Moving Stillness

In Delsjön, just ten minutes drive from where we are staying in Gothenburg, there are literally miles and miles of beautiful, clear lakes, perfect for all manner of water-based activities (swimming, canoeing, skimming stones...), and a few non-water based activities too! (barbeques, camping... you get the drift)

Thursday morning, Steve, Stevie D and I jumped into the lake for a swim and a dive (along with the obligatory lads games of pushing each other off the diving platform into the water). Then in the afternoon, we set off on a 10km row in canoes (this time with two Germans, one Swede and Steve´s fiancee Laura in tow) to a barbeque spot, complete with jetty, hut and fire. This, my friends, was where we planned to stay the night!












We were joined by Helena, Stevie D's naturally blonde (I'm obsessed with natural blondes at the mo - since I'm in the right place for it!) Swedish aquaintance (she is a dedicated outdoor enthusiast, and also happens to quite fancy Stevie D!), and also two of Stevie D´s German friends, Johannes and Felix, who, as well as being exceptionally fast rowers, later turned out to be exceptionally talented vodka drinkers too...













The row must have taken a good 10km, although since this is the first exercise we´ve done since we arrived in Sweden, it was welcomed, albeit with aching arms and stiff shoulders. Above you can see Steve and Laura plugging away on the oars... hard work it sometimes was, but perhaps a good test for their future nuptials (since they are getting married next year)!












I was in the boat with Helena and Stevie D. As you can see from the photo above, Stevie D spent a great deal of time neglecting his rowing duty in favour of trying to look meaningfully and solemnly at the lake (he suceeded, but only just) in the style of a catalogue model. Lazy... but I´m sure Helena fancied him even more for it.












Our canoes (as the Swedish call them... although they're larger than my idea of a canoe) moored up outside our gaff for the night. Once we´d moored up, we were greeted with a large hut, complete with two pincic benches and a fireplace, all in remarkably good condition. A little graffiti perhaps, but surely the equivalent hut in Britain would have been burned down by pyromaniacs by now. Thankfully, the Swedish are respectful of their public facilities (just thought I´d neatly signal an important difference between the two cultures there...)













The barbie... wow, we´d skipped lunch and after the row, more than a few of us were suffering from starvation-induced madness. I managed to maintain my composure just long enough to take this photo of the barbeque in full flow. I was eating a matter of seconds later... and the mad hunger neatly drifted away. After two hot-dogs and a couple of burgers, we were calmly chatting again, as if nothing had ever happened.















The best way to describe the serenity of the lake is as a moving stillness(it took me all night to think of this description... any better ideas, please feel free to drop a comment on this site). At one point, a spectacular rain fell down, as you can see from the 'atmospheric' shot above...















At this point, I occupied myself by simply trying to look cool as the german lads rowed back to the jetty, as you can see from the photo above. I think I'm improving at the whole 'looking cool' thing.

As the rain had just poured down, they were pretty wet, although they'd luckily found a wooded area where they could shelter. We, meanwhile, had luckily hidden in the relative warmth of the hut, allowing myself to focus purely on improving my cool 'look' as they journeyed back for more burgers...

Anyway, back to the serious prose..

We bore witness to the lake gently ebbing and flowing into the evening, and, accompanied by food, drink(vodka) and conversation, saw the pink of the sky and the blue of the night slowly draw in until all was dark, and the lake was lit only by a deep purple illuminated by the white brilliance of the moon...

...poetic, don´t you think?

And the photo below is of the six of us trying to re-invent an ABBA album cover... it's not cool, it's not clever, and we had to take the photo five times on a self-timer on the camera. But somehow, we're proud of it anyway...















As the blue of the evening set in, Steve and I listened to a track called 'Small Hours' by John Martyn. The song, recorded by a lake, sums up the feeling of being water-side in the early hours of the morning... and this seemed as apt a time as any to enjoy it... it is calm and mellow, much as were were as we sat on the jetty listening to it...





















Here we see Steve doing the manly thing and getting the fire going... we all slept on the floor of the hut, which meant a very stiff back in the morning. Luckily, the fire kept the mozzies at bay, so thankfully we were not eaten alive into the bargain, although as I write I've realised that my foot is rather itchy. I guess no holiday's complete without a few bites. Mozzies seem incredibly attracted to me, far more than any woman ever has been. If only I could switch these two facts, my life would be a far happier one..!




















We are now all in recovery after eating a few too many dodgy burgers and failing to get erm, any sleep at all...

Can't complain though, since on this evidence, Sweden is a little too perfect. There simply must be a catch somewhere along the line.

Until I find what that catch is, I'm going to give Sweden the benefit of the doubt, and keep loving it!