Another canoe trip on Stora Le, Sweden

[C_Claycomb]

Thought I would post a few pictures of the trip I just got back from on Stora Le. This is the third time I have been there, but the previous trips were in 2009 and 2010, where has the time gone?!? The 2009 trip was in April, just a couple of weeks after the last of the ice left the lake and we reckoned that the weather was about a month behind the UK, temperature-wise. The 2010 trip was in September, and was certainly buggier than the spring trip, but not too bad.

This trip was organised as a mate's trip, which was nice in that it made it all a bit more relaxed. We flew from Stansted to Gothenburg Landvetter on a truly unsociably early flight, caught a Flygbussarna bus from the airport to the city centre, then a train direct to Ed in Västra Götaland. There are not many direct trains per day, and previously we have taken a mixed train/bus journey, but the train is much nicer. In fact, the train is a LOT nicer than the Eurostar, for comparison.

There were not too many visible changes at Canodal since we were last there. Maybe a few more sheds, and a new pontoon landing, but the same Dano shelter and same octagonal accommodation hut greeted us as on previous trips, just looking a bit more weathered.

DSC01916 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

DSC01884 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
Sadly though we learned that there had been trouble with the local land owners who were getting extremely fed up with groups of canoeing campers trashing the lake shores. Hacking down trees (we saw some really big stumps that showed evidence of very inexpert felling), lighting fires in inappropriate places, and defecating and littering where they felt like it. We have always visited in the off-season, but it is clear that the area sees very high traffic in the summer. As a result, we were told not to go cutting crafting wood from lake side trees, but to take it from the pile of trimmings that were available at Canodal. There is a certain humour in this, since some beaver have moved in right next door, and they are clearly doing more to fell the lake-side trees around Canodal than any number of spoon happy bushcrafters!

DSC01881 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

On previous trips I have used my Hennessey hammock, and I reckon it is perfect country for hanging in, but this time I was trying out a new set up; a new and un-tested UKHammock's WoodsmanX along with one of Matt's catenary cut tarps and full length down underquilt. Most of the rest of the group had tents and perhaps smaller tarps for kit storage. One chap had somehow managed to get tent, tarp and hammock into the RyanAir baggage allowance!

DSC01874 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

DSC01877 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

The weather forecast for the week had been looking pretty changeable, but the difference in temperature between the lake shore, and the town, up on the hill above the lake, was a real surprise. It was easily two degrees C cooler by the water. We were told the lake water was around 4degC, not sure about that, it was warmer than when we were there in April, not totally painful to put one's hand in, but still colder than what comes out of the cold tap at home!

First night had a pretty decent sunset. I had hoped that we would get some good ones, based on previous trips, but the weather did not always oblige.

DSC01888 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

The first day saw us trailered up to the ferry crossing near Nossemark. The sun was shining, but the wind was blowing fairly hard from the north east. We paddled passed Tronsholmana and on up to Guppvixen (sic), stopping in a sheltered bay on the eastern shore for lunch.

DSC01933 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
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DSC01938 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
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There was a tremendous amount of dead heather everywhere. We used it to start our fires (always in pre-existing stone circles) and it was clear why they have rules about no fires except in the designated Dano sites after the start of June. That heather was tinder dry, and didn't seem to get any harder to light even after we had some rain. So, if you want to be able to pull out for a brew, you need to visit before the start of June or after the end of August. In particularly dry years, they may ban all fires, even in the Dano sites.

DSC01953 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

We did get a pretty good sunset again
DSC01965 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
DSC01979 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

During the night, the wind swung around from West to South East, so the nice sheltered site I had set up in was pretty draughty. This was something of a pattern. We had wind from every direction except due North during the course of our week long trip, often with a 180degree change within 24 hours! In the sun, it was warm, but as soon as the sun disappeared you knew that the air was cold. We all got pretty excited whenever the temperature got above 10degC!

There is more waffle and photos to come, but its late so I am going to stop here for now.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Many of the camp sites are located on the bigger islands. Looking at the landscape, it is almost possible to map the locations of the granite outcrops by looking at the trees growing over them. When the rock is near the surface the Scots Pines dominate. The lack of ground vegetation is nice in that you don't have to worry about ticks or losing stuff too easily, but the wind just whistles through.

DSC01993 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
Speaking of ticks, I didn't find any and I don't think that anyone else did either, although it was later in the year and I had found one walking on me back on the 2009 April trip.

It being a little later in the season, the rangers had stocked all the sites with firewood, which meant that we didn't have to forage much. Mind you, a lot of it was pretty wet, and most places had only pine.

DSC02009 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
Its a place for a big bucksaw or bow saw, and at least a full size pack axe. I took a 30" raker tooth blade along with the fixings to make a saw on site. The frame was not ideal, being made of pretty green birch from the poles at Canodal, and we had a lot of trouble with the uprights not being straight enough. The best stuff is sound dead standing spruce, but having been asked not to cut timber from the lakeside we used what we had. We also had a full size Granfors Forest Axe.

DSC02196 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

DSC02253 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

We got through a lot of wood, all meals were cooked on fires.
DSC02191 by Last Scratch, on Flickr


For our second camp, we checked out the Dano site on the island of Trolloya, but a lot of the island had been logged, and we didn't like the look of it, so we pressed on to to a site just north of there, on the mainland. This was probably our favourite campsite. It seemed lightly used with many places to pitch back behind the Dano shelter, amongst a grove of spruce. I can imagine that it could be buggy later on, since there were boggy areas and the dense forest sheltered it from all but an easterly wind.

The morning after we arrived, it started to rain, and we were very glad we had a big tarp to rig over the cooking and eating area.
DSC02014 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
The plan was to spend two nights here and take a day to paddle unladen canoes up for a look into Foxen and scout a couple of the other camp sites further north. When travelling all the way from Ed it is easy to imagine that the further north you go, the wilder and less used the camps will be, but this is not the case. There are other places for people to put in canoes, and as you go north you are closer to more of them.

There are still some nice views
DSC02024 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
but you can see the evidence of logging in this shot.
DSC02064 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

The two sites on larger islands that we looked at were clearly heavily used, and the islands upon which they were located had been logged, which detracted from them in our view. It was at one of these logged islands that I got a short view of a Black Woodpecker, about the size of a crow with a penchant for digging out the bases of rotten pines.

DSC02075 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

The weather dried up, but remained unsettled and a little threatening.

DSC02078 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
The lake has many lovely little summer cottages on the shore and we had frequent discussions as to whether we would like to live in such a location.

DSC02084 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

The mainland site was particularly suited to hammocks, being draft free with plenty of big trees to choose from. The other chap with a hammock got a lovely spot with a view...
DSC02093 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
While I set further back and spread myself around the spruce grove.

DSC02114 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

The next day, we had good weather, warm in the sun, and very little wind. We decided to paddle all the way back to Tronsholmana rather than do a night at Guppvixen again.

DSC02134 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

The all important GORP break!
DSC02140 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

Lunch spot.
DSC02173 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

Sorry, not a good picture, but this is the osprey that we found nesting on the eastern shore.
DSC02144 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
The nest was a short way from some very nice shallow bays which looked like they would be great for fishing.
DSC02147 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
There wasn't much of a sunset that night, the clouds moved in and the wind picked up and swung around from north west to south east!
DSC02199 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
The next morning arrived with driven rain blowing straight into our shelter!

DSC02212 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

We hadn't rigged a tarp, and breakfast cooking was, well, rather damp!

DSC02215 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

The chap who had set up his tarp facing away from the wind suddenly found himself very popular

DSC02221 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

The rain did stop by 11:15 though, so we made the most of it and went to visit a couple of narrow bays to the north of our island. On previous trips these had struck me as particularly good looking fishing spots with shallow water and weedbeds. We had been told that the main lake was too cold, but that the shallower water might be a bit warmer for lure casting.

DSC02273 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
DSC02278 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
We weren't all fishing, and the day was wearing on fast, so didn't get long to try. I caught one jack pike of about four pounds which I released. Rather more of a high point was the pair of cranes we saw coming in for landing somewhere behind the treeline.

On the map it was easy to imagine that the two bays would be sheltered from the wind, but they were actually a lot bigger than they looked, and the only sheltered area was the shallow link between them where we fished. The inner bay, almost cut off from the main lake, was still pretty windy.

DSC02280 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
Until we reached the far southern end where we had to do a short portage back to the main lake.

DSC02290 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

DSC02295 by Last Scratch, on Flickr
That evening we had a much better sunset and folk took the chance to just be and soak up the scene. Or in my case, to give my camera a work out!

DSC02332 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

DSC02340 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

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DSC02375 by Last Scratch, on Flickr


Well, I think that is enough. We had a great time, despite the ever changing wind, the unusually cold temperatures and the on-off rain. The only reason I would think of visiting in the peak season would be that the fishing might be better. Speaking of which, the excellent fishing shop (Fiskespecialisten) which used to be on the high-street has moved to an industrial unit on the corner of Vinkelvagen and Jordbrovagen (street-view is long out of date). It is even better now, but despite what Bertil might say, it is a good 15-20 minute brisk walk from Canodal.


DSC02441 by Last Scratch, on Flickr

 

[bambodoggy]

Great write up and smashing photos Chris, really brought back a lot of happy memories of my trips over there

Many thanks

 

[stu1979uk]

Your trip look cracking mate!
I love reading and seeing the pictures of trip reports like these, it inspires me to take time out and go to such places. The scenery looks amazing!
I love how the Scandinavian countries have the outdoor huts and fire pits and wish we had them in some of our own remote places in the UK.

Thanks for sharing

 

[bloodline]

Nice trip, great pics, thanks for sharing.

 

[Dave]

Amazing trip. If only they would open the ferry from newcastle to bergen again...

Wonder how much one of those little red holiday cottages would cost?

 

[GGTBod]

Looks like a really stunning trip, thanks for sharing with us

 

[weekender]

Great looking trip Chris


Sent from somewhere?

 

[Clouston98]

Fantastic trip and a cracking write up! Great stuff .

 

[Mesquite]

Really enjoyed that write up and the pictures Chris

 

[Osprey1]

Most inspiring. Thank you for sharing this. Still planning trips round the UK but this gives me the enthusiasm to try something further away. Cheers.

 

[Jack Bounder]

Looks great. How do you arrange something like that?

 

[C_Claycomb]

Cheers guys. Glad you liked the pictures.

JB,

Well, I have always been lucky enough to go with a group that has someone else doing the organizing. However, I do not think that it is particularly hard in that location. First port of call would be to contact the guys at Canodal. Tell them when you want to visit, and how long for. They can give you prices for hire kit. They can provide store barrels, alcohol stoves, fuel, paddles (a bit rough), tents, closed cell pads, possibly sleeping bags too, and some pots and pans. I expect that the selection of gear is better when there are fewer people on the lake, so May and September would be better than July and August.

There is a train station in Ed, and a good super market. In our group most of us arrived on Thursday, and we set off on Friday, but a couple had come in on Tuesday and spent Wednesday shopping for us all, and organising the food into barrels. With a smaller group, this would be a shorter process.

We always fly into Gottenburg with Ryan Air from Stansted. With a group we had a single large paddle bag so folk could take their own paddle which made padding nicer and easier on the muscles. In that could also go an axe and tarp and some other bulky group gear. You do not need a car, and you might be able to get the Canodal guys to give you a lift from the station.

Really good maps would need to be bought beforehand, but you can get pretty good maps from Canodal that show all the maintained camp sites. It is wild by UK standards, but not by world standards.

 

[Jack Bounder]

Many thanks Chris. Something to consider. Suitable for young children (7 yrs), do you think?