Outdoor Adventures with Ancient Brit
Canoe articles - Sweden 2003 - July 9th
Wednesday 9th July
It had clouded over by 8am.There was no wind and there were thousands of midges under
the flysheet of my tent. The majority had been drowned by the heavy condensation on the
flysheet. As I was packing up at about 9.30am a 12 year-old German boy came down from the
holiday home and gave me a “German Breakfast” of Cheese and Sausage in bread rolls.
After an hour’s paddle I had a 100m portage down a steep slope. After another hour I
came to the portage between lakes Mögreven and Bjursjön. This was unsigned and it wasn’t at
all obvious where to land or launch the canoe. I stopped at Gasborn at 2.30pm for my first
break of the day. By now there were sunny periods, but I could see another storm building up
in the north. I had stopped by the remains of the old bridge across Bjursjön, which has now
been replaced by the modern road crossing the marshy land at the south end of the lake.
Mother and children were bathing naked on the opposite shore of the lake!
There was now supposed to be a 4½ km portage to (Lake) Langban, but I couldn’t find
anywhere to launch the canoe. I was slowed down by the large number of wild strawberries on
the roadside verges. I just had to stop and eat! I asked a Swede working outside of his shed
where I could launch, hoping he would invite me to come through his garden, but he
suggested I should launch at the badplats at the town of Langban, which he said was no more
than 1km further down the lake. This badplats wasn’t marked on my map and I found it
difficult to locate. It was a lot more than 1km! This Badplats was produced from the spoil
from old industrial workings, but despite this it was a reasonable spot. The industrial past led
to fine black sand and the water dropped to a great depth within a few metres of the shore.
This enabled them to provide a diving platform without the need of a long jetty or pontoon.
I decided to camp here. The sky had cleared by now, but it was cool in the brisk NW
breeze.
The only other person at the badplats was a birdwatcher from Denmark in a small motor
caravan. He had a quality birdwatching telescope, but the distant views he was getting of the
Black-throated Diver weren’t as good as the close-up views I got from my canoe.
Unfortunately he didn’t speak any English.
It had clouded over by 8am.There was no wind and there were thousands of midges under
the flysheet of my tent. The majority had been drowned by the heavy condensation on the
flysheet. As I was packing up at about 9.30am a 12 year-old German boy came down from the
holiday home and gave me a “German Breakfast” of Cheese and Sausage in bread rolls.
After an hour’s paddle I had a 100m portage down a steep slope. After another hour I
came to the portage between lakes Mögreven and Bjursjön. This was unsigned and it wasn’t at
all obvious where to land or launch the canoe. I stopped at Gasborn at 2.30pm for my first
break of the day. By now there were sunny periods, but I could see another storm building up
in the north. I had stopped by the remains of the old bridge across Bjursjön, which has now
been replaced by the modern road crossing the marshy land at the south end of the lake.
Mother and children were bathing naked on the opposite shore of the lake!
There was now supposed to be a 4½ km portage to (Lake) Langban, but I couldn’t find
anywhere to launch the canoe. I was slowed down by the large number of wild strawberries on
the roadside verges. I just had to stop and eat! I asked a Swede working outside of his shed
where I could launch, hoping he would invite me to come through his garden, but he
suggested I should launch at the badplats at the town of Langban, which he said was no more
than 1km further down the lake. This badplats wasn’t marked on my map and I found it
difficult to locate. It was a lot more than 1km! This Badplats was produced from the spoil
from old industrial workings, but despite this it was a reasonable spot. The industrial past led
to fine black sand and the water dropped to a great depth within a few metres of the shore.
This enabled them to provide a diving platform without the need of a long jetty or pontoon.
I decided to camp here. The sky had cleared by now, but it was cool in the brisk NW
breeze.
The only other person at the badplats was a birdwatcher from Denmark in a small motor
caravan. He had a quality birdwatching telescope, but the distant views he was getting of the
Black-throated Diver weren’t as good as the close-up views I got from my canoe.
Unfortunately he didn’t speak any English.
 |  |
| |
Gasborn Church