Hästholmen to Karlsborg, 25-28 June

Sweden is in the middle of an anticyclone and therefore, there is absolutely no wind, and funnily, despite the heat, there is virtually no sea breeze either. But we are on a lake 15 km wide and the sea breeze probably has not enough leeway to be generated.

Stéphane preparing the BBQ on the Hästholmen guest pier

We wanted to go south to Gränna, Visingö island and Linköping, but we gave up given the absence of wind.

We take the bikes for a 25 kilometre ride through the Omberg natural reserve north of Hästholmen. The wheat fields around Hästholmen are full of poppies and cornflowers, alias bachelor's buttons. Cornflower is the symbol of the Östergötaland county where we are and the Liberal People's Party of Sweden. Bachelors meeting Kenzo Flower...

Wheat fields with poppies and cornflowers

The Omberg nature reserve is a hill along the border of the Vättern Lake. The are caves at the water level and a small harbour along the cliffs. The Stocklycke Harbour was of much importance until the 1950s' as it was used to ship the abundant wood from the Omberg forest to the industry along the shore of the Vättern Lake.

Omberg harbour

The water is incredibly clear!

At the north of the Omberg reserve is Borghamn, where is located the main marble and limestone quarry in Sweden. What is less known is that Borghamn is proud to have the smallest fishery museum in Scandinavia.

The Borghamn smallest Scandinavian fishery museum

Indeed small! Hard to beat!

Quite a rare encounter in water...

On Friday, we head North-West, from Hästholmen to Karlsborg, a 17 nautical mile short ride.

Along the Omberg reserve, on the way to Karlsborg

Riding along with our Hästholmen guest pier neighbours on an old Hallberg Rassy

Karlsborg fortress from the lake.

As you can see on the nautical chart below, the area of the lake between Motala and Karlsborg is paved of firing range sectors, delimited by the lines on the chart surrounding the small representation of what looks like a pinkish explosive. If you look carefully, you will notice that there is noway to go from Motala to Karlsborg without trespassing one of these firing ranges. But it seems that they are not all active at the same time...
As we approach from the South east, we enter the corner of the sector on the left, the closest to the fortress. Suddenly, we hear the sounds of firing canons and blinking lights start to flash on the shore. This sector was therefore active today, at the peak of the Swedish vacation time. Strange! We modify our route to escape as fast as possible... We then remember that Motala is the place where all torpedoes produced in Sweden are tested and that Karlsborg is still an active fortress hosting Swedish troops!

Nautical charts between Motala and Karlsborg

The Karlsborg marina is huge, and we easily find a place close to all services. On the other side, is the cult Pettersson motor boat from the 1920s', similar to the one use by Monica in the Bergman cult movie "A summer with Monica".

Monica Pettersson motor boat?

The sauna, able to host 16 people.

A DC3 in the fortress 

The church in Kalrsborg fortress

Karlsborg fortress was built in the early XIX century, after Sweden lost Finland to the Russian. As a result, Sweden realised that Stockholm was much exposed to Russian invasion, and therefore the King decided to build fortress inland where the government and parliament could be moved in the event of an invasion. In fact, the parliament was to be located in the church! But as soon as it was finished, the fortress was obsolete as weaponry had progressed so much that its ramparts would not resist an attack... It was then converted in a training centre.