Day Forty Four Thursday 1st September

The cruise seems a bit like a dream already, as we pick up the old routine. We were slow getting going this morning, but there was no hurry. We dithered a bit over where to head for today, having had no decisions to make for the last week, but we knew we wanted to spend some time along the coast north of Stockholm before crossing to Finland. In the end we decided to head straight up the motorway to the furthest we wanted to go - just south of Gavle, which is where we would have got to if we had kept going east from Lake Siljan. After an hour and a half we stopped for a snooze and lunch in a picnic area that was so pleasant we could easily have spent the night there. It was well kitted out. But we were only twenty minutes or so from our planned destination, at Alvkarleby. The only info we had for the Camperstop was that there was a toilet and water, and that payment of 100 krone, less than £10, should be made at the hotel nearby. Well, we continue to be surprised by the variety of these places. As we drove into the little town we found a good sized Coop supermarket which supplied everything on our shopping list, and a post box for cards we needed to send. Slightly out of town, over an old wooden bridge with magnificent tumbling Rapids on either side, we found the attractive hotel/conference centre and Camperstop. There is room for ten campervans in a tarmaced area surrounded by trees, but we are one of only two here. We have an electric hook up, .the use of loos, showers, (with towels) wifi (slightly erratic) and, should we want them, saunas, a mini gym, and even a hot tub! All included in the 100 krone. A walk before supper took us past the hotel, over another wooden bridge to another surprise. On a rocky, wooded island, surrounded by the Rapids are scattered the attractive wooden, red painted buildings which, from 1880 to 1985 made up the summer camp of the Svea Engineer Regiment. The buildings are now holiday homes, restaurants, cafes and places for other recreational activities. It is all very quiet and peaceful now, being out of season here, but in the summer it must be very lively! The walk continued across two dams, forming part of a Hydro power plant built in 1915. The dams separate the lake .from the rocky Rapids, and link the island back to the road, but can only be crossed on foot. Our walk then returned us to our starting point over the wooden road bridge - remodelled in steel in the 1950s but preserving the original look with wooden facing.. We saw three herons, or should it be heron, all at once! Sitting outside after supper, surrounded by trees and with the noise of the Rapids in the background, we might have been on our own in the middle of nowhere. What an unexpected and extraordinary find!