The Swedish heartlands is where most of the wildlife is. There are bears, beavers, badgers, foxes, moose, deer, lynx, wolves and even Wolverine. The chances of seeing the last three are almost zero. There are believed to be about 250 wolves, 200 wolverines and very few lynx. But it’s good to think they are here in the deep forest. And lots of bird life. We hired a canoe for a day at Skinnskatteberg and enjoyed paddling around a huge lake and stopping off at s...

On leaving Pitea we headed north to Lulea to see the old church town of Gamalstad. There was a time when church attendance was compulsory in Sweden but not every village had a church. So people from outlying areas had to build cottages at the church so they could stay over. Gammelstad still has 400 cottages crammed around its church. Tiny one or two rooms with no running water or sanitation, common long drop toilets here and there. Once roads and cars became comm...

Next stop was the small coastal town of Pitea to meet up with a Swedish friend, Helena & her cousin, Camilla. Helena comes home for a holiday each year and we were lucky that our paths crossed. We enjoyed a lovely meal at Camilla's apartment and learnt a lot about Sweden and its customs. It’s so nice to have local knowledge to get a real understanding of a place. They had booked us into a great campsite right by the sea, with its own pool, and as the weath...

We have travelled over the mountains from Narvik to the Abisko National Park in Sweden. Strangely the mosquitoes appear almost as soon as you enter Sweden, it’s as if they are swedes and don’t venture abroad. The Abisko area is quite beautiful centred around a glacial river with many rapids. There are also many lakes which is why the mosquitoes are here. We can free camp here and have found a couple of lovely spots, you just need to get there by early evening...