Table of contents

• Motorcycle tour – border between Sweden and Norway On all mountains
• From the ferry terminal in Stockholm westwards to Torsby
• Pine and spruce forests are becoming more and more common
• Not very idyllic, but right on the beautiful lake
• Four-stroke engines on the advance
• Houses are often made of local timber
• Seldom signposted, often very exciting
• Some things used to be less complicated
• The forest is getting lighter
• What a fascinating expanse
• More information about Sweden and Norway

Deleker

22nd pictures

Jo Deleker

1/22
On all fells – on the move in Sweden.

Jo Deleker

2/22
Swedish moments: curious moose.

Jo Deleker

3/22
Swedish moments: typical wooden houses with maximum envy factor.

Jo Deleker

4/22
The national flag flutters in front of almost every house.

Jo Deleker

5/22
Nice that free camping is still possible in Sweden.

Jo Deleker

6/22
Even more Swedish moments: traffic signs sometimes provide amusement. “Renstangsel” means reindeer fence

Jo Deleker

7/22
Beautiful living …

Jo Deleker

8/22
In the evening the reindeer trudges to the lake.

Jo Deleker

9/22
The old mining town of Røros is the only one in Norway that has never burned down, so it has an extremely interesting ensemble of old wooden houses.

Jo Deleker

10/22
The Swede loves that: headlight battery for the timely detection of moose in the long winter nights.

Jo Deleker

11/22
Summer idyll with blooming lupine fields in central Sweden.

Jo Deleker

12/22
The highest pass road in the country at 975 meters on the Flatruet.

Jo Deleker

13/22
Waters in all forms accompany every tour through Sweden.

Jo Delecker

14/22
Out and about in Norway and Sweden.

Jo Delecker

15/22
Out and about in Norway and Sweden.

Jo Delecker

16/22
Out and about in Norway and Sweden.

Jo Delecker

17/22
Out and about in Norway and Sweden.

Jo Delecker

18/22
Out and about in Norway and Sweden.

Jo Delecker

19/22
Out and about in Norway and Sweden.

Jo Delecker

20/22
Out and about in Norway and Sweden.

Jo Delecker

21/22
Out and about in Norway and Sweden.

Jo Delecker

22/22
Out and about in Norway and Sweden.

to travel

Motorcycle tour – border between Sweden and Norway

Motorcycle tour – border between Sweden and Norway
On all mountains

A journey along the Swedish-Norwegian border is a journey into the grandiose solitude of the Nordic wilderness. With every kilometer northwards, the mountains get higher, the trees smaller, the colorful places rarer and the slopes wilder.

Joachim Deleker

04/12/2017

Where does the far north actually begin? A question that can only be answered emotionally, not geographically. For some Bavarians, for example, the north is already beyond the white sausage equator, but for Arctic fans it is only above the Arctic Circle. Quite a few kilometers difference. Perhaps we will get further if we unravel the question differently: what actually defines the far north? Long summer days with bright nights, relaxed people in colorful wooden houses, annoying swarms of mosquitoes in vast forests, stately moose that prefer to hide, and lonely slopes that climb onto bare mountains. Sounds very Nordic, doesn’t it? And where can you get it? In central Sweden, north of the great lakes Vattern and Vanern. That’s where the north begins.

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From the ferry terminal in Stockholm westwards to Torsby

Well done, the rocky high plateaus along the Norwegian border are still a few days away, but they already attract me magically. Why? Because I come straight from the Baltic States with my Tenere, where there are demonstrably no mountains that deserve this name. After two weeks of flat land, the desire for heights beyond 247 meters is enormous. So I step on the gas, as much as it is just legal in Sweden, i.e. Tacho 95, and rush west from the ferry terminal in Stockholm to Torsby.

Pine and spruce forests are becoming more and more common

How quickly the landscape changes at this rate. First the pine and spruce forests are becoming more and more common, then the road is allowed to make the first sweeps around gentle hills and quiet lakes, and finally I switch to a slope decorated in green on the map, which winds up to a whopping 404 meters. Although screwing is perhaps a little too high, there were three curves. After all. And from up there I can see the north: the huge east face of the 552 meter high Lejberget – no mischief now, this giant would be a national sanctuary in East Friesland – trees, lakes, mountains and solitude up to the horizon. And a huge, yellow, murderously roaring Volvo monster with two-meter wheels that makes kindling from felled pine trees between its pines. Intended for the Billy shelf. Meanwhile, sound waves rush down the mountain slopes from the driver’s cab with full stereo sound. No, not Abba. That would be ridiculous in this machine. Motorhead. That fits.

Not very idyllic, but right on the beautiful lake

Torsby. Before the big rain comes, I’m at the campsite on the outskirts. Not very idyllic, but at least located directly on the beautiful lake Ovre Fryken. Unfortunately, there are no elk burgers in a good restaurant, but in the evening the European Football Championship quarter-finals Germany-Italy with the bizarre penalty shoot-out. Which leaves the Swede completely cold and only drives me, as the last spectator, into the rain around midnight.

Four-stroke engines on the advance

As soon as the last drop has fallen and the night is over, another noise is sawing through the suburbs of Torsby, which is as typical of the Swedish summer as Billy is for Ikea. The fact that the Swede loves his Volvo is nothing but a cliche, he is really infatuated with his ride-on lawnmower. Blue-white exhaust fumes move through the towns in the morning, the screeching of the two-stroke engines eats the silence. After all, the four-stroke engine is on the advance, cleaner, quieter and more powerful with a cool body design. The Swede really likes that.

Houses are often made of local timber

In the afternoon, calm returns. Tables and chairs are put in front of the house on the freshly styled lawn, the family makes themselves comfortable with coffee and cake and watches life on the street. It would never occur to anyone to sit behind the house. Speaking of the house. If there were a prize for the most beautiful and cozy houses, the Swede would be right at the forefront. Often made of local wood, in yellow or white, but mostly in the typical Falun red, in any case very cozy, garnished with a flagpole on which the blue-yellow national cloth flutters, and not infrequently in a promising location on one of the 10,000 lakes.

Seldom signposted, often very exciting

Go on. Course north, I want to follow the Norwegian border, staying on the small unpaved roads if possible. And there is a dense network of these in the dark forests, rarely signposted, often very exciting. That can sometimes go in the pants when neither the navigation system nor the map nor the pilot have the slightest idea where the latter has steered the Yamaha. Then guesswork and a little sense of direction help to find a higher-level road somewhere. Lying down in this loneliness wouldn’t be a good idea, but thanks to the XT’s 600 km range, I don’t have to worry about that. But very much about the moose test between Speckebol and Brattfors. He just stands there right behind a bend, in the middle of the piste, emergency braking with locked wheels. We stare at each other with wide eyes, the elk and I, barely 20 meters apart. “Wow”, thinks the moose, “a real Tenere”. “Whoa,” I think, “a real moose.” The four-legged friend is the first to regain his composure, flees into the forest and from there resumes his observation. That’s good, because it gives me time to fish the camera out of the suitcase, screw on the 300 telephoto and finally take my first moose photos after 15 moose-free trips to Scandinavia.

Some things used to be less complicated

A few hours later I turn onto another piste, one of the typical self-service toll roads that meander through the woods in the border area. A few pieces of the crown go into an envelope, the name, date and registration number are noted there, and the envelope is put in a mailbox. Tradition for decades. Over and over, because the modern age has also arrived in the farthest corner of the woods. Now you pay by SMS. The big sign informs me about the process, there is – oh wonder – even a network in the middle of nowhere. I enter the necessary data, send the SMS, wait a while in vain for confirmation and then just continue. Some things used to be less complicated. After a wonderfully quiet night in a tent, far from any places or streets on the banks of the Halsjoen, the warmth of the sun wakes me up at five in the morning. So what? Getting up this early is only fun on vacation. I know that one or the other will veto this, but I don’t care. The lake is as smooth as a mirror, a few wafts of fog creep silently from Norway to Sweden, somewhere a squirrel is moaning, and a pair of ducks is practicing diving. The gasoline stove briefly roars the silence, there’s no way around a coffee this early in the morning. Or two.

The forest is getting lighter

The paradisiacal peace hardly lasts until eight o’clock, then I have no more peace and quiet, but finally want to go up to the fells. Pack and go. For a few more hours I cross single-lane forest roads through Norway until the Ljordalen and thus the road cross back to Sweden. Not even a sign reveals the change of country. And finally it’s really up, almost 750 meters. Still too little to escape the meanwhile annoying forest that prevents any prospect. I can see north over the vastness of the landscape for only a few moments. The Langfjall shimmers there, 1,200 meters high. Down to Idre, a small provincial town with 706 inhabitants at the 62nd parallel. The north begins in Idre. At least that’s how I defined it 30 years ago. Why? Because the mountains are now well above the 1,000 meter mark, because there are reindeer from Idre and the next place with so many people is 110 kilometers further north, Funasdalen. In between there is nothing but beguiling loneliness. Past the roaring Klingforsen – angler’s favorite spot – the Tenere dusts through the forest. We slowly gain height, the forest becomes lighter, until it finally gives way to bushes and grasses beyond the 800 meter mark.

What a fascinating expanse

Sweden’s highest pass wants to be conquered. At 975 meters not exactly a record, but blessed with a great 360-degree panorama. The slope cuts almost dead straight through the gray-green tundra up to the Flatruet plateau. Now and then a small pond decorated with cotton grass, in which the ominously dark clouds are reflected. A couple of reindeer roam the clear landscape. Far to the north, the mountains decorated with snow fields rise to almost 1,800 meters. Not a single road leads into the wilderness there. What a fascinating expanse. Almost like in Alaska. Made it, finally real mountains. On all mountains.

More information about Sweden and Norway

If you are looking for the far north, you don’t have to go to the North Cape. In the central Swedish provinces of Varmland, Dalarna and Jamtland you will find everything that is so typical for the north: lonely forests, countless slopes, the bare fells, an almost endless expanse and – with a little luck – moose.

Getting there: Most conveniently by ship. Either with the expensive Color-Line from Kiel to Oslo (www.colorline.com), with the Stena-Line from Kiel to Gothenburg (www.stenaline.de) or with the cheap ferries from Frederikshavn in Northern Denmark to Oslo or Gothenburg. Information on all ferries on the Internet at www.aferry.de or www.faehren.de.

Travel time: The best conditions can be expected between June and the end of August. It only gets dark briefly in June and July. The weather is usually much better than in the Norwegian Fiordland, because the clouds coming from the west are already raining down in the mountains of Norway and therefore the sun shines much more often in Sweden. During the day it gets 15 to 25 degrees.

Overnight stay: Sweden has a dense network of campsites. One night per tent and person costs around ten euros. The “stuga”, small, rustic wooden huts for two to six people, which cost between 40 and 80 euros, are typical. The further north and the deeper you go in the woods away from the villages, the less camping sites are to be expected. Here and there you can find great places for free camping. The right of everyone allows you to camp for one night in the great outdoors. This does not apply to private property and protected areas. Campfires are strictly forbidden in summer, the risk of forest fires is simply too great. Pensions and hotels are few and far between and can be found almost exclusively in the towns.

Money: Sweden is part of the EU, but the Swedish krona is used to pay for it. For one euro there
it is 9.5 crowns. The easiest way to replenish money is via credit card and ATM. By the way, Sweden is not as expensive as its reputation. Those who stay in hotels and eat out in restaurants could be broke quickly, but those who prefer huts or their own tent and cook for themselves live cheaper in Sweden than in Italy or France, for example.

Information:
www.schweden-info.eu
www.schweden-reisen.de
www.visitdalarna.se/de
www.visitvarmland.se/en
www.schwedenliebe.com/de

Literature: There are no special travel guides for central Sweden. We recommend the Sweden travel book from Velbinger Verlag for 24.80 euros. Freytag has good maps on a scale of 1: 250,000 & Berndt and at Kummerly & Frey. Anyone who wants to travel the smallest of trails still needs a little sense of direction

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