Day 20 - The land of make believe

So here I am in Sweden, one of the lands of my childhood dreams. The country where Pippi Longstocking roamed with her friends Tommy and Annika and her monkey Mr Nelson, where the children of Bullerby lived (in my eyes) the most wonderful life and the country that Carl Larsson portrayed in so much detail in his incredible books about his family and farm. I can't quite beleive I am here. Happy days indeed.

We breakfasted overlooking the lake (get us) and commented to each other on how windy it looked, oh we thought we'd left the wind behind.

Outside it was freezing and the wind was right up, but hey hey what's this, it was only our first tail wind of the whole trip and soon we were whizzing along at 18 mph, speeds we hadn't reached since Holland. Nice going, I thought. We were headed for Kristinstad to check out the tourist office.

As we whipped along through the icey sleet it was hard not to smile, we're in Sweden, we're in Sweden. As the sleet slowed for a bit and the sun came out a huge rainbow appeared to our left and what with the wind and the small barns dotted all over the place I was convinced that any minute now I would see Dorothy and Toto skipping through the fields (yes I know they were from Kansas, but it just felt like that).

All aorund us there were trees, they were mainly Beech and were the most fantastic vivid colours, it was glorious to cycle through.

We reached Kristianstad and marched into the tourist shop armed with our maps and a zillion questions. The woman in there was very helpful and after spending an hour or so looking at hostels in the worlds darkest dankest internet cafe we left Kristianstad with renewed vigour.

Our end of day destination was Sölvesborg and we reached there just before it got dark. We had been given the name of a hostel but as we were cycling in to the town we spotted a campsite that we thought we'd check out and oh boy were we glad we did. Sylvie spotted some little huts and was hooked, you ain't never seen a happier girl so I shall let her tell you about our night there.........

Now this is what I've been waiting for. All my life! I asked Thorleif the campsite owner what the name of our cabin, Göken, meant, 'It's a bird we have, cuck-oo, cuck-oo,' he said making the sound. 'Oh, I said ' we call it a Cuckoo!' at which he roared with laughter (anyone called Thorleif should certainly roar when laughing) and continued to mimick the Göken.We settled in to our beautiful, tiny but perfectly formed Göken, we cranked the heaters up, erected a drying line for our socks and put the pan o' water on for constant stream of tea.

There is nothing I like more than staying in tiny places. I dream of Romany caravans, enjoyed one of the best holidays ever on narrow boat and marvel at small yachts (although I would'nt want to go on a yacht - the sea, like lakes, is quite scary). I really want to live in a tiny flat one day. So this little cabin really was my idea of heaven and especially as sursprise surprise, it was raining again. The cabin had everything we needed: little beds, little chairs, a little table, hooks for our coats and a single hob to make our dinner - brilliant! Why do we all clatter around in big houses? We reveled in our surroundings and played ludo and mini cards all evening. Let's hope there'll be a few more Gökens along the way...

                                                                      How cute is this?
I told you she was happy, if anyone has any spare wooden sheds going, I think you can safely say Sylvie will purchase it from you.

I also just have to say that Sweden may also be Mrs West's (aka Jodie's mum) dream country, you aren't anyone here unless you are driving a huge Volvo estate and that is just what Mrs West likes. When aged 14  Jodie, Helena, Tamara and I used to go to football club in Crediton, Mrs West would turn up to collect us in her huge burgandy Volvo estate with Rod Stewart blaring out of the speakers and call 'Sweetie' time to go home. She knew just how to embarass us. She has now moved on to a new model of Volvo and I am now more appreciative of the old Volvo estates, in fact I think I'd rather like one!