First of a three part what-I-did-on-my-weekend show and tell type expose. Bit like "The Fabulous Life Of.." but with less braindead celebrities.
Went out to a friend's summer house this weekend while her Mum and Stepfather were away. The house is in Älgeby, about 45 minutes north of Stockholm and is surrounded by lakes and forrests and though there are several summer homes in that area and your neighbours aren't exactly far away, most of the time you'd never know it. It's incredibly calm and peaceful and just what I needed after a pretty hard week at work.
Most of Saturday we spent paddling our kanadensare to the far end of the larger of the two lakes, Skären (pron. wheren, sort of). I'm told a kanadensare is not quite a kayak and not quite a canoe, but looking at it, I'd struggle to tell you the difference between it and a canoe. After reaching the far end of the lake, we swam for a while at a very small patch of sand, before being interrupted by the arrival of a small rowboat bearing a couple and a noisy child. Why the hell they chose to stop at exactly the same place we were when they had the whole lake to choose from is anybody's guess. Talk about disturbing the peace. If it had been me, I'd have kept on rowing as soon as I saw that the destination was occupado.
After abandoning the beach, we paddled our way back towards our starting point, stopping on the way back at a small beach on the other side of the lake to have a quick bite to eat and another swim. This little beach, and where we left from earlier in the day, both have a small pier and a pontoon or two and are popular swimming spots but were thankfully not too crowded at any time during the weekend.
After our second dip of the day we headed back home for a bit of rest and some more relaxation to prepare for the rest of the afternoon and evening.