Day Forty One Monday 29th August

It has been another interesting day today, despite a lot of rain, but with one major disappointment. After breakfast the Captain announced that, because of the forecast of bad weather and strong winds, the passengers would not cross Lake Vanern (the largest lake in Sweden and the fourth largest in Europe) in the boat, but instead would cover the day's itinerary travelling around the lake by coach. So, after a ( optional) three kilometre walk along the towpath ahead of the boat to a Canal Museum at Sjotorp, the official end of the Gota Canal where it joins Lake Vanern, we all clambered onto the coach which was waiting for us. A lovely salmon lunch was laid on for us at the restaurant at Lacko Slott (Castle), followed by a guided tour of the castle as scheduled. Another lovely castle, in a beautiful lakeside setting, dating back to the thirteenth century with baroque and Renaissance additions, lovingly restored in the 1920s. We then rejoined the coach and continued to Vanerborg to meet the boat at the end of its journey across the lake, with an "afternoon coffee" stop on the way. Everyone was very relieved to see Diana emerge from the lock across the water, with a blast of her horn. It had apparently been a very bumpy crossing, and the captain's decision was justified. A shame to have spent 4 hours in a coach instead of relaxing cruising, but we were back with the boat in time for the Captain's dinner, which had only had to be delayed by 30 minutes. We were privileged to be joined at our table for the last part of the meal by the second officer, who does in fact captain Diana and the other two Gota Canal boats himself. A very interesting man, who is retired from merchant shipping. Our captain proper is a ferry captain in real life, who captains this boat once a year as a holiday! There's a lot of love in the company! After dinner there was an invitation to have a tour of the kitchen, which Geoff will report on. I preferred to come up on deck to write this, given that this is our last evening. It is quite chilly, but clear. We are moored here at Vanenborg for the night.