The gleaming expanse of water seems endless. Our gaze inevitably lingers on the fine, dark line that runs along the horizon and divides the endless blue into sky and earth. You could be forgiven for thinking you were standing on the open sea. But it is not the sea that lies before us, but Lake Vänern, Europe's third largest lake. It is so large that Lake Constance would easily fit into it ten times over.
That makes an impression, even on a peaceful summer's day like today. Because we know: Lake Vänern can be different! Far over there, a good twenty kilometres away, the coast of Västergötland can be glimpsed: "It looks even further than it is," says our colleague Morten and looks at our dinghy, whose offshore characteristics at 3.80 m in length are admittedly not immediately obvious ...
But it's no use. We have to cross over if we want to continue our cruise through Sweden. We climb
into the boat and lash everything down once again: the tanks, the bags and the three grey plastic barrels containing all our equipment. Now the adventure has really begun. "There's no way around it," I say to Morten. "That's right," he replies and pulls on the launch line ...
Review: "Trevligt resa!" at the start in Gothenburg
The whole of Gothenburg is a building site, especially at the harbour. Road closures and diversions everywhere, we wind up and down ramps. The proud city on the Kattegat is to become even more beautiful, they say. At the moment, it looks more like they want to plough it up completely. "We ask for your understanding," is written on a
multilingual sign. Even the taxi drivers are swearing.
In the evening, we stroll through Nordstaden to shake off the long car journey from Hamburg: As modern as the waterfront with its fantastic opera house looks, Gothenburg's centre, characterised by Art Nouveau facades and magnificent monuments, dates back to the upper middle classes of the Gründerzeit. In the meantime, a colourful mix has conquered the wide streets.
Past the central railway station and along the Stora Hamn canal, where the young people sit, we make our way to the historic Gustav Adolfs Square. We find a steakhouse between coffee houses and spread out the menu on the table in front of us once again: Sweden's "Blue Ribbon" lies before us. First we want to follow the Trollhätte Canal up to Lake Vänern and then - hopefully - cross the lake somehow.
The Göta Canal begins on its eastern shore, and with it the second half of our journey. If we also make it across Vättern, the second large lake, we have a good chance of reaching our destination Mem near Norrköping. Around 400 kilometres and 64 locks separate the two coasts.
When the friendly waitress recognises our plan on the table, she asks in English about the rest of the crew. She thinks we are travelling on a yacht. "No, it's a very small boat," we reply.
inflatable boat." "Oh!" she says. You can tell she's not sure if we've made a joke.
Lilla Bommens Hamn, Gothenburg's pleasure boat harbour, is our starting point the next morning. In the shadow of the opera house and the no less modern "Utkik" (an office tower with a red and white lighthouse look), we set up our boat and heave it into the water at one of the jetties.
boat and heave it into the water at one of the floating jetties. To our surprise, stowing the equipment in the bow half in front of the bench seat works as planned. Everything fits. Now put the tarpaulin over it, done! Our car has long since been parked in the ferry terminal's long-term car park - from here we continue on the water!
In addition to the summer sun, some Gothenburgers are also watching our final preparations and wishing us luck and "trevligt resa" - have a good journey! "Hopefully the sun will stay true to us," we joke. "Don't worry," a man from Stockholm reassures us. "The weather is even better in the east than here!" "Always?" we ask back.
"Oh yes, always."
We pass under the bowsprit of the steel four-masted barque "Viking" and head out onto the Göta Älv river.
It would only be a few kilometres to the Kattegat, but we turn right, outboard motor purring, upstream onto the "Blue Ribbon". Industrial areas still line the banks, with sheet piling, warehouses and cranes. Of course, "Ikea" is not to be missed.
Through the ancient cultivated land of Bohuslän
But after the first bridges, the city recedes. Farmland, forest and meadows line the river valley. The large yellow and white wooden dolphins to the right and left of the fairway are not only coveted by seagulls as viewing platforms, but also leave no doubt that the Trollhätte Canal is a major shipping route with kilometre boards, lights and radar reflectors on the booms.
kilometres and radar reflectors on the booms leave no doubt that the Trollhätte Canal is a major shipping route. It doesn't take long before a large bow comes round the bend in front of us - a strange sight in the middle of the Swedish idyll. The freighter is a full-grown sea-going vessel with a high freeboard and a length of almost 90 metres. We quickly swerve close to the shore, then rock in the swell. Did they even notice us up there? We certainly didn't appear on the radar screen ...
The journey takes you through the ancient cultivated land of Bohuslän, which has been inhabited for thousands of years. For a long time, the rolling hills with their scattered farms were borderland, coveted and fiercely contested. The population had to serve many a crown, the Norwegian, the Danish and finally the Swedish. Its history
as a bone of contention between the powers is evidenced by the old Bohus Castle. Its defiant towers rise up on an island in a strategic location: This is where the Nordre Älv separates from the Göta Älv to flow into the Kattegat a little north of Gothenburg.
Kattegat a little north of Gothenburg. Incidentally, there is a small guest harbour at the foot of the fortress.
Further north, the river comes to life: Near the town of Göta, it has carved a deep valley into the rocks and winds its way through wild bends. The water shoots quickly through the gorge, tugging at the chained barges and giving them white beards of foam. You can sense the wildness of the Göta Älv before it was tamed by sluices.
The first of them is not long in coming: In Lilla Edet, we moor at the waiting jetty in front of Ströms Sluss. After a quarter of an hour, the gate opens. We enter and as we go up, the face of the lock keeper appears over the edge of the chamber: "I didn't even see your little thing. But what the heck - welcome to the Trollhätte Canal!" We say thank you for the friendly welcome and take a look at the guest harbour just behind the lock, where only one boat is moored, a 10-metre sailing yacht from America. Together with the "Aphrodite" from Boston, we would be among exotic boats here, but we want to go a little further into the countryside.
We find our spot for the night in a small bay on the shore, overlooked by old oak trees. The boat is quickly moored to granite blocks with two lines and unloaded. Behind the trees, a high summer meadow stretches to the edge of the next forest, with no sign of neighbours. We trample a path into the grass, from which crickets and bees flee, and find the perfect spot for our camp. In the mild glow of the long evening - midsummer is only two weeks away - we set up our first camp.
The tent is pitched quickly. "This is what I imagined Sweden would be like," says Morten, while our dinner - elk stew from Globetrotter - simmers on the Primus hob. Slowly, very slowly, the Nordic night draws
night draws in.
Trollhättan: where ships climb over the mountain
The closer we get to Trollhättan, the more the river valley becomes a gorge. How are we supposed to conquer this steep wall, where only chamois find a path between the clinging pines? The answer is provided by the imposing lock stairs of Trollhättan. The river used to plunge down here in foaming cascades. An almost insurmountable obstacle - for the legendary Viking king Harald Hardrada, for example, who travelled up the Göta Älv with a fleet of sixty longships in 1064.
But man is stubborn: Hardrada lived up to his nickname as a "hard ruler" and had his men transport the ships overland on rollers. Later, as trade with the Vänerland increased, the first locks were cut into the stone around 1800. But just half a century later, they had to be replaced by larger, blasted-out new structures. Both lock staircases still exist as impressive technical monuments right next to the third staircase from 1916.
Today, four steps climb the 32 metres up to Trollhättan. The chambers offer space for a "Vänermax" freighter, which means a maximum length of 89 metres and a maximum width of 13 metres. Of course, pleasure craft have to give way to the big ships, but it's worth the wait: from below, it really does look as if the big ships are climbing up the mountain, step by step ...
Once at the top, we head towards Vänern in quick succession: we pass the industrial town of Trollhättan on the only truly canalised section, go through the last lock at Brinkebergskulle together with other pleasure craft (where we also meet the Americans on the "Aphrodite" again), and finally reach the town of Vänersborg on the shores of the lake that gave it its name via the narrow Karlsgraben. A bend and the large bascule bridge still separate us from the lake, but we are already noticing the fresh wind and the Swedish flags flutter stiffly on the masts at the marina. The inland journey is over!
