This weekend the day of midsummer was celebrated in Sweden. Last year around this time my girlfriend travelled to Bolivia to meet her parents for about two weeks, and instead of just sitting around in an empty apartment I decided that I’d rent a car and go for a roadtrip on my own. Said and done! I decided that I would go to a lake and take pictures of the sun rising over the water. I picked lake Siljan and I also planned on visiting a few deserted places around Gävle which would serve as good urban exploration prospects.
I got in the car and left town at about 10 pm and drove straight for a set of coordinates I had picked from a satellite photo of the area. I arrived at the position at about half past three on the morning only to realize that in the middle of the summer the sun doesn’t really rise. Mostly because it doesn’t set properly in the first place! Disregarding this slight setback I still got a few pictures which I’m quite happy with. Following this stop I drove around on small gravel roads round the lake and after a while I ended up on the top of a mountain looking down a ski slope and a series of ski lodges. At least the mosquitos were happy to see me. From there I went to central Mora and stopped for a couple of hours of sleep (in the car). After being woken up by a freight train which was everything but a well oiled machine it was time for breakfast for both me and the car – i.e. gas station for the both of us.
When looking at the map and the GPS it occured to me that going to Gävle would result in this day ending too soon. So I decided that I’d drive to the opposite side (west side) of this pine-clad country. Five or so hours later I arrived in Bengtsfors where I had lunch and later on I stopped by a good friend to the family who lives a few km outside of Bengtsfors (we used to spend a couple of summers there when I was a kid). By now the little bluetooth GPS transmitter I had used for navigation in combination with my PDA had completely run out of battery, so I decided that I’d head home to Stockholm. But when driving past signs showing exits to Enköping I couldn’t resist visiting this other old home town of mine. I went to have a look at the building where I had lived when I was working for the army in Enköping and I also drove around a bit on the training grounds remembering old times.
And now a year later I would like to do something similar again – just leave town and head to a distant target and do what ever you please on your way to it while taking pictures and listening to good music. Freedom.
The results of last years midsummer roadtrip can be seen by clicking the picture below:
Now let’s see if I have something to show you a year from now…
Share
Entries (RSS)