RIVER CRUISING
sheltered by a variety of deciduous trees and overlooked by a lock-keeper’s cottage built of wood painted primrose yellow, surrounded by immaculate gardens. The landscapes are seldom less than
enchanting. Behind an imaginative mix of trees lining the towpath are woodland or fields dotted with periodic outcrops of rock and farm buildings in a ubiquitous rich wine red. The land rarely rises to more than low
hills crowned with forest and, in towns and villages, some gardens sport pretty summer-houses overlooking the water. When passing walkers or cyclists, cheery waves are exchanged. Perhaps the most impressive of the bridges en route is the huge lifting bridge at Törebada, where a section of the Gothenburg-Stockholm railway is lifted high above the water. On the outskirts of town is
Sweden’s smallest ferry, established in 1919 by a retired engine driver. The Lina saves locals a long walk and is replaced by a wooden bridge once the canal freezes over. The lock at Forsvik is the oldest on the canal, dating from 1813, and it was here a 14-year-old Ericsson was put in charge of 600 men, even though he had to use a stool to use surveying instruments.
T
oday, Forsvik’s claim to maritime fame is the working replica of a pad- dle steamer that sank in Lake Vättern
in 1856; the first voyage of Eric Nordevall II took place last year and she will be available for charter along the canal. Motala, where we moored for our stationary night, is anything but a typical canal town in appearance. Engineering facilities and a foundry were created here to manufacture components for the canal, such
FORT AND FORTITUDE
Before setting off across Lake Vättern, we disembarked to visit the extraordinary fortress at KARLSBORG. It took from 1819 to 1909 to build this immense bastion, intended as a last stronghold for the royal family and the government should the country be over-run. Our guide led us through a long, artificial-smoke-filled tunnel connecting gun and rifle embrasures ‘manned’ by uniformed mannequins, with explosions and gunfire ringing in our ears.
The main building is 741 yards long and contains a chapel for 700 that would double as a parliament chamber.
as lock gates copied from patterns sent out by Telford from Shropshire, but the elegant classical buildings and innumerable trees planted by Von Platen give it a much softer atmosphere than most industrial towns. On our last day, we wandered the cobbled streets of the picture-postcard village of Söderköping with its wooden houses and free-standing timber bell- tower of 1582.
Spring 2012 I WORLD OF CRUISING
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Photos © Gota Canal Steamship Company
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