The drive to the next sleeping place was relaxed, as always. Shortly after the start we left the road and drove on a short gravel road to Stora Fjättfallet. A beautiful small but wide waterfall and good fishing spot (for the anglers among you)
The first day we spent on the campsite. We used the free time especially to relax and store the days and impressions in our memory. While doing so, we also enjoyed the beautiful view from our pitch, of course. Such free days we put in every now and then (this day happened to be the National Day of Sweden). On those days we maintain our website, write travel reports and plan the following stages respectively excursions. And next to it, we have the opportunity and peace to treat ourselves with something home-baked. This time we made a Brownie (with liquid core :-P).
On the next day we hiked to two waterfalls. The Fettjeåfallet was our first goal. We walked to it along a creek through almost untouched forest. Two small falls prepared us for this impressive waterfall at the end of the valley. In this area, hardly reached by the sun, some spots of snow were able to survive. We enjoyed the quiet (except the sound of the waterfall itself 😉 ) and people-free environment at the bottom of the waterfall for a while before we started our way back to the car park. Afterwards we drove to the Sångbäcksfallet. Unfortunately, the hiking trip was limited to a short path and a few wooden steps down the slope to the foot of the fall.
The next morning, we stored our belongings slip-proof again, hooked the trailor on and headed off on the Inlandsvägen (the main connection road in the inland). After a short detour over Scandinavia’s longest stone arch bridge, after some driving time we could admire Sweden’s most Northern rune stone. (Just in case you forgot what they look like or even missed them 😉 )
But as soon as we got back into the car, we had THE highlight, which we had to tell you about in the Special Report! that very evening. Our elk encounter. 🙂
Shortly after this experience we were able to record evidence (in the form of footprints) of the existence of the legendary Storsjöodjur (Storsjö Monster). This is a close relative of Nessie, the Loch Ness monster. But unfortunately the monster was just as shy as Nessie on our trip through Scotland (seems to be very reserved family).
Our stage destination that day was a camsite with an almost perfect location for nature lovers. It is located directly on the top of the waterfall Ristafallet. Thanks to our “early” arrival (3.00pm), we could choose every spot we wanted and of course we chose the one with the best view. 🙂
By the way, the waterfall consists of two parts, as it splits at a rocky island. The northern part is practically accessible directly from the campsite. To the southern part we drove the next morning after breakfast. Then we went to the widest Swedish waterfall, the Tännforsen. The river Indalsälven falls here, with a width of 60m, a good 37 metres into the depth. The spray at the lower viewpoint was so strong that we felt as if we were standing in a cloud. However, we found the Handölsforsarna river falls even more spectacular. Over a length of about 2km, the water here falls in several stages a total of 125 metres. The snow-covered mountains all around give a good idea of where all these masses of water originate.
The next stage of the journey took us to Svaningen. The last 65 km to the campsite were the most exciting of our caravan tours so far. It was almost exclusively a gravel road. And just as we turned onto this road, it started to rain. Here you can see what our caravan looked like when we arrived at the campsite.
Regarding natural phenomena, however, the next day was even more “powerful”. The Hällingsåfallet has “only” a drop of 43m, but the water rushes down a vertical rock face into an 800m long canyon. At the bottom, the Lilla Hällingsån (Lilla means small) “whirls” through rapids and small waterfalls in the canyon, which is between 15 and 60 metres wide.
P.S. By the way, our further travel plans have become a lot more concrete in the meantime. At the end of October, our flight leaves Frankfurt am Main for Sydney (with a stopover in Abu Dhabi). And a few days later we can pick up our rental car and set off to discover the red continent. We are looking forward to it and are excited to see what else we will experience in Europe until then.
