Our night was very peaceful but there was noise around 8am over the nearby road. It was an articulated lorry and trailer shunting about. I assumed it had come on to this road due to a satnav error. However, I went over to see what it was about. It was a Swedish registered lorry but the driver was Dutch. He was delivering a house for assembly on a site nearby but access was limited. Therefore, he unhitched the trailer, left it and went off with half the house. Then he came back, switched trailers and went with the other half. He drives to the UK at certain times of the year delivering flowers from nurseries in The Netherlands.
We drove first to the small town of Heby in search of a tourist office (and their wifi) but couldn't find it. Therefore, we went on to Uppsala which was our main destination today. Satnav directed us to where Pocket Earth told us the tourist office should be but it wasn't. Making enquiries in a travel agency, it moved about three years ago to near the rail station.
Uppsala is a university city, evidenced by the number of bicycles. For a city, there didn't seem to be much traffic.
As it was convenient, we had a look round the cathedral which, apparently, is the largest church in Scandinavia. It was certainly big. The wall paintings were attractive, although a couple looked rather Laura Ashley. In the cathedral was the tomb of Emanuel Swedenborg. I had heard of him but Amanda hadn't. I knew he was the founder of Swedenborgism (or ... borgianism) but couldn't remember what that was. Sad really.
We then went to find the tourist office where the wifi was super fast. On the way we visited The English Shop which sells foody things from the UK, albeit at higher prices. We just bought a tube of Colmans English Mustard. We thought a city break here would be worth doing.
We stopped for lunch on the edge of woodland a few miles out of Uppsala. A
A path going into the woods had a sign for the Upplandsleden, presumably a walking trail.
We set the satnav for Sigtuna, a small town which we liked the look of and was mentioned in Lonely Planet. There was a camper stop at the marina but it had no electric so we went on to another that has, which is where we are now. It is a golf club with ten places for camper vans. There are decent shower facilities and even a restaurant. There has been a golf tournament going on with a barbecue (until rain brought it to an end) and live music. It's 9.40 now and all is quiet.
Amanda
This is my second try at my blog today. I stupidly
updated the app I use for documents this morning, and it has decided
that the document of my whole blog so far, plus today's, stored on my
iPad, is invalid. Gone completely! Hmm. When it works, it's great,
but ...
So, here goes again .... this morning. would you believe, in the middle of nowhere, we heard voices at 7.30! A peek over the blinds and through the trees revealed a huge articulated lorry stopped in the road. G trekked through the wood to see whether we were somehow in his way, but no. The driver was Dutch, delivering a house, as you do in these parts, but couldn't take his lorry the whole way. This was the last straight stretch of road before his destination, so he was uncoupling the back half, and would come back for it once the other half load was delivered. All this he duly did! He said that he often drives in England, delivering flowers. We have been taken with the willingness of people to chat in English. The younger ones often speak with an American accent, either from travelling or from watching American films. I am feeling ashamed that I was so critical of the author of Living Danishly. Although we are getting much better at interpreting the written word in Swedish, the spoken word is another matter. The pronunciation doesn't appear to bear any resemblance to its written counterpart.
Today was set aside for Uppsala, and it was a lovely surprise for me. Very definitely a university city, with even more bicycles than Oxford or Cambridge and a great feel to it, made even better, as always, by the gorgeous sunshine. We enjoyed the impressive cathedral, and then contented ourselves with wandering through the streets soaking up the atmosphere. G's attention was caught by 'The English Shop' where we were able to buy a tube of Colman's mustard to pep up the rather tasteless beef slices we have been buying for lunchtime sandwiches (because they are marginally tastier than the tasteless ham we have found - it is all wafer thin).
So, here goes again .... this morning. would you believe, in the middle of nowhere, we heard voices at 7.30! A peek over the blinds and through the trees revealed a huge articulated lorry stopped in the road. G trekked through the wood to see whether we were somehow in his way, but no. The driver was Dutch, delivering a house, as you do in these parts, but couldn't take his lorry the whole way. This was the last straight stretch of road before his destination, so he was uncoupling the back half, and would come back for it once the other half load was delivered. All this he duly did! He said that he often drives in England, delivering flowers. We have been taken with the willingness of people to chat in English. The younger ones often speak with an American accent, either from travelling or from watching American films. I am feeling ashamed that I was so critical of the author of Living Danishly. Although we are getting much better at interpreting the written word in Swedish, the spoken word is another matter. The pronunciation doesn't appear to bear any resemblance to its written counterpart.
Today was set aside for Uppsala, and it was a lovely surprise for me. Very definitely a university city, with even more bicycles than Oxford or Cambridge and a great feel to it, made even better, as always, by the gorgeous sunshine. We enjoyed the impressive cathedral, and then contented ourselves with wandering through the streets soaking up the atmosphere. G's attention was caught by 'The English Shop' where we were able to buy a tube of Colman's mustard to pep up the rather tasteless beef slices we have been buying for lunchtime sandwiches (because they are marginally tastier than the tasteless ham we have found - it is all wafer thin).
Tonight's site needed to be within striking distance of where we are leaving the camper tomorrow for the duration of our Göta Kanal Cruise. We first drove to Sigtuna, where there were places for campervans in the harbour, but as expected there was no electric hookup. The town was pretty and very smart, and we drove past the old part, with its ancient ruined church tower, and onwards to our other possibility.
We certainly manage to ring the changes. Here we are at a very attractive golf course at Upplands Visby, between Stockholm and Arlanda airport. The surroundings are very pleasant, and wooded again. There are 10 designated spaces for campervans, and all the facilities, including a nice looking restaurant. It was not a usual day here - there was a big John Deere event with all sorts of John Deere vehicles on show and whizzing around the place, and the car parks have all been overflowing. A party in a marquee has now finished, and all is very quiet, although there are still some cars around. It seems we will be the only campervan here tonight. And it is nice to have a break from the midges! I expect they'll be back as soon as we hit water again.
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