The Swedish word for finish is Slut. Would be really funny if they took it to the next level and meant finish not as end but as their neighbors to the east.
We booked again a tour with Vildmark i Värmland (free promo but highly recommendable) since we were so happy with our last canoe trip we booked with them. Lucky us, we have a small group of total 4 canoes, the other tour starting the same day had a super bus… also made quick friends with the 4 Dutch (I gave them beer and boom, I have friends. See: Basketball). More good news is the European heat wave just hit, which makes great weather in Sweden 🙂
Day 1
As always the first cast off is a little hectic with getting the gear together and the small Stau of gegen canoers (the Dutch told us they invented not the word Stau, but the Stau itself. But how, with bicycles?). But then we were underway and how much fun the very first part was already very difficult to navigate around all the trees and other blockages, in other words, straight into action! Great!
It was a great day. Trying to find the land crossing at the end Michelle saw a sign that she claimed said keep out in Swedish. It actually said Peace and Love… and was written in english. No peace though, we set up our tent in night one on an ant hill. Bad idea!
Day 2
Day 2 started off with a life lesson. The ants where bad, the mosquitos were expected, but it’s these tiny molecular bugs that swarm your face and bite and you don’t notice till too late. They leave your face looking like you are 16 with acne. Luckily they heal real quick, like an hour, but still annoying. Oh well, make a fire and move on. And moving on we did! Tons of beautiful scenery, great weather, fantastic really and just good times till our stop point for the day. Seriously around 10 am (tour was really short, had to limit ourselves) and we found a perfect spot just for us for a day of swimming, cooking, coffee, making fire, everything. Was Grand!
Day 3
Day 3 was great. The weather was still perfect, the rivers and lakes were windy and beautiful, don’t really know what else to say other than you should do the tour yourself!
We actually pushed ourselves to the finish, cause day 4 pickup was at 1pm, but mostly around midnight and all day the next day were thunderstorms and a lot of rain, so let’s plan for chillin.
The Dutch sailed by. Literally. They put their two canoes together to make a catamaran and somehow with the oars and either a black towel or a big pair of underwear made a sail and they sailed the last lake. Funniest part is with their setup, they were still faster than others with paddles. It’s in their blood, the Dutch are kings and queens of the water. We also learned the difference between holland and Netherlands!
Day 4
Not much to say about day 4. Spent the morning in the shelter making coffee and breakfast and just chilling from the downpour. This was a smart idea. Got picked up at 13, went back to the canoe depot where our van was and torrential downpour of rain, got in the van and drove north till it stopped raining!
In the end, another great canoe trip. These things are awesome and so insanely highly recommendable. Bring your own booze.
Let’s go further North shall we?
The Otto’s Blog 
That looks like “the fun”.
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