Adventures by Stef

I didn't plan to go horseback riding but when it was suggested I didn't hesitate a bit. I used to ride horses when I was younger but I stopped when the riding school closed and I didn't find another to my liking. I thought about buying my own horse, but that's too expensive since I don't have the space to keep a horse at home.

My cousin only started horseback riding a year ago and he still has to learn a lot, his own horse is still young and also has to learn a lot so for a ride in the woods my cousin had another option, Sundance ranch. He arranged the 2 hour Horse Riding Mountain Trail. At the ranch they first had to get the horses from the meadow to the paddock, using a quad . First getting them ready, brushing. Somehow I always get the dirtiest horse, or at least it seems that way! I struggled a bit with the bitless headgear, not used to that. But once I figured it out it's not that different.

Riding through the Swedish forests is wonderful! Walking through the forrest is great, but on horseback it's even better. I thought riding bitless would be a lot different but it actually isn't. We did see some local wildlife; squirrels, again no deer, no elk. Back at the ranch we let the horses in the paddock and of course 'my' horse immediately started rolling in the sand, I knew it!

Next day I also got the chance to ride my cousins girlfriends horse, a Shire which means ridiculously big. I had to use steps to get on it, thankfully the horse is used to that so it stood perfectly still while I got on it's back. The whole time I did have the idea that if the horse decides to run off I couldn't do anything about it. I'm more comfortable with the smaller versions, but it was a great experience.

From Göteborg to Torsby [Torsby-travel-guide-675179] is another 4 hours drive but this evening I don´t have to put up my tent. My cousin and his girlfriend own a house and several outbuildings including a log cabin at the lake which is my guest house for the time being. I totally get why they moved to this place, it´s beautiful and lots of space for themselves the dog, two cats and three horses. My cousin works freelance through Europe and his girlfriend got a job as a nurse in the local hospital so work wasn´t an issue.

First day me and my cousin went for a walk in the forrest, a part he hadn´t completely explored himself. He showed me some of the hunters cabins on the way, if not vandalized they are (almost) fully equipt for an overnight stay (bring your own sleepingbag). The first we passed was vandalized but the other was intact. We followed the path created by the forestry equipment, no real walking trails in this part of Sweden, that's why it's easy to get lost here no following signs with numbers, arrows or colors, just paths made by machinery or local wildlife. My cousin had already walked part of todays route but wanted to go a bit further so we entered unknown territory. After a while we came to the river, no way to cross here on foot. The machine trail ran right across the river bed but for us it was no option. Meanwhile we were plagued by a kind of fly that kept crawling in our hair and neck and my cousin even got a few down his shirt. They didn´t bite but the crawling was pretty annoying. I later found out we were lucky not to be bitten, it was deer fly and they have a nasty bite. they did manage to drive us away from the river. We tried another route but again no connection to the known path so we turned and went back the way we came. It's september, back home everything is still green but here the trees are already turning to autumn colours and lots of mushrooms in all colours. But the best thing are all the wild berries (mjam!) We didn't see any deer or elk, I really want to see an elk on this visit, since I didn't see one in Norway. I did see deer in Denmark and I see them at home very often, but elk is on my list to spot, worst case I have to plan a visit to an elk farm.

Some of my fellow campers have spend a day in Göteborg (Gothenburg) and had a great time, their stories almost made me reconsider my plans for a daytrip Marstrand. Back home planning this trip I thought of spending another day here and visit the city Göteborg. But somehow I scratched it off the list, and now I'm having doubts.

I finally decided to stick to my plan and drive north to the small island town called Marstrand. You have to park your car near the harbour since bringing it up the island is prohibited (and pretty useless), the only cars on the island are used to bring goods from the mainland to the stores at the harbour area, all else is inaccessible to cars, locals use golf carts and scooters. My travel guide says Marstrand buzzes with activity in the summer but I think september is not considered summer anymore, or maybe it's because it's a monday, but not much buzzing today. Stores and restaurants are closed except for the supermarket and the kiosk at the ferry. I take the ferry to the island and here too, not much buzzing.

I start walking uphil to Carlsten Fort, the main attraction on the island. A sign at the door indicates the fort is open to the public so I enter and follow the signs to the ticket office which is pretty well tucked away in a back office. I'm not the only visitor at the fort, some other people found the ticket office as well. The big tower is not open to the public, I believe it is used as a conference center or something like that, you can only use the passage through the tower. But almost all other parts are open. Some rooms you have to search for the light switch to see anything but an open door means to me I'm allowed to go look for a light switch. The fort was also used as a prison and the inmates had to work on extending the fort. The big round tower used to be a smaller square tower and was extended to a round shaped tower, you can see the date sign on the inside door in the passage.

There are secrets passageways going from one end of the fort to the other, well, not so secret anymore and well lit, I guess it used to be more scary going through them with only candle light. I tried both routes (of course!) one ends in the back of the forts church, the other in the courtyard.

From the fort I start my walk around the island. There is a sacrificial stone, a big piece of rock with a blood groove, this could very well be something else like a groove made by a stonecutterto split the rocks. But hey, there are stories, and some people see the hammer of Thor carved in one side of the rock.

St.Erik's cave is the place the villagers fled to while Marstrand was under siege of Tordenskiolds in 1719, there are actually two caves, St.Erik's, the bigger one with the pulpit rock,and Mrs Arfvidsson's bed chamber, here Mrs Arfvidsson gave birth to a son. I couldn't locate the well though. St.Eriks park is barely recognizable as being a park, it's just an open space in the woods if not for the sign saying it is a park. I can imagine it was a nice park in it's glory days but today nature has taken over for the most part.

The west side of the island is rough and rocky and the path is not always clear, some parts it's just a painted arrow on the rock showing you where to go. It's a great spot to take pictures! Wooden bridges connect some of the rocks and there are some benches placed along the route so you can sit and enjoy the view. There are some beach areas for nude bathing and closer to the village the regular beach area's, well, not beach since it's al rocks here, but steps going into the water. Not great weather for swimming today though.

Back in the harbour still not much buzzing so no coffee and cake on a terrace with harbour view, instead I took the ferry to the mainland and just did some grocery shopping at the supermarket before returning to Göteborg

Across the Øresund Bridge I enter Sweden and start driving north. I make a detour to visit Kullabergs naturreservat, my old roadmap says there's something special about it so I go and check it out. It's a wild rocky coastline, not like the rest of the coastline in this area. You can do a boattour or one of the hiking trails, I did neither, I just followed the path from the lighthouse down, walked around a bit and walked back up again. I still have a long drive ahead and I wanted to take a look at the stonecirkel nearby as well.

I saw the sign on the roadside, but it wasn't too easy to find. I asked a woman in traditional clothing directions and she offered to take me there since she was already taking some other people, so I got a regular tour of the domarringar. She knew a lot of interesting things about the circles, the one were at is for the man, there are two more nearby (smaller ones) and those are for the woman and children. There are several others in the area but they are from different tribes. She also told about local medicine, communication methods (a peace of wood on a string which made a sound when swayed around) and more, so I stayed longer than planned and listened to her stories.

After that I didn't make any more sightseeing stops and I arrived at my campsite (Lysebergsbyn) at 17:30 and I was surprised to see the tent area being half full, so I'm not the only one going around Sweden in a tent

Vallø slotToday I have a list of castles I want to see, starting with Vallø slot. The castle is not open to the public but as I said before my interest is mainly the outside of the building (I call it a profession deformity) The building is in scaffolding (my luck) The architect and/or the client could not seem tochoose between round or square towers and so it has become one of each, I think it's both ugly and beatiful (now I can't seem to make up my mind)

On to Helsingør, Kronborg Slot. It is said that the people of the Swedish city Helsingborg (across the water) name the view on Kronborg as the cities biggest plus. Shakespeares Hamlet takes place here and it's an Unesco site.Kronborg - lighthouse towerAs I,m only planning to walk around it I paid parking fee for an hour, that turned out to be only just enough! You can walk all the way around on the outer fortress which takes away a bit of the view of the inside castle, maybe I should have taken more time and visit the inside as well but I'm on a strict schedule today. As the castle is situated on the water front it has a lighthouse on one of the towers, but as it's built in the same fashion as the other towers its not immediately stand out as being a lighthouse. It's a really nice combination of the robust fortress on the outside and the stylish castle on the inside.

As I said only just in time back at my car and on to Hillerød for Frederiksborg castle and its beautiful gardens. I arrive there at lunch time but on the map at the parking the 'you are here' dot is missing so I'm not really sure on which side I am. Just start walking and after a bit I can see the castle appear in the distance. First I walk all the way to the castle, there Is a restaurant near the main building so I first go for something to eat and wil check out the gardens later. It's busy at the restaurant (Leonora) but I can get a table (for 4) and order a smørrebrød with fried herring with a soda named Hyldeblomstdrink, I asked for something like lemonade and the waitress suggested this very tasty drink. The smørrebrød was also very nice. Since I was taking up 4 spaces by myself and I saw people getting send away due to no more room, I offered to share my table with the next couple, the gesture was appreciated. After lunch I took my time in the gardens, they are really beautiful! And then off to Copenhagen [Copenhagen-travel-guide-921103].

I already been to Copenhagen before but I couldn't remember more than having seen the little mermaid so I decided to just do it again while I'm in Denmark. Driving through the city (any city) is not my favorite thing, too much of everything all around, I was really happy to have a navigation system in my car, otherwhise I might have given up and turned around. I parked in a underground parking right in the citycenter. Expensive but I don't care today. I walk to Nyhavn but it's very very crowded, specially on the sunny side of the canal. From Nyhavn I walk to Kastellet, the fortification with the nice park. Since I'm close to the statue of the little mermaid I pay her a visit as well, I still think it's small but last time there were much more tourists at the spot. I walk past st. Alban's church and I take a look at Amalienborg to realize I've been here last time watching the change of guards. I forgot a lot of that last visit but hey, it was just a few hours in the city and the rest of the 5 days at Roskilde [Roskilde-travel-guide-922435] festival. Frederik's church is on my way back to the parking garage but I just take a quick picture and head back to the campsite.