The site gave a web address; it stated the place had closed in March. Luckily the city had a campsite too, but it was located in the north. I guess we did get an unplanned trip through the city centre, it looked bland and modern, though there is a more ancient part somewhere and occasionally we glimpsed the twin spires of Uppsala's famous cathedral peeping over the blocks of mid-rise apartments 

The campsite was located next to a big municipal sports complex with a leisure pool, all weather pitches, sports halls and an arena. It's a popular place for family get togethers, and being a bank holiday weekend was busy, but not full thankfully.

It was a warm afternoon, a bit sticky, with a forecast warning of thunder showers which never materialised. I suppose we had the time to walk or cycle into central Uppsala but we lacked the inclination. We are now a month into the trip, about halfway through, this is the 21st place we have stopped and we have stayed nowhere for more than two nights. Travel fatigue is kicking in. So we settled down to observe the family BBQs unfold around us. Here is not unpleasant, woods to north, overlooked by nineties style glass balconied apartment blocks to the south, a bit like camping on the outskirts of Milton Keynes.

Next day we headed to Stockholm. The Långholmens Hubilscamping blurb said that you could notbook in before 2pm. We planned to stop in a motorway service area and have lunch. After days of empty picnic areas the ones on they way to Stockholm were all full. We pushed on. 

The moho stop we were heading for was located on a small island a couple of kilometres from Stockholm's historic centre - Gamla Stan. This is not what we normally do. Motorhomes and unfamiliar cities are a recipe for stress. Much better to find a nearby town with good transport links. When we booked this we were anticipating meeting our eldest, Matthew in Stockholm so a central location would have made sense. That fell through, but I guess the central location will make visiting the city easier. There seems to be lots of bike lanes.

Despite our qualms we found Långholmens Hubilscamping without incident. Though the traffic was heavy, the city had speed limits of 60 - 70kph on all its urban motorways; it does make negotiating them as a foreign driver much easier.

The plusses for the place is its location. Långholmen itself is a wooded island, once home to a large prison. The buildings have been converted into a quirky hotel. The narrower of the waterways surrounding the island provides moorings for a couple of boat clubs. It is easy to cycle from the 'hubilscamping' to the city centre along dedicated bike lanes.

There are some downsides too. The parking bays are small, some just long enough for a 7m van, so tight that you need to remove bikes from the rear rack to squeeze on. The facilities are basic housed in prefab huts, but clean and functional. A big road bridge runs over the site, noisy at rush hour which starts early at about 6.30am. The place is directly underneath Bromma airport's flight path, it too seems to have an early morning rush hour.

Anyway, here we were, whingeing was pointless, we took a walk down towards Gamla Stan, admiring the collection of historic steam boats tied up by the quayside. Some are used as houseboats, others as boutique hotels and backpacker hostels. I looked into them as a possibility of somewhere Matthew might stay. They are relatively inexpensive by Stockholm standards.

We walked about 2kms, took a few photos of the old city's skyline then returned for a coffee at the van. As evening fell I could see a golden light breaking through trees next to the the van. Paths meandered through them up a hill, we decided to see where they led. It was good we did, on top of the hill was an old look out post; the evening sun illuminated the ochre stuccoed buildings of the old city and shafts of light broke through trees around us. 

It was beautifully peaceful. Tomorrow we'll head into the city centre for a bit of a mooch.