We have now reached the beautiful wooden town of Hjo and the surrounding area. We are enjoying the fantastic weather, all the new experiences and finally having running water in the bathroom. Happy Friday!
Table of contents
Finally on the move
We really enjoy being on the road with our motorhome. We feel that we thrive when we constantly get to see and experience new things - big and small.
We will be mixing shorter updates with longer and more detailed reports. So far, we have written a Guide to Mariestad. One photo that was not included in the report was the photo of the Bergström house below. According to Visit Mariestad, this is a shop that sells everything in telecoms, photography and data. Of course, we fell in love with it because our name is Bergström ...
Visit to Hjo
We have also visited Hjowhich is a fantastic little town, known as the "wooden town by Lake Vättern". Unfortunately, we could not stay here for long, so there will be no proper report on Hjo. We'll have to do that another time! We can at least offer a picture of the nice little church at the square.
Soon Hjo will win the "bench battle".
When we visited squid Last year we tried out the Gustav Vasa bench, which according to the information sign was supposed to be "Sweden's longest bench". However, this record has not been left alone.
In a article on SVT you can read that Karlskrona took up the fight and built a 260 metre long bench. Nearby, according to the article, one could find a sign saying "Sweden's actual longest bench with an impressive length of 260 metres, so fuck Kalmar!".
But, the fight is not over! During our recent visit to Hjo, we saw a guy working on the construction of a very long bench, which will soon be finished, and will be ... 265 metres! According to the guy we talked to, the length could even end up at 267 metres.
RV park outside Hjo
We found a site just outside Hjo called "Maplerock Ranch". Here you stand on a large lawn, with some view of Lake Vättern, for 190 kronor. The site has electricity and the possibility of emptying both latrine and grey water.
A new water tap
Our friends and guest writers Maria and Jöran, from emjis.se, were kind enough to point us to a place on the road where we could buy a new crane for the motorhome (Fribergs Fritidscenter in Skövde). Very true! Here we found both the tap and the connections we needed and voilà, now we have running water in the bathroom. Fantastically nice! Happy Friday!
Presentation of the FREEDOM mascots
By popular demand (well, after a question), here is a presentation of the FREEDOM motorhome mascots that appear from time to time in the front windscreen ...
From left: Peter's pike Jedi which he bought at Nature centre at Lake Hornborgar, Helena's tiger Tigris bought in Croatia a long time ago, a give-away teddy bear from the Jungfrau region in Switzerland and another give-away teddy bear from the Franken region in Germany. It's getting a bit crowded ...
Best this week
Best this week? A lot of things actually! That we are on the road, that we have a working water tap in the campervan again and that the weather is absolutely fantastic. The magical sunset on First Camp Ekudden in Mariestad also qualifies!
The week ahead
In the coming week we will continue our journey. We are slowly heading towards Germany, but you can expect a little more Sweden first, in the form of campsites, sights, nature experiences and everything else. Join us here and on @freedomtravelnews on Instagram for daily updates!
Did you miss the last Happy Friday? Read the Easter, preparations and alerts
Mr Nils-Åke Hansson says:
Was a report on Landet Runt about this bench. Was recently in Oskarshamn where they have a long bench of 72 metres with lighting underneath.
How great it is to have water in the bathroom!
Stay well
22 April 2022 - 8:19
Helena says:
Glad they picked up on this about the benches! It's a bit fun 😉 I think I heard that about it in Oskarshamn too, recognise it.
22 April 2022 - 17:28
Reiselinda says:
The benches have little left to the world's longest at 575.75 metres, which we cycled past last autumn. There have also been competitions and expansions! Fun with engagement though!
The best thing this week is that we slept one night in the motorhome and will go on an excursion before the weekend is over!
22 April 2022 - 12:39
Helena says:
Wow, that's quite a bench! Somewhere in Germany then we guess? Cosy with motorhome excursion! 🙂
22 April 2022 - 17:31
Reiselinda says:
Yes, it's in Rendsburg, I forgot to write that.
26 April 2022 - 20:54
bmlarstravellingblog says:
We usually visit beautiful Hjo in the summer, but on Boxing Day we made a wintry visit with a walk along Lake Vättern. Fun with a competition for the longest bench!
For us, the whole week has been the best of the week; we are thoroughly enjoying the glorious Netherlands....
22 April 2022 - 14:02
Helena says:
We are happy to visit Hjo again, and a little longer. Looked very charming! Wish you still nice days in the Netherlands!!!
22 April 2022 - 17:32
Ama de casa says:
It's great that you're back on track! The best part of our week is that we finally left the Iberian Peninsula and flew across the pond to the USA 😀.
22 April 2022 - 17:02
Helena says:
Oh wonderful that you got away on a long trip! Wish you a continued nice trip!
22 April 2022 - 17:32
BP says:
Hahaha! That was a quick answer - to my question about the name and origin of the cute soft toys:-) There is probably room for more;-)
Congratulations on the new tap in the bathroom. So nice with running water in the bathroom:-)
22 April 2022 - 20:48
Ditte says:
Hjo is really a nice and charming town, especially in summer and early autumn. I was there in September and saw the exhibition about Estrid Eriksson, Josef and Svenskt Tenn.
Was here a lot in the past when I lived in Västergötland.
Wishing you a pleasant journey.
23 April 2022 - 8:09
Maria / emjis says:
Hjo is fantastically beautiful! What fun with the long bench - we can inspect it this summer! We may well return with pictures then!
How good that it worked out with the crane, it will be much smoother then!
Have a wonderful journey!
23 April 2022 - 21:44
Arne Lindh says:
And we were on the other side of the lake!
http://xoeocholivia.blogspot.se
24 April 2022 - 18:43