From Summer to Fall in Stockholm

First, going back to early august. I had returned a few days ahead of Eric and the kids, as it was time to head back to work ; but I was also welcoming guests for the week end in Stockholm.
Fanny and Sabine in Fotografiska, and the ever so beautiful view over the city. Then up the cliffs to have lunch at Herman's, a great vegetarian buffet place, and off for a walk in Sodermalm, before heading out to the Gay pride downtown.

And now to the serious stuff - Stockholm's royal aquathlon ! Fanny is into open water swims and had signed up for this race in Stockholm. I followed (far behind) her strokes. As a beginner, I did the 1-km swim - 7 km run ; a nice experience, on a beautiful day in a very nice area (the sea channel north of Djugarden island).

At the Moderna Museet.

The boys are back

At the end of August every year, Stockholm hosts the World Water week. A big and very busy event in my field.

In early september, we popped by to see Francois in Hagaparken. His house and garden are as beautiful as always. Eric and the kids got to borrow Francois' row boat to explore the lake and we got to pick many apples from the garden.

Meeting up with Manu, Sophie and their kids, on the beach accross from Francois' place.

Eric had heard about the Maritime museum in Djugarden (only open in summer!), and we got there just in time before their annual closing. That museum actually consists of two boats, that one can visit from the bow to the stern and top to bottom: the ice breaker Sankt Erik, Seden's first ice-breaker, and a lighthouse boat. A very nice and interesting visit !

Playing with our neighbors Philippe and Heloise (who is in Alexandre's class), behind our house.

These past weeks, we have often crossed the footbridge / tramway bridge to Bromma to go and play in the forest and enjoy the outdoor. Always a nice outing. And it is now becoming a tradition to climb up the painted rock there.

Ruben, Alexandra and I went on the Ocean bus ("the only amphibious bus in Scandinavia!") for a bit of sight-seeing. They very much enjoyed the experience, though Alexandre ended up sleeping during the whole water part.

As temperatures were dropping and Fall was coming, we started to see mushrooms popping up in our garden. These were not edible but they were very much play-able.

We decided to hunt real mushrooms by heading out to bigger forests. We thus went by bike to Kärsön island, south of Bromma. We found giant fly agarics and about 4 (maybe 5?) boletus. On the way back though, we passed by gardens with accessible apple trees and thus got a very nice harvest of apples.
(the apples were plentiful this year, possibly as a consequence of the may to july drought. Some people leave cases of apples by their gates for passers by to help themselves, but the best is to find branches going over fences and pick up the apples below them. We got some nice bounties.)

More mushroom hunting, north of Tyresta national park, with Cecile, Håkan and their kids Lisa, Vincent and Hugo. That area, between the lakes Tyresö-Flaten and Albysjön, was beautiful ! And it was funny for us to be so close to where we had been biking this summer - we had cycled along the northern parts of these lakes.The fly agarics were, once again, thriving. But we did find some more belotus. No luck with chanterelles however, even though they are supposed to be plentiful in our region.

We also went out around our island - here the docks by the beach, where it would be unconceivable to swim now (though Eric's last swim was very late in the season, some time after mid-september - not sure how he managed to get in the water).

Out again accross the bridge and to Appelviken, with our neighbour Stephanie, her sons Theo and Robin, and our our young neighbour Heloise.
The fall colours were beautiful.

The sun started setting earlier and earlier. By the end of september, I was biking back from work at sunset. Too early for that time of the year but this made for some really beautiful views.

Cyckel-touring, Sweden

For our summer holiday in Sweden, we went on a one-week biking trip towards the sea, the southern archipelago, and nature reserves. Starting from home - obviously the easiest and nicest way to engage on a biking trip* - we rode around Tyresta national park, then went to Gålö peninsula, got on the ferry at Arsta brygga, spent two days on the island of Utö, crossed by ferry to Nåttarö (beautiful bivouac, see below!), then took the ferry to Nynäshamn, rode to Ösmo and Muskan lake, and finally caught the train back to Stockholm at Tungelsta.
Rough map of our 200km+ trip: https://www.maps.ie/map-my-route/viewMap.php?route=65748

It was a leisury ride, with short legs and two stopovers of two nights on the way. The experience of our (very nice) 10-day bike trip along the Atlantic coast last year showed that we are collectively happiest when we do not spend too much time on the bikes every day !

* One can not transport one's bike on the trains in Sweden, except for Stockholm commuter trains, so this is going to much limit our biking trips (of course we could also take apart the bikes and put them in bags for the ride but, considering our three bikes/ one trailer/ two kids/ lots of bag set up, this is a bridge I am not ready to cross yet).

We quickly realized that, by starting on August 11th, we were actually traveling post-summer holidays for Sweden, both in terms of weather (quite cold and wet), of crowds (as if we were vacationing the last week of August in France), and of amenities (thankfully, the small stores on the islands were still open, but with much reduced hours). Altogether still good but we could have done with sunnier weather.

Day1: Home - nice but very long ride along the waterfront in Stockholm  - Nacka reservatet (stopping at the very beautiful Lake Söderbysjön, with beach, forest, and rocks) - Lake Albysjön (great beach and play area, and a fantastic swim !) - and then a wilderness bivouac by the sea, on the eastern side of Tyresta national park.

Day 2: Rain ! and Cold !
The start was ok, as we biked around Tyresta national park and through very nice landscapes, but then we got pummeled by the rain, got very cold, and had to bike for a while along a real road with no biking lane. Not the nicest day, although luckily the bike ride itself was only around 2 hours.
We went to Gålö Havsbad, a campground at the end of a beautiful peninsula, where we pitched the tent for two nights. A good surprise was that the campground has a real kitchen, complete with stove, tables, and heaters, and some other indoor areas (though un-heated) - a small playing room for kids, a bigger one with pool tables etc for older ones - it was still fairly depressing under the rain, but at least we managed to stay relatively warm and dry.

Day 3: Real sun shining !
We enjoyed the campground, the beach, the sea, and went for a nice walk along the rocky shoreline. Whenever the sun shone, the light and the scenery was beautiful.
On one side, our spacious camping spot.

On the other side, the great camp playground.

Towards the beach. The adults went for a swim but the sea water was cold, much colder than the lakes.

Lovely walk on the rocks.

Alexandre and the sea.

Day 4: Short bike ride and then ferry to Utö, one of the farthest out islands in the southern archipelago.

We had rented a house there for two nights, to get comfortable for a while. The weather was mostly cold and overcast during our stay, with some rain - not bad to be in a house but still not ideal to be enjoying the island.  

Day 5:  Bike ride to one of the beaches on the south eastern shore. Eric very bravely went for a swim.

 In the afternoon, as the sky cleared, we went and enjoyed an ice cream and the great playground in the main village, Gruvbyn. 

Up to the old windmill.

Day 6: Short and lovely bike rike to Ålö island (connected by a bridge to Utö) - nice walk to the top of the hill overlooking the pier, with a superb view on the islands - ferry to Nåttarö island.

Nåttarö is a small island famous for its beaches, and we were indeed delighted with the scenery and with the setting for our bivouac - isn't this amazing ?

We were on Storsand (which literally translates as "big beach"), on the eastern shore of the island. A beautiful forest, a fantastic beach, and a great view to the open sea. It was funny to realize how, after having spent some time in the archipelago, where the next island is always near by, it feels good to see the open water and horizon again. And there were waves, also - inside the archipelago there are usually none - I actually slept poorly with the great noise of these waves crashing.
As usual, Eric went for a dip. Alexandre very much wanted to go for a swim as well but realized a few seconds after dipping his toes in the water than it would not happen. But we had a good time playing on the beach and on the rocks around.

We also went for an ice cream in the restaurant next to the pier. They have a very nice grove next to the terrace, with ropes and tree stumps and all what it takes for kids to play happily for a while.

There were a few people around when we arrived on Storsand, but they left by the late afternoon and, so, we had the place all to ourselves until the next morning.

Day 7: Short ferry ride to Nynäshamn, then bike ride to Osmö - Muskan lake.

As there are no campgrounds and no marked bivouac sites at a reasonable distance between Nynäshamn and Stockholm, I had identified a beach by a dirt road where we could tentatively pitch the tent. The set up was not great - the only flat area turned out to be a parking space not far from the road, it was a damp and relatively dirty, and at night the lights of the cars went through of tent. As rain was threatening, we also did not have a choice but had to set the tent there, just before the downpour started.

A learning experience for sure about the time it might take to find a bivouac site ! Sweden is famous for its right of public access - Allmansrätten, but it is not that easy to find a suitable camping spot in the countryside. (another lesson learnt during the trip, and that one on the first night, is that it is not always possible to find still water in the supermarkets in Sweden, and that cooking pasta with sparkling water is.. not great).

The sunset after the rain was nice though.

Day 8: Bike ride to Tungelsta station, stopping along the way for a very nice swim at Grindsjön lake.

(felt good also to clean oneself, after two nights of bivouac)
We then rode on the pendeltag - commuter train - to Årstaberg station, and had a final 5km ride to our home sweet home.