Canoe Trip

...was the perfect way to once again admire the natural beauty of Sweden.

The canoe trip is one of the most popular events hosted by ESN with people queing on a weekly bassis in their hordes to get a ticket. Luckily for me I have contacts and I was able to go on a private trip with Yvonne and some other friends from Germany. We were only six and were able to sit three-three in two boats.

The canoe area is on a part of the Gota Kanal about 25 km from Linkoping. Two of the guys that went with us have cars so we were able to travel with them. It is a beautiful and isolated hotel that hires out the canoes. It is surrounded by farms and the occasional golf course, but very little of anything else.

I loved being on the water and the weather was beautiful, in the beginning! We paddled for about 2 hours before we came to a large, round, smooth rock on the side of the river and decided it would be the perfect place to have our lunch. One thing that always strikes me about the Swedish country side is how silent it is and this was no exception. I could have sat there for hours just watching the water and admiring the beautiful little red and yellow wooden houses scattered along the banks. I've decided I'm going to have to buy one in the future.

While eating lunch the weather started getting a little windy and everyone quickly put their jackets on. It was a first for me, having to paddle with a full on 'winter' jacket, but I'm glad I'd decided to take it with because while we were on the water it got choppy and we even had a little rain. To my relief the rain stopped almost as soon as it had started and we were able to paddle back without incident.

I did not realise how tired I was until I almost fell asleep in the car on the way back to Linkoping, but I'm glad I was able to do the trip and I can now see what all the fuss was about.

Hej då