An Unexpected Turn

One morning, we woke up, having planned our coming week travelling south along the Swedish coast, back the way we came in May. The wind was going to be ‘on our nose’, and we were likely going to be motoring through the islands for much of the way. All very pretty.

It suddenly occurred to us that we were passing the inlet that leads to the Göta Canal, which leads west across Sweden exiting at Göteborg.

On a whim, we decided to turn to starboard, and headed inland. If we were going to be motoring anyway …….

The transit fee of 8700 krone does include all the harbour dues, for what would be a ten day crossing.

It was the last week of the summer season for the bicentenary year for the old canal. After that, only groups in convoy can pass, one per day. Our timing couldn’t have been better.

The only commercial traffic on the canal is a few traditional old passenger steamers, and a company hiring motor yachts.

There are 58 locks and numerous bridges to open, mainly operated by lovely students in yellow and blue.

The canal itself is pretty and the water clean enough for swimming, a cool way to end a warm day.

In between the canal sections are lakes. The largest, Lake Vanern, takes two days to cross, with island anchorages in the middle.

The prettiest of the smaller lakes, Viken, has the partially submerged remnants of an older canal, which makes for some tricky navigation.

Now we are heading to the final two day stretch, the commercial Trollhätte Canal, where we will share the huge locks with cargo ships (not at the same time!).