On Saturday, June 27, after hustling to get off the dock in Gothenburg and under the Hisingsbron, we started up the Göta älv, the river which is most of the Trollhättan Canal. Near its east end, the canal bypasses the once mighty Trollhättan Waterfalls. Opened in 1800, it is 82 kilometers long, with only 10 kilometers of its length being manmade. It was designed to connect Göthenburg on the west coast of Sweden with the industries of Lake Vänern and has six locks. Built for cargo traffic, which it still handles, it is now mainly used by pleasure craft (although the bigger boats have the right of way). The original 1800 locks were extended in 1844 after the Göta Canal, which could handle larger ships, was completed. In 1916, the current system was inaugurated by King Gustav V and features 4 massive locks at Trollhättan capable of handling ships up to 89 meters long.
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| Cruising at 5 knots or less up the Göta älv |
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| Bohus Fortress |
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| Swans on the water near Mantra |
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| Cultivated land and a red-roofed village |
Reeds, grasses and sometimes water lilies border the river on either side. We passed fortresses, castles, cultivated fields, forests and villages. Occasionally swans would swim by. At 49 kilometers from Gothenburg, at Lilla Edet, we passed through the first lock, rising 6 meters. Following the advise of the lock keeper, who indicated there was too much traffic coming downstream, we stopped for the day at 3:30 p.m., having only motored upriver for 4 hours for 54 km. We were actually tired, because it was a really hot day, with the high temperature at 84°F (29°C)! I was wearing my swimsuit for the first time this summer.
We walked into the town of Lilla Edet, but it was pretty quiet, so we relaxed on the boat for the rest of the day and chatted with people on other boats. The Scandinavians and most Germans speak fluid English, often with no accent, putting most of monolingual English speakers to shame.
On Sunday, June 28, we cast off the dock and headed for Lake Vänern, with 5 more locks to go. Around 1 p.m., after a flight of 4 locks, we tied up temporarily at Trollhättan with all the other boats because the next bridge was not operational but was being worked on. There was no estimate of the amount of time it would take. We went on land to explore.
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| Watching one of the four Trollhättan locks close from Mantra |
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| Sherri holding Mantra in the lock with a boat hook |
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| Blasted rock faces in one of the locks |
First we went to the little canal museum, housed in a 1893 warehouse. In addition to over 50 small boat models, there are exhibits on the history of the building of the canal as well as dioramas that show where the three different lock systems were constructed. We also watched a short film which provided more information.
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| The 1800 locks |
Afterwards, we walked upstream, crossed to the east side of the river, passed a Saab museum which was not open, and made it to the center of town where there is a large, attractive plaza. Despite the nice weather, few people were out in the city. We were getting hungry and walked to the waterfront to find a place for lunch. We enjoyed a good meal outside sitting right by the water. The inoperable bridge was just around the bend. As we enjoyed our food, boats which were waiting on the opposite side of the river began to move, indicating the bridge had been fixed in a reasonable amount of time. Then boats that had passed through the 4 flights of locks before or after us going upstream motored past.
There are many trails in the Trollhättan area, and we decided to wander along some of them. This allowed us to see the bed of the waterfalls. The water is now diverted through a power plant and the locks, but once a year, during a 3-day festival in July (Waterfall Days), the floodgates open six times each day, releasing over 300,000 liters of water per second.
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| Part of old waterfalls bed and former power plant |
Knowing it was too late to continue that day, after the falls, Peter and I split up; he wanted to hike up and I wanted to hike down to see the church. (Occasionally, we just need time away from each other.) The 1862 red-brick, Neo-Gothic style church with its 40 meter tower is on an island in the river. Its parishioners used to live close by, but the center of the city shifted to the east bank around the turn of the 20th century. The interior is light-filled and peaceful (and cool).
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| Interior of Trollhättan Church |
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| Trollhättan Church |
It was hot and I would have loved a Coke Zero (since there are no Diet Cokes here), but only Pepsi products were sold locally, so I treated myself to a salted caramel ice cream with toffee crunch, which I relished in the pilot house. After that, I took a shower and felt much better.
Peter returned from his up and down hiking with an ice cream in hand also! We relaxed on the boat, had dinner and took another walk as the sun was getting low in the sky. We walked along some parts of the obsolete locks, partly opened and supporting lush vegetation on their edges. We also admired some typical Swedish architectureIt was a lovely evening.
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| House gable |
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| Sunset near the obsolete locks |
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| Another sunset view |
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| Old lock supporting lush vegetation |
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| Sculptures near the old 1844 lock system |
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| Old work shed |
The next morning (Monday, June 29), we were off for Lake Vänern around 9:30. After waiting almost an hour for a railway bridge to open and another 50 minutes for the last lock, we entered it. There were a lot of boats waiting to get in, and the lock was quite large. I was annoyed that we got pushed to the rougher port side even though we were near the front of the line and other boats did not wait their turns in exiting, while Peter patiently let them pass. My frustration dissipated as we left the confines of the canal and emerged on the lake. We were delighted to be able to unfurl the sails and sail on open water either on a deep broad reach or wing-and-wing in 20 knots of wind. Just after 8 p.m., we anchored by ourselves (Other boats went to the marina on the other side of a peninsula.) right beside the magnificent castle, Läckö Slott.
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| Läckö Slott from Mantra |
Touring that was for the next day.
