Day 2

Thursday, September 15

I wake up with the sun - if I ever was asleep - and crawl out of the tent, looking into a wall of fog but when I look up into the sky I can already see a dome of palest blue.
Heiko isintending to sleep in so the morning is my own. I walk to the car to get some tea and look around the woods which look very "Ronja Röverdotter" indeed, endless pines, heather and blueberry shrubs and smooth mounds of pale green moss, covered by dewy cobwebs. The lake itself mirror smooth, surrounded by the forest. There is noone around and I'm starting to enjoy myself, picking late blueberries and mushrooms - but it's been a dry fall, the mushrooms are all old and full of worms.

The tea tastes really great out here and as soon as I settle in with my Kindle Heiko is coming out of the tent, yawning and looking around for me. He's had a much better night and starts making breakfast: scrambled eggs (which immediately stick to the new camping pan) and Knäckebrot.

After we've gathered our things we go for a short hike on a trail that leads along some of the lakes here, the Torsjöleden. The sun has finally conquered the fog and we walk through the sun-dappled primeval woods, feeling even more like Ronja Röverdotter, admiring the rocks strewn across the landscape, already sensing we're going to see a lot more of those on our trip. The ground is mossy and springy underfoot, the lakes gleaming in the sunlight. Again we don't meet a soul.

It's been another late summer's day and as we arrive back at the car we're really looking forward to the air conditioner. It's time to get going, next stop: Öland. On the drive we see Smaland for the first time - at least in daylight - and it's beautiful, endless forests and small meadows enclosed by it, farmhouses painted red and white, cows and sheep grazing the rock strewn pastures.

As we near the Baltic shore and the city of Kalmar the landscape becomes tidier with large fields as we turn onto a tarmac road once more. In Kalmar we take the bridge to Öland which is a rather large island shaped a bit like a herring. The bridge is 4 kms long and one of the longest in Europe or so I've read.

Öland is a fascinating place with a long history and many sights both cultural and in terms of nature, you could spend weeks there. It has spectacular beaches and the inland is covered by heathland, low stone walls surround meadows of yellow grass dotted with blackthorn and juniper. Derelict windmills are everywhere and add a strangely Dutch feeling to the scenery.

We only have a few hours though so we make für Byrums Raukar, sandstone cliffs on the Northwestern coast of the island. The cliffs are interesting but not as spectacular as we'd thought, there hardly 2 meters high. Also we intended to camp there but it's forbidden. Generally, finding a camping spot on Öland is tough as the area is so popular with summer tourists though we seem to be about the only tourists around here right now. In the end we settle on a currently uninhabited cow paddock right at the seashore. The beach is grassy and the cows on the other side of the wall, after having eyed us very thoroughly, step into the sea water and even drink it.

Not surprisingly I'm really tired so after heating up some Gulasch on the camping stove  I lie down and sleep - not yet really sound but much better than the night before.