We took a train from Berlin to Rostock, on which someone told us about Karl’s Strawberry Land. So we got off just before Rostock and discovered that land, which our four year old really enjoyed.
Booking the ferry in advance was a bad idea, because our son got a fever just before getting aboard so that was quite a bit of stress. We nevertheless landed in Sweden without much trouble and cycled from Trelleborg to Falsterbo, and we finally started using our tent (msr freelite 3) on camp sites, wild camping and in Warmshowers.org‘s gardens. We celebrated midsummer with a lovely Warmshowers family in Malmö, impressed by fancy cycling lanes. North of Malmö, the coastline got quite nice especially around Sundvik.
North of Helsingborg we visited another Warmshowers host with a marvelous forest house and garden. From there we took a the Oresunds-train to Göteborg, a vibrant city we really enjoyed. By then we had read of the No mind week at Ängsbacka center, so we took a train to Säffle and cycled to Karlstad, hoping to be accepted to the week via the waiting list or as volunteers. Unfortunately neither worked out, so we visited a little ecocommunity in Råbäck, where we didn’t announce ourselves so as to avoid being rejected. That worked well, because our host didn’t feel much of an obligation to take care of us, so we could simply help building a roof for a day and leave the next day. On our way back to Karlstad, we discovered a wonderful family camping ground right on lake Vanern where we got to know a family from the area where my mother in law lives. So we stayed another day to enjoy their company and then set up our tent just next to the Picasso statue in Kristinehamn. After a night of pouring rain, we boarded a little ferry that took us back to Karlstad where we dryed our tent in a hostel. The next day we cycled along the Klarälvs-banan, a former railroad trek on which our son made his first 20km stretch all the way to a trolls path. At frykenbad camping, we hired our first canoe. From Kil we took a train to Arvika where the lake had 24 degrees. Our most northern point was Amotfors where we spent two nights in an Airbnb house with Amrei and Marvin. Then we headed back south via Kil and Säffle, which was a bit adventurous because google maps sent us on the highway. From Säffle we took a train back to Göteborg where a Warmshowers host hinted us to spending two nights on Galterö, which can be reached by ferry to Brännö. These nights were some of the greatest in Sweden, with large vessels and ferries passing by. We left Sweden by ferry to Frederikshavn / Denmark.
a little background: in Sweden, everyone has the right to benefit of nature, including the right to set up your tent on public grounds (allemansrätten). I actually just discovered this right also exists in Switzerland (source) and in the German state of Brandenburg for one night (source). update: the state of Schleswig-Holstein offers spots to active travelers for one night: https://www.wildes-sh.de/
