Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt
Provinces: Småland, Östergötland
Municipalities: Tingsryd, Växjö, Lessebo, Emmaboda, Nybro, Högsby, Hultsfred, Vetlanda, Uppvidinge, Vimmerby, Eksjö, Nässjö, Aneby, Tranås, Boxholm, Kinda, Åtvidaberg, Linköping, Norrköping
Sunday 18th of July
08.44 Things are happening in the kitchen here at Norraryd Bed & Breakfast just north of Ryd in Tingsryd municipality. Our hostess Diane is getting started preparing our breakfast. It has been a pleasant stay here. We have had a lovely location by the lake and have been the only guests here.
09.28 The good night's sleep was followed by a good breakfast. Let's get our things and stuff together. Christer is also writing right now. In his case, it is in the guestbook that is being written in. Wondering if our note will be the last ever in that guestbook? The house here is about to be sold.
10.15 We had barely come out on road 119 as another car directly slid up behind us. Now it's getting scary. The same thing happened in Södra Ljunga.
10.35 We turned off road 120 and onto the road that is both national road 27 and 29. We have parked the car at the shore of Lake Tiken. Let's see what Tingsryd has to offer on a Sunday in July.
10.50 I sit in the shade at a table behind the petrol station Preem. Christer is currently taking a picture of the lake Tiken. On a truck's flatbed stands some kind of machine, it seems to be an agricultural machine from the time when dad, well even my grandfather was young.
11.26 After walking through the entire central Tingsryd and away to the church here (Tingsås church) we then walked the same way back and into Biggans Café that is open although it is Sunday. Tingsryd is located in southernmost Småland and has a population of 3,197 people. It has a pretty good ice hockey team but is otherwise not known for anything special.
11.58 After a refreshing coffee break we will now continue towards places where I have been often in younger days.
12.33 A short photo stop has been made by Jät old church. The oldest parts of the church date from the 1200´s. We are also back in Växjö municipality again.
12.59 Now we have also visited Jät new church located a little further north along the same country road. I was baptized in that church in December 1968. Here in the cemetery are the graves of my grandmother and grandfather, great-grandfather and great-grandmother, as well as other relatives and people.
15.27 Christer swung into Emmaboda and brought us back on the road KulTuren. Emmaboda is a small town that has a background as a railway junction. A famous music festival was held here between the years 1988 and 2018. Today everything is very calm here. Emmaboda has a population of 5,054 people.
17.22 We have arrived in another Småland town, Nybro. Another church is photographed. How many churches have we not taken pictures of during these two years of travelling? Let's have another bench break. The number of bench breaks over the years is probably beyond the countable. We are right next to a work of art, a statue of Walter Bengtsson. It's a unicorn, a human and something more. It is "Bird Man and Fable animal" from 1997. Nybro west of Kalmar has 13,583 inhabitants and is located in the Kingdom of Crystal. Not far from here there are the famous glass resorts of Kosta and Orrefors. Here in Nybro we will have dinner before we make today's last car trip.
Monday 19th of July
Tingsryd by the lake Tiken.
We are exploring Tingsryd.
Tingsås church in Tingsryd.
Christer at Biggans Café.
Jät old church.
Old collection box for the poor people in Jät.
Jät new church.
Peter visits the church where he was baptized in 1968.
Peter visits his grandparents' grave.
We have stopped for a while in Ållaryd village.
Emmaboda challenges Gislaved to be Småland's most boring place.
Er-sjön, a lake in Emmaboda.
Tunnel art in Nybro.
Nybro church.
Our reflections in the window of Nybro library.
The artwork Glass in the center , a symbol of the town of Nybro.
Storgatan, Nybro.
Nybro station.
Cheap dinner at Nybro Pizzeria.
We have arrived to Alsterbro Minihotell.
Alsterbro Minihotell used to be a small police station.
We spend the night in the Guard Room.
06.24 It is an early Monday morning. A new week is here. Only a single bird is heard and only one sun is up. The night's sleep in the Guard Room has been good. Now we enter the second half of the summer's Sweden trip. I hope it's at least as good as the first half.
06.35 News on the internet has informed us that Swedish sports journalist Tommy Engstrand is dead. 07.40 Breakfast is eaten, Alsterbro Minihotell has been left and we have moved the car a short distance. Börje´s Tankcenter, a pump in front of the hotel, exchanged petrol for money. Just as we started and got out on the road, a car appeared right behind us (again). 08.06 On the radio it is reported from the dance band week in Malung. It takes place this year after all. There will be six different bands for 200 seated and live broadcasts. We just reached road 37, and a car appeared right behind us. Now it's really starting to feel like we're under cover, being tailed. 08.16 We have made a new road change. Now we're on road 23. The sun glitters and shines. Now we would like that someone covered the sun instead of us. 08.30 We have arrived at Virserum in Hultsfred municipality. From here starts today's somewhat odd excursion. We have parked the car opposite COOP supermarket on the outskirts of the village. 1,844 inhabitants live here in Virserum. 09.00 After receiving instructions from some summer workers, we are now going out and cycling a draisine. We have booked one each at the association Smalspåret Växjö-Västervik (https://smalsparet.com). One thing to keep in mind is that the draisines we meet from the other side take precedence. We have to stop, lift off our draisines from the railway and let the people we meet pass by. Today's trip will take us from Virserum to Åseda in Uppvidinge municipality. It will be 27 kilometres single trip on rails. Then it remains to trample back too.
We are saying goodbye to Alsterbro Minihotell.
Peter refills with new petrol.
Virserum station.
The draisines are lined up and ready.
We are leaving Virserum by rail.
Peter on his draisine.
09.11 We have rolled away from Virserum station. It is easy to pedal but it is plenty of noise and vibrations. It is supposed to be slightly uphill towards Åseda but downhill on the way back. That is good to know if we are really tired after the first stage.
09.20 Ouch! Negligence on my part caused the whole draisine to tip and me and it crashed. I'm alive and the draisine seems unharmed. Christer had managed to continue a long distance before he discovered what had happened. 10.27 After having experienced nature and gone through the forest we now take a break in Triabo. Here is also another draisine company. We'll treat ourselves to a small meal and drinks here. We brought with us some lunch. 11.25 With the battle cry "Timrå Hockey", a Swedish ice hockey team, the other party slowly went back towards Virserum. We continue to Åseda without a call to battle. 12.10 Here we go. We got a meeting on the rails and would step off our draisines to lift them off the rails. Something went awry, mine tipped and I rolled down a small slope. The oncoming family wondered what happened to me. A little guy in the company gave me thumbs up. I guess there's a little imbalance in my trolley. It overturns extremely easily. I have to be careful in the curves. 12.25 We are now in Hultanäs, just inside the border with Vetlanda municipality and Jönköping county. Here we have bought ice creams at Hultanäs Antik and Second-hand. It is run by Annika and Peter. Wonder if our ice creams are classified as antique or second hand? A customer before us had bought porcelain that was wrapped in newspapers and carefully loaded onto a draisine. 13.44 The time has come to start the return trip. We're in Åseda. However, the cheese of the same name does not come from here. It is produced since 2004 in Denmark. We stood so long on the rails catching our breaths on the rails that it attracted some summer working teenage girls who thought we had problems with the draisine. They thought we were some who just left from Åseda in the other direction. Åseda is the central town in Uppvidinge municipality. The town emerged in the early 1900s as a hub for the railway in the Småland Highlands. It has 2,698 inhabitants. 14.07 We had barely left as Christer had to help an oncoming couple with a sleeping son to lift off their draisine. In the meantime, Christer's draisine set off on his own with great speed. Now with Christer on my side I take up the hunt for the escaping vehicle. What disobedient draisine we got. Mine throws off me and Christer's run away from us. 14.40 We soon caught up with the eloped one and Christer boarded it again. Our journey continued. More changes have taken place and more draisine have been lifted. We have assisted the oncoming.
A first stop near Hjortöström.
We are going along the lake Hjortesjön.
Time for a stop and light meal at Triabo.
We have reached Hultanäs.
Christer leads his draisine past old railway carriages in Hultanäs.
Peter at the station in Sissehult, the highest point of the journey.
15.08 We take a break for drinking water, eating raspberries and yummy, wild strawberries. On one side of the rails there are raspberry bushes and wild strawberries. On the other side there is a virgin forest. Wonder if there's ever been any forestry going on here? It's downhill on the way home and less trampling. It feels good and long stretches one can only roll without pedalling. Nice!
16.46 We are back in Virserum. The draisine are returned on the station area. In total, we have traveled over 50 kilometres today. It is being felt in the legs and hands. Despite the small accidents, it has been a lovely but different day. We also had absolutely perfect weather for this activity. 17.57 COOP Virserum has provided us with beverages that have just been drunk and food that will be dinner later tonight. Now we have to move on. 18.13 Emån was passed and we drove into road 47 towards Målilla. We also went on this route last year, then in the opposite direction on the way from Vimmerby to Vetlanda. We have just heard a sneeze from Christer and Puttin' on the Ritz with Taco Ockerse on the car radio. 18.55 We have now stayed for a while in the village of Lönneberga and at Snickarboa. In there sits a carved Emil and carves. It mostly feels like a tourist trap and has attracted some German tourists to stay. A number of towns in this area are familiar from Astrid Lindgren's children books about Emil in Lönneberga. 19.17 Around us is now Mariannelund, another place known from the books about Emil. Under us is road 40. The evening sun is, just like during the trip last year, annoying when we travel west through Småland. 19.33 We just drove into Bruzaholm. There are thus localities in Sweden that contain the letter z. 19.49 On the way into Eksjö appeared a clearing job after an accident. In two places, fire trucks stood and flushed the roadway. Police officers routed traffic to better-fitting roads and streets. Instead of driving around Eksjö we had to drive through the town. It seems that we pass accident sites a little now and then on the trips. Better that than being a part of it. Eksjö was visited last year and the city therefore receives no extra attention from us this year.
We have entered Åseda.
We have left Åseda and head into the forest again.
A stop by the raspberry bushes.
Emil in Lönneberga.
Pensionat Fawlty Towers in Aneby.
Peter in the guest house's kitchen. Once again we are the only guests.
19.58 We are heading from Eksjö north along road 32. Just now, I saw an elk cow on a small clear-cut in the wood.
20.17 Today's long journey will end in Aneby, a community south of Tranås in northern Småland. It got a little awkward to arrive. We first drove through the community in search of a good parking lot, then found no good place to turn and drove into the town a second time before we were in place. Aneby has a population of 3,668 people. 20.41 Here in Aneby we have P-disc parked in a parking spot outside the guesthouse Pensionat Fawlty Towers (https://fawltytowers.traveleto.com). Our home, Room 1, Sybil, has a fireplace. The other rooms are called Basil and Manuel. The theme from one of TV history's funniest comedy series is one of the reasons we chose this particular accommodation. We are the only guests here and received check-in information in advance. In the kitchen there are ingredients for tomorrow's breakfast. The guest house was founded in 2016 by Lena Algeskär. She operated the guesthouse until 2021, when Valon Berisha took over the business. 21.25 After we washed off the travel dust and I washed my shorts, it's time to cook today's dinner in the guesthouse's kitchen. 22.21 Pasta and meatballs were good again. Now there will be coffee from the machine here and planning for tomorrow. We skip sightseeing here in Aneby. There's not much to see. 23.52 Christer has parked the car to a parking spot that feels better, namely along the street outside our entrance. It is almost time of sleep. Perhaps there will it be draisine dreams?
Well known photos at Pensionat Fawlty Towers.
Tuesday 20th of July
08.00 The newsreader on TV4 just said, Good Morning, It's eight o'clock. We feel yesterday's draisine cycling in the bodies. However, it was not noticed in the dreams of the night.
09.02 Now another breakfast has been consumed. There was some things to choose from in the fridge here at the guesthouse. However, it is noticed that there have not been so many guests here. Some of the groceries were a little too old according to the expiration date. 09.57 Thank you and good bye for this time Pensionat Fawlty Towers. Here we got what we needed, a rest and a hearty breakfast. Now for the first time we have stayed at Fawlty Towers. However, we have seen accomodations with this name before in Nyköping and in Eilat, Israel. 10.31 We drove past Löfstad church before we stopped and parked at the commuter parking lot at Tranås station. Now we will get acquainted with one last Småland town before leaving the province. 10.38 What is a day without a small bench break. We are like I said in Tranås, more precisely close to Hotel Åberg. Through the town runs Storgatan. It is with its width of 38 meters one of the widest streets of the country. Tranås as a town has 14,774 inhabitants and has the nickname Fur Town. 10.55 While Christer buys lens fluid inside a Synsam store, I have sat down on a windy bench. Next to me here is the statue of Ove Fundin. He was born in Tranås and on five occasions became world champion in speedway. Together with Varg-Olle Nygren, speedway champion, and Posa Serenius, world champion in ice racing, Fundin (73 years old) in 2006 drove across the Earth's largest landmass on the length of the motorcycle with a total distance of 14 520 kilometres in 49 days from Seoul in South Korea, through Siberia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Russia and Finland to the finish off the Grand Hôtel in Stockholm, where they celebrated with a bottle of champagne. Now a fire truck is driving by. On the bench next to me is a worn man with a gray beard. He talks to a lady of a younger model. 11.03 On a table at Café Tranan, the crane (http://www.cafetranan.se) sits not a crane but a (I think) jackdaw. It will for us, Christer and I, be eleven o'clock coffee with cheese and ham sandwiches.
Peter in the room at Pensionat Fawlty Towers.
Along Storgatan in Tranås.
Ove Fundin is remembered in Tranås.
Tranås will be our last stop in Småland.
Tranås City Hall.
Lennart Hyland´s head in Tranås.
11.29 To the right of us is a watercourse, Svartån. To the left of us is a small statue of Runa Bülow-Hübe. The statue is called Pia. It's a little girl. On the other side of Svartån we see Tranås city hall.
11.56 Hyland Square has a bust depicting one of the city's sons, Lennart Hyland. Hyland was a Swedish journalist and presenter at Sveriges Radio and Sveriges Television. Christer has been at the Mekonomen store on Ågatan and bought two rear lights. Soon all the lights on the car will light up if everything goes well. Now we will soon drive on. Östergötland is waiting for us. 12.23 We left road 32 in Boxholm and now go on a smaller road to the southeast. 12.55 We have stopped at a beautifully situated rest area by Lake Sommen. We just passed Malexander. It was near here that two police officers were shot and killed on the 18th of May, 1999. That event is called the Malexander murders. Three men had robbed a bank in Kisa before this happened. They were active neo-Nazis and the robbery before the murders was committed as part of their plan to collect money to fund and create a "revolutionary" Nazi organization. The view from up here is adorable. Malexander church is visible among all the green. 13.31 The car is now paired with other cars on COOP's parking area in Kisa. Next, we will wander around and make the necessary purchases. 13.43 The sun shines intensely here in Kisa. We have made lunch purchases at COOP before we now continue through the beautiful nature of southern Östergötland. 14.02 We are now at Lake Åsunden and Kinda canal. News reports that two hours ago Belgium observed a moment of silence for the flood victims. 31 deaths have been reported. 14.19 We are again parked by a lake. Here Christer has found blackberries and a large reddish centipede. We ate the blackberries. Soon we will also eat the purchased sausages here at Lake Åsunden.
A beautiful countryside remembered for a tragic event.
A view of Malexander church.
We investigate the local wildlife.
Peter is waiting for the lunch.
Lake Åsunden in southern Östergötland.
15.22 A deer just crossed the road before us. Look, there's a path to Mormorsgruvan, Grandmothers mine. It's an old copper mine.
15.48 Not that far away on a brick building it says Åtvidabergs Boxing Club. We have thus come to the town Åtvidaberg. Here we will stroll around for a while and make some purchases before the final stage to Norrköping. Åtvidaberg is known for the industry group Facit and the successful football club Åtvidabergs FF. Facit began making office furniture but then proceeded with office machines. It was Facit that also financed much of the football Club's activities. Here in Åtvidaberg there is a population of 6,934 inhabitants. 16.16 Now we have begun our walk here in Åtvidaberg. We have seen the football arena Kopparvallen with a bust of, I think, Elof Ericsson. He was the executive director of Facit. Åtvidabergs FF has played 20 seasons in the major football league, Allsvenskan. The most recent season was the seasons 2012-2015. The team had its first heyday in the early 1970s. Two Allsvenskan final victories (1972 and 1973) and two final victories in the Swedish Cup (1970 and 1971) in the early 1970s are the greatest successes. 16.27 We have now also seen a house for the town's bandy club and the lake Bysjön with lock and runoff. 17.10 On the return road we saw Åtvid old church and an old stone bridge. Now we let the small backpacks to guard the car. We're going shopping at ICA Supermarket. We even saw a bridge with padlocks, placed there by love couples. We have seen a number of such around our world. 17.39 The next two breakfasts are now purchased at ICA. Time to move on. Via Linköping we will now make it to our upcoming accommodation in Norrköping.
The entrance to Kopparvallen football ground.
The history of football in the industrial town Åtvidaberg.
Kopparvallen. Åtvidabergs FF play here.
Åtvidaberg Canal.
Åtvid old church.
Turistgården Hostel in Norrköping.
18.17 Road 35 took us from Åtvidaberg to the outskirts of Linköping. Now we continue towards Norrköping on a smaller road parallel to the E4.
18.30 We're out on E4. At Norsholmsbron we now cross the Göta Canal. According to the original plan we would also go past Söderköping today but time and energy is simply not enough. We'll have to make a trip there tomorrow instead. 19.04 We arrived in Norrköping. Here we will stay three nights at Turistgården Hostel (https://turistgarden.se). We stay in room B8. It's actually a free upgrade from what we booked. We have our own bathroom and it includes bed linen and towels. It remains only to thank and receive. Our accommodation is in the district of Ingelsta north of the railway. 20.07 The restaurant Kolgrill Sulaymani on Stockholmsvägen 44 will serve us tonight's dinner. We are far from alone. There are many from the Middle East here. In any case, they originated from there. I don't think they've come all the way from there just for the food. On a closer look it is probably Christer and I who are the only ones in here right now that do not have the roots in that part of the world. Possibly there could be some Africans here too. Two guys in the queue played chess against each other in their mobiles while waiting for the food. 21.21 There were a lot of food and really tasty. The question is if this is not the tastiest meal so far this summer. Thank God we didn't order the big version. Now we're home to drink coffee. It is always a good end to a good meal. 22.55 I don't know if it's yesterday's draisine trip or the fact that we've been out on the go for 24 days. At least I'm really tired. Something else I'm tired of is that someone is smoking outside our open window.
Peter is visiting Kolgrill Sulaymani.
Tonight´s delicious meal.
You can see 94 photos from July 18 in this photoalbum.
You can see 59 photos from July 19 in this photoalbum.
You can see 75 photos from July 20 in this photoalbum.