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.