Tällberg, on Siljan - Tuesday, 16 August

Geoff
Drove into Rättvik as planned. It boasts the longest wooden pier in Sweden, the Långbryggan. It doesn't have the width or height of the seaside piers we tend to have in the UK. I'd describe it more as a moderately wide jetty. Having said that, it is 625m long and so quite impressive. There is a long beach stretching either side of the jetty (sorry, pier) with a large camping site facing on to the beach. The town is quite a resort.

Rättvik pier

We hunted down another gem of a place, the Tunnbrödsbageri, a bakery and shop, established in 1957, which is renowned for its crispbread (rather like Matzos) and Tunnbröd itself, which is a thin bread which is very popular in the region of Dalarna, where we are. It's cut into oblongs, maybe 8x6 inches and chapati-like in thickness and texture. Anyway, it's very nice.

We also bought some Swedish blue cheese, obviously something we never see back home.

We've decided to stay a third night here, it's so nice, with such a beautiful outlook across Siljan. Of course, we've been lucky with the weather. I'm looking at a lovely sunset as I write this. We wouldn't want to stay longer, anyway. Apparently, there is a big live music event about to happen and this site will then be very busy and loud.

Amanda

A beautiful day today, hot and sunny but with a good cooling breeze. Just the way I like it, and such a luxurious feeling to wake up and know we are staying on in this gorgeous spot. There is even good wifi available outside the little reception hut, which is so efficient that I was able to download half a dozen Radio 4 podcasts as well as today's Times in super quick time.

We went back into Rattvik to explore the town properly. It is a lovely smart holiday town, with Sweden's longest pier, at 628 metres, which we walked along and back again. Two particular shops were mentioned in Lonely Planet, so we sought them out. The first, Frick's Konditori, had beautiful cakes, filled rolls and open sandwiches, and queues. We weren't tempted, but did enjoy looking! They had Princessetarte, a lurid green marzipan covered, bombe shaped affair which I remember featured in last season's Great British Bake Off. I seem to recall that it was described on the programme as a famous Swedish celebration cake. Actually, they did look wonderful, and I might have been tempted if you could buy a slice, but they were priced per whole cake. Not a good idea!

The second place was like stepping into a past age. Rattvik's Tunnbröd Bageri makes its own special unleavened breads of various sorts. We bought some soft flatbreads whose ingredients included potato, and a big bag of crisp flatbread seconds. We then went on to a normal supermarket for cheese, ham and pate to go with our purchases, and took our haul back to the site for a late lunch, and a lazy afternoon.

The sunset has left a proper red sky tonight, so let's hope that's a promise for tomorrow. We have booked yet another night here, and have been so fortunate in our timing. There is a music festival on the 'strand' this weekend and they are booked out from Thursday. It is like being on a mini-holiday in the middle of this alternative life we are living!