Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt


Provinces: Hälsingland, Medelpad
Municipalities: Ovanåker, Ljusdal, Hudiksvall, Härjedalen, Ånge, Sundsvall


Sunday 8th of August

08.48 It is Sunday morning at STF Hostel Edsbyn in the village Höjen in Hälsingland. One of the last days of travel is here. We are greeted by an overcast sky and a quiet house. During the night there was heavy rain. While we slept was a good opportunity for the sky to let down all the water.

09.32 The breakfast purchased in Edsbyn has been consumed in the common breakfast room. We also saw some other guests who woke up and prepared the first meal of the day.

10.08 The mandatory hostel cleaning starts to get done. We are not used to cleaning every day as it has been in periods this summer.

10.26 We are about to leave again. This is one of the few accomodations that we did not leave at all after check-in. We have only slept here and not even went out for food. One contributing reason is that there is not much else to see here other than the dirt road that runs through the village.

10.35 We have refuelled at Preem petrol station in Edsbyn. It is quieter than quiet in the community this morning.

10.44 With almost full tank and on a bumpy road we pass the village of Knåda. We take a shortcut from Ovanåker to Järvsö, mostly to see something new. Christer just saw what he first thought was an animal. It turned out to be a small guy in a white face mask.

11.04 On this summer trip we have passed a larger number of flea markets. Imagine if we bought something on each one of these, there would have been many items. By the way, is the profit on these small sales taxable? Now it suddenly became dirt road and a cyclist passes, sorry is passed.

11.33 The gravel road turned into asphalt. We are grateful for that because the night's rain made the dirt road less pleasant to drive on. The asphalt road offered a parking space. Here liquid has been discharged and soon Christer will call Magnus who we will visit today. We are at a lake that is probably Milsjön. A while ago we passed Harsa, a high-altitude village with winter sports facilities.

STF Hostel Edsbyn is actually not in Edsbyn.

The cozy hostel kitchen.

A short stop at Milsjön.

Peter is writing in his journal in Magnus kitchen.

A cat says good morning.

11.46 Magnus Söderfalk who lives just south of Ljusdal is contacted and we are now on road 83. We just saw the sign Myra 1. A while ago we rolled through Järvsö.

12.17 The person contacted has received us and invited us to his home on Storhagavägen in Storhaga just south of Ljusdal. Now we sit in the kitchen and drink coffee. It's boiled coffee. I haven't had that during the trip.

13.11 It's raining. The nasty weather from the night is still around. Here in Magnus kitchen we sit and talk about Covid19, travel and much more. We are going on a little tour in the area soon. We hope for better weather in the afternoon.

13.21 Magnus is driving and will show us some sights inside Ljusdal. Along his street Storhagavägen we just saw an old Russian military truck.

13.34 We are now at the top of the Old Water Tower in Ljusdal, built in 1917. Magnus has borrowed the key that goes here. It's a great view from here. Ljusdal, which is not large enough to be a town, is claimed to be a market town. Ljusdal is an important railway town and also known for its bandy. Here at the end of October every year the World Cup in bandy was played until the year 2008. There are 7,209 inhabitants in Ljusdal.

14.19 We walked the 139 steps down from the top of the tower and are now ready for the next sight. Too bad the raindrops made it difficult to photograph through the glass panes. We now go through central Ljusdal to see a little more of the area.

14.36 We have now been at Magnus' house for a short stop and have packed the necessary things.

15.22 Now we are on an excursion at the unique little pond/lake Gröntjärn in Gröntjärn nature reserve. We are right on the border between Ljusdal municipality and Hudiksvall municipality. Magnus' partner Carolina and her son Nils are also with us. They joined here right after us.

Old prohibition sign in Ljusdal water tower.

Peter and Magnus at the top of the water tower.

The two Sweden travelers receive a dose of Ljusdal.

View from Ljusdal's old water tower.

We make an excursion to Gröntjärn nature reserve.

Gröntjärn, a special lake.

15.38 It is beautiful and peaceful here. The weather has also improved. No streams supply the pond with water. This is because the rainwater here finds its way directly down to the groundwater through the ground. The groundwater is then the water that fills several of the area's lakes and ponds. The turquoise green colour of the pond is an effect of it because groundwater, unlike water in streams, is completely free of particles.

16.13 Now we are preparing sausages and have a generally nice time here by the beautiful pond. The area is part of a strange glacial river deposit formed in connection with the melting of the ice sheet about 8,500 years ago. We have looked at the extremely clear water and seen some fish swimming around.

16.58 The excursion has ended and we roll back towards Ljusdal.

18.28 We have said Thank you and Good bye to Magnus for this time. We travel again in our own vehicle. We still have kilometres to go on this day.

18.31 Now we have left road 83 and made our way to road 84. This drama happened in a roundabout just north of Storhaga where Magnus lives.

18.42 It is time for a new stop, now in Färila west of Ljusdal. There are 1,326 people living here. Just as we arrived at the village, we saw a sign pointing towards Föne. The village football team Föne IK has an unflattering history. In 1995, the team faced Klasaröds BK in the fight for the title "Sweden's worst team". Föne IK lost 1-2 in front of over 2,000 spectators at home, which was the spectator record of the season for football in Hälsingland. In July 1996, they fought for the title of "the worst football team in the Nordic region" and at home they faced Norwegian Ajer BK, losing 1-3 in front of 2,500 spectators. In 1997, they played at home for who was "Europe's worst football team", and were visited by FC Tallinn from Estonia, losing 2-3 in front of 2,350 spectators.

19.14 ICA Supermarket Delins in Färila has sold the last meals for us. It applies to something for the evening and tomorrow's breakfast and lunch.

Christer and Magnus investigate Gröntjärn's water.

Sausage grilling at Gröntjärn.

Buyin some groceries at ICA Supermarket Delins in Färila.

This trip´s last accomodation.

Hovra in northwest Hälsingland.

Peter in the room at Hovra Hostel.

19.48 STF hostel in the village of Hovra will be the trip's last home and overnight stay. In the hall outside our room, number 4, there is an animal cage. However, we have no animal to put in it and we ourselves would rather sleep in the beds. In addition to the two of us, the other guests are two elderly ladies who live in the neighbouring room. The hostel is an old school that was active in the years 1905-1964.

20.20 Now I have booked the train journey Sundsvall to Örnsköldsvik for the return journey on Tuesday. The journey by car is almost over, but I want to go home.

22.05 The last evening coffee has been consumed together with almond pastries by a table outside in the garden. It was a bit chilly outside but fresh air is always nice.

22.59 Evening beer is a tradition that has been with us over the years. This will be the trips last evening beers. I also have Marabou´s Swiss nut chocolate and air-dried ham from Germany as snacks.

23.26 Another week is coming to an end, a week that began in Västerås. Now we are charging for the last night of the trip and the last stage tomorrow. We'll be home soon.


Monday 9th of August

08.35 A mixed week starts today, a week when one project is to be completed and another is to be started. Between these there is a transition period. The journey will be completed and we will return to our different workplaces.

09.50 Soon it is time to say goodbye to our last host couple, Henriette and Berry van Wijk. Once again we have stayed at an accommodation run with owners from the Netherlands. It seems to be a trend this summer. Now the long journey from Hovra to Sundsvall starts. Well, it's not that long, but we're not going the closest way.

10.24 We have checked out for the last time on this trip. If there is more accomodations coming up, something has gone wrong.

10.45 Christer has made a turn to an area by the road at Laforsen. There are benches and tables here. We are in the area where the great forest fire raged in 2018. 9000 hectares of forest burned. A total of 25,000 hectares of forest burned in Sweden that summer. Sweden has around 23 million hectares of forest. We ourselves were in India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives when this drama took place.

11.01 There are really large surfaces that burned that time. What did it look like when the fire was at its worst?

11.17 Now we leave the scorched place, where new life is sprouting, to continue our journey west.

11.47 We have passed Kårböle and the fact remains, Sweden is full of trees.

11.53 We now travel north along the same road that our friend Roberth biked along in June. This took place when he was on his way from Jämtland down to Stockholm.

12.08 After passing Ytterhogdal, which is located in Härjedalen municipality, the province of Hälsingland and in Jämtland county, we took aim at Ånge. Along road 314 we have now stopped. It's at a slow pace. The quality of the road is questionable. As soon as we pick up speed, we have to slow down for new pits or bumps. We are a bit beyond Ölvattnet and the weather is varied.

A simple breakfast in the kitchen.

Extensive forest fires took place here in the summer of 2018.

A small lake lacks its forest.

Traces of the fires.

Peter takes a coffee break in the fire area.

Waiting for warm hot dogs.

12.59 While passing the village of Minne, we listen to Finnish news. First there is some information in Swedish followed by an expert analysis in Finnish.

13.23 A choice of path has been made. We have chosen to continue on road 315 towards Östavall.

13.36 It is raining and we are looking for a last place for lunch. We are now on road 83 and have reached Östavall.

13.54 At a place in the edge of the forest we will now prepare and also eat the last hot dog lunch of the trip. There will be more luxurious sausages this time, Chorizo and Bratwurst.

14.17 After the trip's best and tastiest sausage lunch, good sausages that thanks to the calm weather became really warm, we will now read a little in our books. In the distance, shots are heard, maybe from a rifle. It is maybe someone practising for the shooting of moose this autumn.

14.37 Increasing thunderstorms and raindrops interrupted our reading. It's time to move on home.

14.53 We have passed Ljungan river and a sign towards Helvetesbrännan nature reserve.

15.12 After a passage, we have made the decision not to stop in Ånge. At first we didn't find a convenient place to park and then we found out that we didn't have any real business here either. Ånge is the main town in western Medelpad and is a railway junction where the central line and the northern main line meet. It has 2,769 inhabitants.

15.36 Since Ånge, we have not seen a single parking lot or other good places to stop. We want to stop and calibrate with Google Maps-Ruth. We are not going on the boring E14. Instead we travel east on the south side of Ljungan river.

The road to Vikbron.

Thunder and lightning over Fränsta with surroundings.

Sweden's longest wooden bridge is here according to this sign.

The 133 meters long Vikbron.

Coffee before the trip continues.

Peter is walking up to the Flataklocken peak.

15.42 In the vicinity of the village Viken near Torpsjön we have finally been able to stop our vehicle. Here are some hearty tables and there is a nice view down to Ljungan. The weather remains unstable with thunder and threatening rain.

15.54 Behind me, over Ljungan, is the bridge Vikbron. It is 133 meters long and is said to be Sweden's longest wooden bridge. A bit away from us on the other side of Ljungan is the community Fränsta. The thunderstorm is increasing and now it is lighting on the other side of the river.

16.13 The rain and thunder have taken a break. We're back at the car. It's time for afternoon coffee. Due to lack of water, it is very strong.

16.41 We are finally on our way to the supposed last destination on this long Sweden tour. We will again be guided by our friend Ruth in Google Maps.

17.11 I do not seem to have been entirely truthful with Ruth. She's leading us wrong. Maybe it's time to drive a little after your own heads and a map. It remains only to turn the car around and drive the right way.

17.26 Now we are standing in the caravan parking lot. It's time to walk. The road is in such bad condition that we need a kidney belt and that the car can shake apart if we drive further than this.

The last major attraction of our trip.

Christer on Flataklocken.

A beautiful view of Roggsjön.

Peter on the top of Flataklocken south of Torpshammar.

Sweden's geographical center.

17.48 Now there is another shot in the distance. We are at what is considered to be the geographical centre of Sweden, Flataklocken. It is the centre of gravity or equilibrium point of a 2D model of Sweden where Öland and Gotland islands have been moved so that they are connected to the mainland. Flataklocken is 465 meters above sea level and there is a great view from here. Today it looks extra dramatic with the dark thunderclouds dominating the sky.

18.02 There is a café (Café Mittpunkten) up here on the mountain but it is closed and the staff are cleaning after this day´s activities. Besides the two of us who walked the last bit, there is a camper car parked up here.

18.15 After having photographed and enjoyed the view and walked down to the car again, it is now time to drive the remaining kilometres of this Sweden trip.

18.45 Now we are again on a European Road. We are on E14 and just arrived in Stöde.

19.10 E14 just west of Sundsvall is under reconstruction. We are in a queue that is now rolling. It will be the second year in a row that we are having problems going into Sundsvall.

19.37 We are now up on Norra Berget on a quick visit and look out over Sundsvall. It is the city where Christer lives, the journey began and also soon comes to an end. We thought the view from here would be a worthy end to our second long trip in Sweden. If we are going to have dinner, however, the stop here will have to be short.

20.00 We are again parked outside Christer's home. The meter says 13,902. There were not as many kilometres this summer, nor as many days, compared to last summer. Now we go to dinner. We left the car first so we can enjoy a good beer with the food.

A view of Sundsvall from Norra Berget.

It seems to be football (soccer) training at NP3 Arena (formerly Idrottsparken).

A nice place to sit.

Peter on Norra Berget.

This trip´s last dinner will be at Brokrogen.

20.24 The dinners are ordered at the restaurant Brokrogen (https://www.brokrogen.se) in the centre of Skönsberg neighbourhood. It takes its name from the Sundsvall Bridge, which was completed in 2014. I ordered Entrecote Aroma, medium. The waiter wasn't sure if they had savoury butter, garlic and parsley. In addition, it will be potato wedges instead of fried.

20.47 My entrecote, somehow well done, with both savoury butter varieties is served. I have eaten some of it and Christer had some off his pizza. Time again for some odd facts, during these two years some of us have eaten pizza in all Swedish provinces except one, Gästrikland. We had pizza there before. If this is a sign of bad imagination from us, a low food budget or a lack of good restaurants at some destinations can be discussed. Maybe it's a combination of all?

21.31 After buying breakfast items at COOP Haga, the trip should be summed up. Christer and the Golf have driven about 5700 kilometres this summer. With my effort on Gotland we pass 6000 kilometres. Much of what we didn't see last year, we've seen this year. Now we have been to all counties, provinces and dioceses in Sweden. Summer has brought us laughter, adventure, frustration and much more. In other words, exactly what we want. We prefer future trips to be those where a passport is needed. Nothing wrong with Sweden, but what will we see on a third trip?


VIDEOS


You can see 65 photos from August 8 in this photoalbum.
You can see 82 photos from August 9 in this photoalbum.


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