We spent the first night in Sweden in a normal parking lot near a lake.
We started the day very relaxed.
We were all alone in the parking lot. Every now and then people came by with their dogs. The weather was very cloudy, a little windy but not as cold as expected. Before we prepared for the onward journey, we wanted to stretch our legs and walked to the lake nearby.
In Sweden, it is permitted to stay overnight in a motorhome or tent almost anywhere where there are no special prohibition signs. Nevertheless, we look for official sites from time to time, if only for the fresh water.
We spent 2 nights on one such site. Right by the lake near Osby in the province of Skåne. Unfortunately, it rained a lot, so we spent most of the time in the motohome.
The drive through the province of Skåne was beautiful.
We fell in love with Sweden from day one and are always enchanted by the vastness and the beautiful properties.
You drive for miles and suddenly a lonely house or even a few houses appear.
We continued our journey from the province of Skåne to the province of Jönköpings län, the historic province of Småland.
Among other things, our route took us past the memorial to Cliff Burton.
Cliff Burton was the bass player in Metallica for three and a half years. He died in a tragic accident at the age of 24. On the way from a concert in Stockholm to Copenhagen, the Metallica tour bus went out of control in Dörarp, north of Ljungby in Sweden, in the early hours of September 27, 1986, and crashed onto its side. Cliff Burton, who was asleep at the time of the accident, was thrown through a bus window and buried under the overturning vehicle.
It is said that the driver of the bus stated at the scene that the bus skidded due to ice on the road. The guitarist and singer James Hetfield walked back a short distance but could not find any ice. Among other things, he testified that the driver’s breath smelled of alcohol. The driver went to court but was acquitted.
Megadeth head and former Metallica guitarist Dave Mustaine dedicated the track “In My Darkest Hour” to Burton. The Anthrax album Among the Living is also dedicated to him.
In 2006, fans erected a memorial stone for Cliff Burton near the site of the accident in Sweden. It is located near the Gyllene Raste parking lot.
We visited the Katthult farm.
Who doesn’t know the rascal Michel from Lönneberga?!
Early June still seems to be low season here, because everything was closed. You could only see the individual houses from the outside. The supposed café and the souvenir store were also closed. At least the entrance was free.
The house where Michel and his family live is not available to view from the inside, as it is normally inhabited. Did you know that Michel’s name in Sweden is Emil? They say we still had Emil and the detectives back then and so that there was no confusion they simply called him Michel in Germany 🙈😂
The text is unfortunately a little blurred: Michel has locked his father in here, who then tried to climb out through the small window above the door.
The lake where Alfred taught Michel how to swim.
It’s so easy to be transported back over 40 years younger, back to your childhood. It was nice.
We found really great places to spend the night.
A small parking lot by the lake with toilets in Vetlanda.
Separated by a willow fence, trucks were allowed to park on one side and cars on the other. At night, the truck park was completely full with 3 trucks and we were parked with 4 other motorhomes on the other side.
We found another official parking space without service in Rimforsa about 115 km further on.
On Thursday, we only drove for just under 1 hour. To a bathing lake with a picnic and barbecue area, fitness equipment, playground and toilets. An official campsite with full service. There is even free electricity in the summer months.
Now and again, locals came by for a swim.
They usually just swam a little and then went on their way. Personally, it was far too fresh for us, we even wore jackets 🙂
When we arrived in Sweden, we thought it was really cool when we saw the first American classic car a short time later. Then another and another. Every day, everywhere. When shopping, filling up, on properties. We kept seeing them and now it’s completely normal. It is said that Sweden is a popular destination for classic car enthusiasts, especially American classic cars.
Sweden’s classic car scene is characterized by passion and looks back on a rich history that began in the 1950s. Thanks to classic car events and enthusiasts from all over the world, the culture is still kept alive today.
Again and again during the day, these American classic cars drove around the parking lot and then disappeared again. Towards evening, around 6 p.m., they were coming and going. The cars stopped briefly, people went for a pee and then drove off again. It went on like this for hours until 30-40 cars gathered in the square and everyone had to drown out the others with their music. The engines were roaring, some had already had too much to drink. The police drove through relaxed and took a look at what was happening, but drove on again without doing anything.
In the picture below you can only see the beginnings with a few cars.
There was another motorhome there with us.
It didn’t bother us personally. The cars were great and the people left us alone.
Unfortunately, a fight broke out at around 9pm. A short time later, the police arrived with 3 vehicles and 2 motorcycles. We watched the incident from the camper. Shortly after 11 pm, the last car including the police left the site.
It wasn’t long before a few more cars drove across the square with loud music and roaring engines.
Alex said it went on like this for quite a while, but I was fast asleep ☺️
Maybe we were lucky that it started to rain at some point and then the groups dispersed and it was quiet for the rest of the night until the garbage collection came at 6 in the morning😂😂
Near Karlstad, in the province of Värmlands län, we found an official campsite with public toilets but no other services. It is located directly on a part of Lake Vänern. This lake is the largest in Sweden, covering 5519.1 km². Compared to Lake Constance, which almost everyone probably knows, it is 10 times as big. It’s hard to imagine how big that is.
Less than half an hour after arriving at this spot, it started to rain and so it continued until the next morning. We actually wanted to stay here for the weekend, but Alex really wanted to continue in this weather and so we arrived in the next province, Dalarna. For the first time, we drove for miles on gravel roads in the forest. At only 30 km/h, it took us a correspondingly long time to reach our next overnight stop.
Now we hope to have fewer rainy days, find a place where we can stand for several days and continue to enjoy our time in beautiful Sweden.