Söderköping, Sweden and the Baltic

Another lock keeper's house converted to a private home

Because we missed the last bridge opening by three minutes as we were traveling east in the Göta Canal on Monday, July 6, we spent a quiet night with no other boats or people around us in Vänneberga. We cast off at 9:20 a.m. on Tuesday, July 7, and the bridge opened for us. Then, we went through to sets of double locks and four single locks. At one of the single locks, we had to tie up on a waiting dock for a westbound passenger ship to come through. This gave us a great opportunity to see one of these boats, specifically designed in width and length to use the locks of the Göta Canal, maneuver in and out of the lock. It's a pretty tight fit. The Wilhelm Tham, like all the others, employs on each side a couple dozen wooden poles as fenders. They look like young pine or birch trunks stripped of their bark. Wood is abundant in this part of Sweden, and rubber or synthetic inflatable fenders could not take the beating in the locks. This was plain to see as the Wilhelm Tham left the lock and passed by us. Some of the fenders were shredded. The captain or a mate tossed one that had been ruined from an upper deck to the shore just before leaving the lock. They must keep a supply of new ones on board.

Wilhelm Tham tightly fitting into a lock

The ship with its port side fenders

Three well-used fenders

The ship in the next lock to the west

At 12:15 pm., we stopped at Söderköping to wait for a storm to pass over and have lunch on shore. This large town is a tourist destination and was more lively than others we have visited on the eastern part of the Göta Canal. Since the weather did not look as if it would improve significantly, we decided to stay the night. 

After lunch, we went to the large supermarket, a 10-minute walk away. Grocery stores of any size had been pretty limited since we departed Gothenburg. We were out of milk and fresh fruit and vegetables as well a Coke Zero! We stocked up and carried six bags of provisions back to the boat on the dock.

Mantra in Söderköping

After that, we walked through part of the town. In the early middle-ages it was the most important port in Sweden at the confluence of the Storån and Lillån rivers, trading mainly with Lubeck, principally in salt, textiles, butter and beer. Silting eventually led to its demise as a trading center. However, the lovely, stone-constrained rivers still flow as unnavigable streams through the older part of the town and are crossed by pretty pedestrian bridges.

Pedestrian bridge over a river in Söderköping

Pedestrian bridge over a river in Söderköping

The former municipal center of town is flanked by three-story masonry buildings, the most impressive being the ochre-colored Rådhuset (Town Hall), built in 1776, which now houses an art gallery. We strolled a bit farther and came to the Hagaparkens, with its gardens created in the mid-19th century. This area wa a market place in the Middle Ages.

Rådhuset and the town square

Fountain by the Hagaparkens

Entrance to Hagaparkens

Flower beds in Hagaparkens

A few blocks away is the St. Lawrence's Church and its unique separate wooden bell tower. The church, built entirely of brick in the Gothic style, was erected in the 13th century as a three-nave basilica. A major fire occurred in 1494; the church was rebuilt as a hall church and then reconsecrated in 1497. The edifice has not protruding apse; both the east and west ends have straight facades the end in crow-stepped gables. The interior, with its vaulted ceilings, is white-washed.

West facade of St. Lawrence's Church

In the 15th century, the blind windows on the exterior were beautifully painted with scenes from the Bible and of saints. During renovations in the 1965, a rune stone dating from the late 10th or early 11th century was found in one of the walls and is now situated outside by one corner of the church.

Viking era rune stone

The 50-meter tall, asymmetrical, black wooden bell tower soars above the lawn beside the church. Built in 1583, it contains four tons of bells. The entire structure is covered in large shingles, matching the shingles on the church roof, and both the whole tower and the church roof are covered with tar on a regular basis for preservation.

Even though we had just purchased food, we decided to have dinner out and were once again lucky to find a place with great carnivore and vegetarian entries. 

In the morning, we took ashort walk along the trails across the canal. A 70-meter cliff wall rises above the town, created by faulting between 400 and 300 million years ago, and features exposed bedrock from the Svecokarelian orogeny, mostly granite, granodiorite, gneiss and amphibolite. The mountain, Ramunderberget, contains deep ravines. The rocky cliff provides a warm, relatively dry environment for plants, including rare species. The cliff is included in the Ramunderberget Nature Reserve, which also features spruce and pine forest, deciduous forests, gullies, marshes, meadows, cultivated fields and flat-rock areas. 

We climbed 318 steps and paths to reach the viewpoint for the town of Söderköping and the surrounding area. Following the trail signs, we walked through forest and descended by a different route to the canal.

The Göta Canal from the viewpoint

Peter at the viewpoint

St. Lawrence Church and Bell Tower from the viewpoint

During our short walk, we had decided that we wanted to do a longer hike. Back at the boat, I made sandwiches, we packed our rain jackets (because precipitation is always a possibility here), binoculars and water in a day pack and set off after fueling up with ice cream for me and a fresh strawberry, pistachio, chocolate and whipped cream concoction for Peter and making a quick detour to St. Lawrence's Church. It had been closed the previous evening and we wanted to see the interior with its high vaulted ceilings, graves at the altar and artwork. Since it was sunny, it was also easier to see the details of the exterior and the bell tower. 

The bell tower

The ornate pulpit

A carved gravestone on the floor at the altar

The interior of the church

We chose the 9-kilometer Borgberget trail, which makes a loop around the reserve and past farm fields. The Swedish "right to roam" practice allows anyone to access public or private land and water, including woods and fields, and it is permitted to pick berries, wildflowers and edible mushrooms and to camp for a short time almost anywhere in nature. 

The trail took us briefly east along the canal and then we ascended to the top of Ramunderberget. From there we headed east along the plateau, came to edge of it on the north side and descended into the large valley stretching to the west, the spring green of the fields contrasting with the darker greens of the deciduous trees, spruce and pine on the land above. We walked north along the east end of the valley and then ascended to another mountain, Borgberget. After going up and down many times into ravines and up to the flat rock areas, sometimes over rocky terrain, we made it to the hill fort, the site of Sweden's largest mainland fortress. The ruins indicate that large, uncut stones were hauled from the surrounding area to form a fairly high wall, but most of the fort has fallen down or been covered with centuries of earth and vegetation.

Peter on the trail

Ferns, lichen, bushes and trees in the forest

Cow wheat flowers on the forest floor

Peter by the hill fort ruins

Continuing on along the ridge of Borgberget, we stopped to eat our sandwiches on some granite boulders. Afterwards, we stopped from time to time to collect bilberries and bog bilberries, which grow in patches together, in one of our empty containers. From the ridge at one point we could spot a pond to the north.

Bilberry bush in front of a bog bilberry bush

Berries free for the picking

Shallow pond through the trees

We then descended into the valley and walked along or through fields of wheat, flax, and broad beans before ascending the west end of Ramunderbergen and into the forest. 

Wheat field

Farm buildings and fields rimmed by wildflowers

This mountain is named, according to legend, for the giant Ramunder, who abducted a young nun named Ragnhild and held her captive on top of the mountain. She converted him to Christianity, he repented taking her and released her. When she returned to the monastery, she was accused of losing her virginity and was sentenced to death by burning at the stake. However, before she could be burned, a spring burst forth and put out the fire. 

Bird song accompanied us during much of our hike, and we heard and were fairly sure we saw the indigenous black woodpecker. We absolutely identified the pretty European greenfinch, another lifer for us. I was intrigued by the reddish-brown, slimy slugs on the paths along the fields. This species, Arion vulgaris, is an invasive agricultural pest, having spread across much of Europe and now into North America since the 1950s, but I thought it was attractive. 

Spanish slug

Luckily, rain did not fall during our hike. Having had little aerobic exercise lately, we were tired and felt we deserved one of the ice cream creations at Smultronstället, which is famous for its fanciful desserts. They are enormous and tasty, and we counted them as dinner! However, we think they are bit over-rated.

Our treats

The next morning, Thursday, July 9, we cast of the dock in Söderköping near 10 a.m., passed by the opened bridge and proceeded through the last three single locks, exiting the Göta Canal at 11 a.m. and entering Slätbaken, a deep bay on the west side of the Baltic Sea. We anchored for lunch near Arkäsund and enjoyed the scenery before. We raised anchor without turning on the engine and set sail on a port tack on a beam reach in 12 knots of wind from the north. Unluckily, the wind dropped to 8 knots after an hour and a half, and the engine had to be fired up. We anchored in a lovely place at nearly 10 p.m. as the twilight started. Other boats were also anchored in the area Scandinavian style, which is where you take the bow right up to bare rock, have someone leap off and secure lines to the shore and drop a stern anchor. This allows you to get to shore without a dinghy, kayak or stand-up paddle board, which most of the boats do not carry.

Ramunderberget from the east

Peter after exiting the last lock

Sunset photo taken at 11:45 p.m., two hours after the sun disappeared

In no particular hurry, we pulled up anchor around 11:00 a.m. this morning and motored (No wind again!) NNE in a meandering way passed the islands of the Stockholm Archipelago, which number over 24,000. The place where we planned to anchor looked crowded when we grew near (We could see 5 masts.), so we changed our route and headed to Varnöfladen, a protected marine area within the Sundby Nature Reserve. The entrance is narrow and quite shallow and we crept in quite timidly, with the depth meter showing 0 meters for a short distance. We dropped anchor in clay just before 6 p.m., with plenty of hours of daylight and sunshine left. There are plenty of water fowl, and the water is rimmed with areas of reeds, bare granite and trees coming down to the edge.

Mantra having made it through the narrow, shallow passage without touching bottom

The showers at the marina facilities at Söderköping had been pathetic, with the water never getting hot enough, the pressure low, and the shower head about 3 meters above the floor. I opened the stern gate to the swim platform and got out our towels, shampoo and soap and was ready to jump into the water. Peter had spotted jellies when he was dropping anchor, so I hesitated and ended up just sitting on the platform with my feet in the water. Near the surface, a multitude of jellies pulsated past, their bells transparent with a rosy rim and center. They did not sting. I even picked some out of the water in my hand to observe them more closely. Peter handed down the novel I am now reading, and I lounged there at the stern, enjoying the warmth of the late afternoon sun before finally standing up and showering.

Peter and I finished our card game, and he took a brief swim and a shower. Now it is time for dinner, late as usual. We plan to relax and enjoy this lovely place all day tomorrow.

Moving along at a Slow Pace on the Göta Canal

We went into flight of seven locks in Berg that lead to Lake Roxen at 9:45 a.m. This should be routine for us now, but Peter tried to kill me at the first lock. I had jumped to shore with the stern and bow lines and was walking forward to the place they had to be secured before the lock could begin to release water in the first stage of the descent. However, Peter was more focused on steering the boat and did not release the  lines to run free as I was going down the incline to the level that the water would be when the gate opened. I was violently yanked to the ground as I tried to keep hold of both lines. Fortunately, the shore was not lined with tourists. He claimed he lost track of all the things he had to do on board, but I suspect homicidal intent. Or perhaps the young, fair-haired lock attendant had distracted his attention.

Peter on deck in a lock

Nevertheless, without further accidents or injuries, we made it through the flight of locks, named Carl Johan in honor of King Charles XIV John, who visited the construction site with his son Oscar and laid down two foundation stones. The double lock just before the marina is named for Oscar.

We were down to Lake Roxen in about 25 minutes. The wind was insufficient for sailing, but we motored along happily, enjoying the stunning views.

View of reed lined shores and forest

We had almost made it to the east side of lake when I suggested that we should stop the boat somewhere and swim. We had passed a couple of islands already, so we made a u-turn and headed back there. We anchored near the mainland actually. We had started out the day dressed warmly with fleece jackets and long pants, but the bright sunshine had heated up the air. With our swimsuits on, we dove in after putting down the swim ladder, which hadn't been in the water since the fjords of Greenland. Peter swam all the way to the shore, but I found I could touch bottom not far behind the stern of our boat and walked most of the way. We examined the granite with its long cracks and inclusions and sparkling bits of feldspar and then returned to the boat, walking as far as was possible through the water. 

View from the stern of the boat at anchor. The rocks under water are almost visible.

Peter diving in

Sherri walking back to the stern

We showered on the swim platform, dressed in dry clothes and had lunch. By 2:30 p.m, the weather, which was variable all day, had changed. The bright blue sky with a few dazzling white cumulus clouds was replaced by nimbus clouds and a chilly breeze. We had barely pulled up anchor before rain began to fall. From swimsuits to foul weather jackets in little over an hour. Throughout the day, we added layers and took off layers many times according to the whims of the weather.

Sherri holding the boat in the lock, with the year the lock was completed engraved near the top

Canal view of fields and forests

Wildflowers by the canal

Back in the dug canal after the beautiful lake, we continued to admire the scenery. We passed by the town of Norsholm and entered a much smaller lake, Asplangen. Then we were back in the canal, where we observed dozen of sheep. The canal company owns approximately 300 sheep, and we have encountered them in other places too along the car-free parts of the towpaths. These sheep graze there, helping to keep the vegetation under control.

Grazing sheep

Another thing often seen are the ell stones. These historic monuments are the remains of an old compensation system. The stones, 143 in all, were placed along the canal between the lakes, spaced 594 meters apart (or 1,000 Swedish ells. Compensation for the drivers of draft animals that towed the boats was calculated by recording the number of stones that were passed.

Ell stone 17

We were planning to make it to Söderköping today, but we were told at the Klämman lock that we had to make it to the second bridge after the lock  by 5:40 p.m. because it would not open after that time because transit through the next series of locks could not be accomplished before the end of the locking today. We arrived at 5:43! Now we are tied up to the waiting dock until the morning. It is a pleasant evening and no other boats are here, so it is peaceful. Peter is working on repairing lines while I take care of chores below.

We expect to be in the Baltic Sea tomorrow.

The Göta Canal

Two days since the last post, we are still journeying through Sweden on the Göta Canal. I promised to record information about this canal, so here it is.

In the 15th century, the Bishop of Linköping wrote about the creating a waterway between Lake Vättern and Lake Vänern, after Denmark had introduced tariffs for foreign ships passing through the Øresund, the strait connecting the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. For 300 years, despite investigations, surveys and debates, nothing was done due to political conflict with the interests of land owners, the question of whether to connect lakes or built a fully artificial canal, and the lack of a strong advocate. Finally, in the early 19th century, a man had the leadership and technical skills to push through the idea and complete the project.

This man was Baltzar von Platen, who saw King Gustav IV Adolf's fascination with the Trollhätten Canal in 1801. At the beginning of 1808, von Platen presented his ideas about the Göta Canal to the king. The king authorized an ordinance that gave von Platen the task of calculating costs and time as well as staking out the canal route. He contacted Thomas Telford, a highly recognized Scottish engineer and builder of canals, aqueducts, bridges, roads, and harbors. In only a 20 day journey, von Platen and Telford completed measurements, leveling, route planning, including stipulating the location of locks and fully documented their work. 

The Göta Canal Company was established and funded by sale of shares and a government loan. Work began in 1810. Blasting, masonry and digging with tin-clad wooden shovels was don by 58,000 Swedish soldiers. The work day was long and grueling. It began at 5 a.m.; there was an hour for breakfast at 8 a.m.; work continued from 9 to noon; a midday break lasted from then to 1:30 p.m. when work continued until 4:30 followed by a half hour for the evening meal and and three hours of work. After 8:00 p.m., the soldiers were required to attend military church services, and then the tattoo signaled that they could sleep until 4 a.m. In the 22 years in took to complete the canal, a documented 84,000,000 hours of work was accomplished. 

The construction period was originally estimated at 10 years. After 5 years, however, only a quarter of the route had been excavated, and the costs already amounted to 50 percent more than had been calculated for completion. Baltzar von Platen was a clever negotiator, though, and he managed to get the necessary extensions and additional funding.

In 1822, with 18 locks completed, the western part of the Göta Canal was opened for traffic. The Västergötland section was inaugurated by King Charles XIV Johan at Sjötorp, the westernmost point. The royal ship Frigga traveled from there to Hajstorp, with the canal banks lined with thousands of spectators as well as bands. In 1832, the king arrived in Mem, the easternmost part of the canal, The royal yacht Esplendian was towed through the last lock and the entire canal was officially inaugurated. 

In addition to the canal itself, the Göta Canal Company built a support system, with a large workshop in Motala that turned into a manufacturing company that supplied the world with ships, steam boilers, hydraulic presses, locomotives, crankshafts and stainless steel products. In Sjötorp, a shipyard and dry dock were established. Its last steamship was manufactures in 1921, and the last newly built wooden ship was delivered to Russia in the early 1960s. The business now is focused on maintenance and service work associated with the canal facilities (which, we have noticed, are all extremely well-maintained). 

The canal system (the Trollhättan and the Göta) was crucial to shipping from its beginning until the 1930s, when the trucking industry took over. In the 1970's the canal became important again, not for transportation of goods but the tourist industry, which now attracts 4 million people each year. Because sailing ships had to be towed through the canal by draft animals until the 1920's, when steamships finally made the sailboats obsolete on the canal, their are wide paths on both sides of the canal in most places.

Passenger ships have traveled through the canal since its inauguration, and they still do, carrying tourists over the entire route or just sections. In addition, about 2,000 leisure boats travel on the Göta Canal every year. There is a hefty fee for boating on the canal, but it includes access to 21 guest marinas, each of which can be used for 5 nights, and, of course, passage through the locks. Adjacent to the many of the marinas, which are often in the countryside, are caravan parks, and the well-maintained facilities serve both boaters and campers. 

The former tow paths are now maintained for cyclists and walkers; there are 87 kilometers of car-free roads through meadowland, forests, and farmland, with small cafes, restaurants and historic sites along or near the route. These tourists are promised wonderful views of the boats on the canal and going through the locks. We have found that we are a tourist attraction! Only a handful of boats are similar in size to Mantra, and we have not encountered any other boats that are not Scandinavian, Dutch or German. Many people have lots of questions to ask us, particularly some of the 100 young lock keepers with summer jobs here. 

While the canal system was built and originally operated by the Göta Canal Company, it is now owned by the Swedish State and is a fine example of how well socialism can work.

The canal itself is 190 km from Sjötorp to Mem, with 58 locks. On the banks of the canal, there are 10,000 trees. Motoring at a maximum of 5 knots (except when on the lakes) is a slow and mostly pleasant way to travel across the country and view the countryside at a leisurely pace. The land through which the canal traverses is sparsely populated. There are some small villages and a few small cities. (Motala, for example, has 30,000 inhabitants.)

Cute house along the canal

Another home by the canal

Lily pads on the side of the canal

The tranquil canal on a sunny day

A long, tree-lined stretch passing through farmland

Yesterday morning (Saturday, July 4), we cast off from the dock at Vassbacken, a tiny, rural hamlet, at 9 a.m. and arrived at 10:30 a.m. at the waiting dock for the Forsvik Lock to join several other boats in line. The wait was 4 hours! Some other boaters whom Peter had chatted with offered us lunch composed of a couscous salad with an assortment of vegetables and fruit (including barbecued chicken for Peter). It was a welcome alternative to my usual meal offerings.

The lock keeper advised us to share the lock with a smaller power boat. There was just enough room for both of us across the width of the lock. Forsvik is the oldest lock on the canal, constructed in 1813, and has the greatest fall height, 3.5 meters. What we did not know was the lock walls narrow toward the bottom, so there was not enough width in the lock for both of us. We lost a tiny bit of paint on a small part of the hull!

Otherwise, our locking experiences have been mostly routine. There have been some small errors and minor bumps, but we seem to have got the hang of it all. 

At 4 p.m., having motored across the small Lake Botten Sjön, we passed by Karlsborg and onto Latke Vättern and set our sails, starting on a port tack and then jibing to starboard, averaging over 6 knots. We tried to anchor by a trio of islands about 5 nautical miles southwest of Motala, but the bottom was comprised of small, roundish boulders and the anchor would not hold. So we went into the marina in the city, docking at 7:30 p.m. 

There is a motor museum by the marina which was closed, but we enjoyed walking along the wharf, through the small Stadsparken (city park), and past the Motala Kyrka. We went to a pleasant restaurant by the park with excellent food and then walked past the marina and east along the tow path to the gravesite of Baltzer von Platen and some of his family members as well as the canal's head of mechanical engineering. von Platen died in 1829, three years before the completion of the canal. He had requested a simple funeral, but King Charles XIV Johan insisted on something more elaborate, and his casket was lowered into the ground with an 800 gun salute.

Stadsparken

Church in Motala

Göta Canal Company headquarters

Baltzar von Platen gravesite

We wanted to be first in line for the bridges and canals after Motala, but a couple boats were already off the docks when we cast off at 8:50 a.m. This meant that we waited for 40 minutes for the first bridge. After that, progress was steady under cloudy skies. We had on long pants and 1-3 layers throughout the day, but the Swedes thought 59°F with a cool breeze was great for shorts and t-shirts (and some of the men were shirtless) until it started to rain lightly just as we reached the east side of Lake Boren. We were planning to Lake Roxen today, but we changed our plan in the locks near Ljungsbro, the lightning and thunder and pounding rain developed. We stopped for the day in Berg, at the marina just before the flight of 7 locks that lead to the lake. We are actually on the waiting dock for the locks because our size, so we are off by ourselves

After a while, the skies cleared and sunshine appeared for the first time today. We took a look at the upcoming locks and walked to the facilities. We decided to have a round of putt-putt golf at the nicest course we have ever seen. There were no themed structures; rather, the holes included natural granite as obstacles and were bordered by an abundance of sweet-smelling and colorful flowers. It was like golfing in a garden. Of course, Peter won, but only by 5 points.

The flight of 7 locks at Berg

Peter teeing off

The ice cream shop beckoned us after our game. Then we visited the outdoor lock gate exhibition, which consists of 5 decommissioned lock gates. It was fascinating to see the construction techniques and the understand better how the sluices which control the water work. Even though we have already passed through many gates, it was not obvious that the gates are not flat but have a slight curvature. 

Originally, all the canal gates were made of cast iron and pine wood. The iron lasted at least 200 years and the wood 30 to 40. One of the 5 gates on display was from the second half of the 20th century. Made of steel, this type of gate was designed by engineers to last longer than the traditional gates. They only withstood the water pressure and the mechanical work for less than 40 years, and it was decided the traditional gates were best.

Closer view of a sluice 

Two lock gates of cast iron and pine wood with sluices

Now it is late again and time for bed.