Day 8, The Day Lucy Loved Lulea!

Well if life was good yesterday, it was even better today! After an omelette for breakfast, lovingly cooked by Lyn the King of Omelettes, we had another long day of driving on the E4, but passing some amazing views.

Lyn did his usual trick of finding us the most perfect stop for lunch, right by the side of a tiny little harbour. It was the most peaceful, picturesque place imaginable.

I could have stayed there forever, or at least until winter came! We ate our wraps out on a picnic bench, just soaking in the view.

Then, it had to be done! I had promised myself if I came across the right spot I was braving the cold water, and going in swimming. I got changed, then headed down the steps off the jetty and into the sea. It was cold. It was Baltic in fact, but boy, it felt good!

I got back out, and we got talking to a couple who were loading wood off their trailer onto their little boat. Lyn ended up helping them. They were taking the wood over to their little cottage on a neighbouring island, to build decking. Their cottage has no water or electricity. Sounds idyllic, with amazing views.

We then headed up into Lulea, where we planned to stop for the night. We had a quick T shirt buying stop at another Harley Davidson dealership and then found another free parking spot right on the edge of the water, where the sunset is incredible. We walked into the town centre and stopped for coffee and cake, sitting outside as it is a really pleasant 21 degrees; my type of temperature at last! We then wandered around the town, calling into a few outdoor pursuit shops, but not buying! We loved walking around the marina, and watching the ferry come in from cruising around the Lulea archipelago. We were fascinated by 3 massive tugs docked out. Luckily we came across a big noticeboard explaining (in English and Swedish!) that they were ice breakers; their role is to ensure that commercial shipping routes are kept clear during the winter months as the Baltic freezes over, the ice is up to several metres thick in some places. The statistics were amazing and only emphasises their sheer strength and power, for example their lights are so powerful you can read a newspaper from their light a mile away! It was also interesting to see how much of the Baltic freezes; in a severe winter it can freeze as far down as Stockholm and Copenhagen.

Dinner was defrosted Homity Pie from our freezer, sat outside watching the sunset. Another big driving day tomorrow, and we need to stock up in a Swedish supermarket before we get to expensive Norway!

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It is our last night in Sweden, and I am am quite sad; I have loved it here. It is a beautiful country, with good roads and so many trees and lakes. In fact over 2/3 of Sweden is covered by forests, and there are over 95000 lakes. Swedes love nature so much they are one of the few countries in the world where every person has the “freedom to roam in nature”. Swedish music is one of it’s biggest exports and it was the first country to ban smacking! One final fun fact to leave you with is that Sweden sends invoices to North Korea every year as Kim Il Sung ordered 1000 Volvo cars which he never paid for in 1974. North Korea now owes Sweden 2.7 billion Swedish Krones. Reckon they’ll get it??