Escape to the Country

This week so far has offered more pleasant summer weather than last week (which was too hot). More like Swedish Summer "should" be! (I think most people would agree, although how often it actually occurs, I would not dare say...) I.e. it has still been sunny and "warm enough", but no longer extremely hot. (This also means that the indoors temperature in my flat has gradually gone down to more normal as well - phew.)

Yesterday, I went on my first proper outing since my 2nd vaccination: I took the bus out to the lake and beach just north of the city. (Last summer, with the corona situation then, and no vaccine yet, I avoided the buses and hence got no further than my own feet would take me; which has pretty much just been to the city centre and back, for 1½ year...) 

The bus to the lake (weekday afternoons) passes by my nearest bus stop and takes me out there in 15-20 minutes.

 

I'm not really a "beach person" though, and especially not in a crowd; so I usually spend most of my time there (a couple of hours) going for a stroll away from the beach, and seeking shadow. I like to follow a small dirt road with the river on one side and an allotment area with small cabins on the other; and perhaps sit down for a while on bench and look at small boats passing on the river.

 

One of my favourite wild flowers grows here, along the river. In Swedish it's called Natt-och-dag i.e. Night-and-day. The Latin name is Melampyrum nemorosum (had to look that up again). I call it a favourite because I think I've only ever seen it at this lake - which is the same lake that is close to where my grandparents lived in my childhood, and my parents in their retirement years. (It's a rather large oblong lake and our house was close the northern end of it, while this beach that is easier for me to visit now is at the southern end.)

 

Sticking out into the lake, there is also a point of land with more woodland character, with tall pine trees and birches  - also reminding of the nature at the northern end.

(Who says there are no crocodiles in Sweden??)

Back at the beach, it's always nice to finish off with an ice cream at the café. In the most busy season/hours there is also a separate ice cream stall open. (The building in front of the picture is the café; the small one in the background is the ice cream stall.)

 

Barn across the road from the bus stop. (Nowadays home to a company of some kind.)

I stayed two hours at the lake, and the whole outing was only about three hours. Still felt like a mini holiday to a different world, after all the restrictions of the past 1½ years!

...

PS. (related to my previous post) Back on Monday, I walked into town and bought myself a "mini air cooler". It's not air condition, and it does not have the capacity to cool off my whole flat. But it's small and light and easily portable (and it was cheap). It uses water to increase the effect a little bit compared to an ordinary fan. It's not the kind of fan you leave on all day, but I'm thinking it may at least help to cool me off a bit temporarily now and then when it's too hot indoors. (Not really tested yet as the temperature has gone down anyway this week.)

Sitting on the window sill in my bedroom - quite close to the foot of my bed...

Row, row, row your boat... Sepia Saturday 476

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream,
Merrily merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream...

I don't know who or why, but with the three photos above, at least I know when and where... On/at Lake Åsunden, near Ulricehamn in the province of Västergötland, Sweden; August 27, 1933. I get the impression that it must have been an outing that involved at least two boats. (Looking again: Or maybe not? But in that case, where did the 5th person in the first photo disappear to??)

All the photos are from my great-aunt Gerda's album. Without the dates on them I might never have connected them as being from the same occasion, as all the photos have been glued into the album in no particular order. (Or at least no order that makes sense to me!) No better evidence for that than these, collected from pages 1, 18 and 34! (Had to "photo-copy" them with my camera rather than scan them, as it's not a scan-friendly album.)

I'm not sure if this is from the same occasion, but let's pretend. Anyway I'm pretty sure that this is Gerda herself; and wearing a similar style of hat and outfit as one or two of the women above.

In 1933, Gerda was living in Stockholm - when not off travelling with her famous employers (Estelle and Folke Bernadotte), who did travel a lot. (Gerda as lady's maid / housekeeper often travelled with them.) She had sisters and brothers living in Västergötland, though, so I'm thinking these photos are from a holiday when she was visiting family in these parts. 

Linking to Sepia Saturday 476 
 



PS. Adding two photos that I took at Ulricehamn harbour last summer... Compare the background in these to the background in the first two above! Makes me think now they may actually not have gone very far from the shore...

More Lake Reflections

More photos from the same lake as last week. These are from my second visit, the next day (which was last Friday). On that day, I only spent one hour there, but that was still time enough to explore the narrow little peninsula of woodland sticking out into the lake from the beach. (See map below. The path around the peninsula is only about 400 m altogether.) The photo above is from out on the point. The ones below were taken along the path there and back. 

 Mainland to the left of the bay, peninsula on the right
- red dotted line marking the path.

 

 

  

Back on the mainland - peninsula to the left.

Linking to:

 

  

More Lakeside Views

As longtime readers of this blog may have guessed (at least one person did!), the lake in yesterday's post is one that has appeared before on my blog. However, the photos I have shown from there in the past will have been from the northern end of the lake - close to where my parents had their house. Because over the years that I've been blogging (since 2009), if I wanted to gaze at this lake, that's where I went. I.e. until my brother and I sold that house in the autumn of 2014. (Mum died in 2009, dad in 2011, and we kept the house three more summers after that - because we could, and there was so much stuff to sort out.)

After we sold, no regrets. But I do occasionally miss the nature around there. Of course it's still possible to revisit that beach and nature reserve area, but not very (or not at all...) convenient for me to go there by bus and on my own now. No café at that beach, and only temporary (mobile) toilets put up in the summer. And the proper village with shops etc is another 2 km or so away. 

So... This summer, I was happy to learn that recent changes in the bus routes in the city included a new bus to take me (much more smoothly than before) to the southern end (=city end) of that same lake; where they do have a café (and toilets). (There are also picnic tables and benches if you want to bring your own food.)

On Thursday this week, I decided to try this out, as it seemed (and was) a good day for it: 19-20°C, a few fluffy clouds in the sky but mostly sunny, and no rain in the forecast. 15 minutes ride from my nearest bus stop - and I found myself transported to a very different scenery.

  Old barn house close to the bus stop.

  Close-up of the gable.

Wooden fence surrounding the beach area - which has more lawns than sandy beach. (Sand only closest to the water.)

 Café seen from the entrance.

 Looking back in the other direction.

  And from down by the lake.

Additional outdoors restaurant & bar platform with roof.
(I think mostly used for special bookings.)

I wanted to get a closer look at that boat in the background, so I decided to walk round to the left (west) side of the lake first.

It is called Svanen = The Swan, named after a steam boat that was used on this lake back in 1892. This is not the same boat (and not a steam one) but this one too was built back in the 1880s. It was brought here and renamed in 2001. Since then it has been used for tourist tours on the lake in summer. Just now I think only available for special bookings, though. It's 15 m long and 3,7 m wide.

There are lots of summer cottages and allotments in the vicinity, and probably some all-year-round houses too. And lots of small boats.
 

 

Evidence of permanent or at least seasonal residence!

More photos to follow another day.