Sweden’s Göta Canal And The Perils Of Padded Cycling Shorts!
It was a surreal if well-meant conversation: how thick did the gusset on my shorts need to be in order to withstand the rigours of Sweden’s Göta Canal tow path and the cycling trip I was about to embark on!
Was it uphill? Downhill? Might I need waterproofs? Would the saddle be sprung or of firmer racing design?
For my neighbour Mary, a seasoned cyclist, it was an important business: “If you wear jeans your nether regions could be left shredded if there is a seam running along your gusset, however, if you buy proper cycling shorts, they may take time to ‘bed in’. It’s a dilemma.”
The words ‘no win’ came to mind but, with just three days of cycling in prospect, I decided to throw caution to the wind, opt for the former route and risk shredding instead of bedding!
Full length jeans packed, along with waterproofs, head coverings and factor 50 sun lotion, along with my trail shoes (surely they’d do?), off I toddled to Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA),
I was, at best, a ‘social’ cyclist and it had been some time since I’d saddled up in anger, but focus and determination were high!
LBA’s brand new terminal was a pleasant surprise, marking the end of phase one of the airport’s ongoing £100 million terminal expansion project.
“Can I get you a drink love?” Only in Yorkshire! I was in the new Six Eight One Lounge which costs from £37 but, in an airport that has historically had a reputation for being jammed to the gills, this new facility is beautifully spacious, offering ample opportunity to relax, drink and eat up to three hours ahead of your flight and, yes, there’s table service for the booze!
As much as Manchester is a great airport, the option to ‘fly local’ is an occasional rare treat considering that LBA is just 10-minutes from my home and, thanks to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, I was in Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport, via Amsterdam’s Schiphol (and the lovely Crown Lounge!), in just 4.5 hours, 80-minute layover included.
Equally impressive were the bold statements on the walls: ‘There are 900 toilets at Stockholm Arlanda Airport which are cleaned 3.1m times a year.’ I felt compelled to carry out my own inspection; I could have eaten my tea off the floor but chose not to!
Arlanda’s beautifully simple 4* Comfort Hotel, with its various DIY options to check in and check out almost unannounced (a very efficient reception service is also available), was my home for the evening and just a short walk from the arrivals gate.
More to the point, Arlanda, like Schiphol, has a beautifully integrated transport system and following a 6.30am breakfast the next day, the walk to the train station – also within the airport complex – was 10 minutes maximum.
A little shy of two hours later I had chugged my way to Norrköping Central and, following a 15-minute quick change, was on board for the last 66 -minutes to Motala Station…
…where I had another short stroll to the Nostalgi Hotel and what turned out to be one of the quirkiest properties I have had the pleasure of staying in!
Cars and beds - all under one roof!
This quaint narrow-gauge railway links the capital with Soller and its near neighbour Puerto Soller, costing between 18 and 32 euros depending on your ticket and, whilst it takes longer than a taxi or a ‘modern’ bus, it is infinitely superior if only for the stunning mountain views you pass en route, and the early 20th century carriages that you get to enjoy.
Fortunately, it was 5.30pm and the train – recommended by my Palma guide, Pedro - was fairly quiet so I was able to manhandle my bags onto the narrow carriage without too much opposition from jostling passengers.
“Where are you headed?” asked my new acquaintance.
“The FERGUS Style Beach Soller. Do you know where…………”
“I don’t believe it,” she interjected. “Michael did you hear where this chap’s heading? Sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”
“Phil”
“Michael, did you hear where Phil is heading? The Beach Soller!” she exclaimed without pausing for breath. “I don’t believe it. Lovely hotel. Our neighbour in the UK – she lives just two doors down from us - owns one of the apartments next door. You’ll love it. Right on the beach front and close to everything. The tram even stops just outside it. We’ve eaten there!”
Every one of my unasked questions answered in one long monologue. I was sold!
It turned out that my new friends, a couple nearing retirement, were UK wine importers from Gloucestershire, had fallen in love with Soller, and it’s port, sold their Dorset holiday home and were in the final throes of buying something in the locality from which to run their business for six months of the year.
It was like having a personal tour guide.
“The train stops two or three times en-route to Soller then you get off, walk down the ramp and wait for the vintage tram that connects you to Puerto Soller, about another 20 minutes further on.”
Before I knew it, and true to my amateur guide’s promise, a large building sporting a big ‘Fergus’ sign soon appeared on the horizon of Puerto Soller’s beautiful, curved bay. Minutes later, I was lugging my retinue of bags off the tram and walking 100 metres to the hotel check in.
Jasmine the receptionist was from Belgium and, as you might imagine, spoke word-perfect English! “I like speaking other people’s languages,” she said, “because it helps me improve.” Thank the Lord, I thought, because I can’t speak yours!
She checked me into an adjacent ‘block’, the part of the overall complex with the swimming pool, but meals were to be taken in the main building in the dining area adjacent to reception, just in front of the beach and promenade area.
The four-star FERGUS Style Soller Beach is located in the heart of the Sierra de Tramuntana mountain range on the seafront of Puerto de Sóller, and is close to all the resort’s plentiful amenities with a range of bright and breezy room options for singlets and families.
Modern and spacious, there are 80 in total, and they feature a variety of single beds, doubles, sofa pull-outs and all have TVs, hairdryers, mini bar, excellent wi-fi, a lovely shower bathroom – one of the few that didn’t actually leak onto the wider bathroom floor! – a security deposit box for the valuables and, in my case, a two-seater balcony with wall mounted drying rack, useful if you want to wash those t-shirts through. There is also an efficient daily room cleaning service and towel change.
And, whether your balcony is sea facing or not, Puerto Soller offers you some spectacular sea views and magnificent sunsets at night and, by and large, stunning weather by day with the option to decant yourself on part of the 270m beach or at the FERGUS Style Beach Soller’s pool where you can enjoy a refreshing drink from the bar while soaking up the sun in a relatively quiet enclosure.
B&B or Half Board there is a buffet restaurant which serves breakfast and dinner..
...no beach costumes at the servery please!...and the Ciales terrace restaurant serves a range of Spanish and local dishes from an a la carte menu, along with snacks, from lunchtime onwards.
Its owner, Jan Ove-Boll, is by any measure, multi-faceted:property and landowner, including Motala Golf Course, radio specialist (he ran a chain of 40 shops) and vintage car collector. In fact, his collection became so big that in 1995 the Motala Motor Museum was opened to accommodate it and later extended in 2008.
Two years later residual space was turned into……..the Nostalgi Hotel!
Now you have one of the most amazing vintage car, radio and motorbike collections you are likely to see in Sweden, sharing its reception with the adjoining hotel….and both owned by the same man! Loved it!
Motala, near centre point on the Göta Canal, is regarded as the capital city of the 190km waterway, which stretches from Sjötorp in Lake Vanern to Mem on the Baltic Sea.
Inaugurated in 1832 by King Karl XIV Johan, it took 22 years to construct, 58,000 enlisted soldiers hand digging 87kms of its length.
At one point there were more soldier ‘navvies’ digging than guarding Sweden’s borders, however, once complete, the Göta Canal enabled valuable freight to be moved cross country without dependence on seaways, often controlled by neighbouring powers.
These days around 4m people a year visit various parts of the canal, strung together by a series of lakes and probably at one of its most scenic points in Motala and beyond.
Declared the Cycle Route of the Year at Fiets en Wanelbeurs, an annual Dutch cycling and hiking fair, people walk the canal, cycle it or, indeed, sail it and, at a width of 7.4m, some of the most elegant boats you'll ever see can be spotted traversing its waters including the 151-year-old ‘MS Juno’, the world’s oldest registered cruising ship.
Voted Sweden’s construction project of the millennium, the head office of the state-owned not-for-profit limited company that looks after the canal, is still located in a beautiful building by Motala Harbour, which is a great place to begin the cycle to Borenshult locks.
The height difference between the canal and Lake Boren is around 15 metres, making Borenshult's five locks, the steepest of their kind along the canal.
Our bikes for the journey required good old pedal power. None of that battery nonsense! Paniers, gears, a helmet and, I was assured, the wind at our backs because we were cycling on the eastern side of the canal!
En route the beautiful scenery is a distraction but, as much as the gorgeous views, picture postcard properties and stop offs for traditional Swedish ‘Fika’, an excuse for coffee and cake or, in our case, waffles at Mallboden Café & Hostel , it is the people you meet that help make the vacation.
Our party featured Germans, Fins, French, Swedes – so many cultural perspectives - and the ubiquitous Tao from China who had brought effigies of three Gods with him in his luggage!
“I have the Kitchen God to give me food,” he said, consuming his waffle at breakneck speed, “the hiking God to keep me safe and the monkey God to keep me streetwise.”
He advised the ladies of our party that he also had access to the Fox God, and that his deity would be guaranteed to attract men! Several politely declined to put him to the test lest it broke the still quiet of the night!
The canal, with its 58 locks, delivers quiet contemplation in spades and, on day two, it was hard to believe that I had put the best part of 25 miles behind me without breaking sweat.
“Have you noticed the sheep,” quizzed our guide. “We have 300 and they are owned by the company and roam freely keeping the grass on the cycle path short.” Quiet ingenuity!
And throughout your journey you will always find an excuse to stop.
There’s the Safstrom family run Hogby Spa – pop in for a coffee or a sauna – lunch at the Gota Hotel at Borensberg, serving year-round since 1908, Brunneby Farm shop where you can sample homemade cider, or simply savour the 18th century splendour of the magnificent Ljungs Slott ‘castle’, very much like one of the National Trust’s period heritage properties.
Bored? You won’t be!
If the quirkiness of Motala’s Nostalgi Hotel is not enough, then Sorby Glamping can provide you with another dollop: lots of themed tents from Harry Potter to China, Venice to the Galapagos Islands!
Berg Locks delivers spectacle – as well as an incredible feat of engineering they also attract thousands of watching tourists every year – whilst Vreta Kloster Brygerri will serve up well…..beer, it is a brewery after all and, towards the end of your trip, Vreta Kloster Church and Monastery, is the icing on the historical cake.
As we neared the end of our journey with a short bus ride to Linköping, where I’d fly home to Leeds in West Yorkshire, via Amsterdam, courtesy of a second KLM flight, I had just enough time to take a look at the old town, or Gamla Open Air Museum, a ‘living’ attraction with not only residents, but lots of actors dressed in period costumes!
Nothing unusual there, you may think, until you realise that the town was physically ‘moved’ in its entirety in the 1950’s, to make way for architectural progress.
Now, you can step back into the past in a totally immersive way at this fascinating place which gives you a snapshot of Swedish life more than 100 years ago.
As my flight took off, I contemplated: it had been the most wonderful of trips and, despite covering nigh on 50 miles, with lots of stop offs of course, my nether regions had not been shredded and I had barely broken sweat.
But, one thing is for certain, Sweden’s Göta Canal has given me something more precious than money: wonderful memories of a quietly incredible journey. It lacked just one thing: Tao’s ‘Massage God’! I’ll be having a word!
Practical Information
About Sweden: https://sweden.se/
www.visitsweden.com
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About Authour
A lifelong journalist and storyteller, Phil has dedicated his career to uncovering the human side of travel. His work combines integrity, humour, and a deep understanding of Yorkshire’s unique spirit.
