Linkoping, Sweden was founded in the 12th century, when it became the religious center for the region, and is known for its spectacular 13th-century cathedral. The city is a short distance off the main route of the Gota Canal, and an easy visit by tender via the Kinda Canal.

On our third day in the Gota Canal we travelled 19 nm, passing through five bridges and three locks and rising 20.7 ft (6.3) to reach Lake Roxen at 109 ft (33 m) above sea level. We stopped for the night at Berg on the west end of the lake, below the famous Carl Johan flight of seven locks. From there we ran the tender into the Kinda Canal and visited Linkoping and its famous cathedral, then returned to explore the Carl Johan flight on foot before passing through the next day.

Below are trip highlights from August 5th, 2019. Click any image for a larger view, or click the position to view the location on a map. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps.

Fog Position: 58°30.06’N, 16°7.00’E A foggy morning on Asplangen Lake.

Motorboot Magazine Interview Position: 52°23.06’N, 4°53.64’E When we were in Amsterdam, Laurens van Zijp interviewed us forMotorboot magazine. The article was published over the summer and we’ve posted it here. A rough English translation through Google Translate is here.

UPS Battery Position: 58°30.06’N, 16°6.98’E James testing the backup UPS batteryafter charging it to ensure it’s still meeting specs.

Hulta Lock Position: 58°30.28’N, 16°4.99’E Entering the Hulta Lock at the west end of Asplangen Lake.

Doors Closing Position: 58°30.28’N, 16°4.99’E The lock keeper riding the Hulta Lock gate as they close behind us.

Flooding Position: 58°30.28’N, 16°4.99’E Water pouring into the Hulta Lock to bring us up 10.5ft (3.2m). Since we’re alone in the lock, the lock keeper allowed a much stronger flow than yesterday.

Bradtom Position: 58°30.51’N, 16°1.95’E James keeping an eye on the boat as we pass through the Bradtom lock with a 7.5ft (2.3m) rise.

Bjornavad Bridge Position: 58°30.57’N, 16°1.04’E Nearing the Bjornavad Bridge in wonderfully calm conditions. We’re really enjoying our run along the Gota Canal.

Brjornad Bridge Keeper House Position: 58°30.57’N, 16°1.04’E The Gota Canal bridges are operated remotely from nearby locks, but in the past had resident bridge keepers who lived on-site since the canal was open 24/7. All along the canal, the old bridge and lock keepers homes are now wonderfully kept by the current residents. Presumably they are required to keep the color scheme and the name, as they all do.

Tight Position: 58°30.57’N, 16°1.04’E Passing through the Brjornad Bridge. A 5m beam in a 7m channel sounds fine, but it feels awfully tight at the help.

Norsholm Highway 215 Bridge Position: 58°30.51’N, 15°58.86’E The Norsholm Highway 215 Bridge open for us to pass through.

Norsholm Gasthamn Position: 58°30.46’N, 15°58.72’E A few boats moored at Norsholm Gasthamn. We’re getting to the end of the busy season now, so there’s generally plenty of space at the marinas and relatively few boats underway.

Mud Position: 58°30.41’N, 15°58.49’E Churning up mud as we get close to the shoreline waiting to enter the Norsholm Lock.

Norsholm Lock Position: 58°30.42’N, 15°58.37’E The bridge open for us to enter the Norshholm lock. This lock has a road bridge at the east end and a railway bridge at the other.

Train Bridge Position: 58°30.42’N, 15°58.36’E After the Norsholm Lock filled, we had to wait about another 15 minutes for a couple of trains to pass before the railway bridge could be opened for us to exit the lock. The trains went by so fast that if we weren’t ready to take a picture, they were gone.

Roxen Lake Position: 58°30.43’N, 15°58.22’E Boats moored along the shore of the channel to Roxen Lake.

Estate Position: 58°30.52’N, 15°57.93’E Large estate on the shores of Roxen Lake.

Berg Position: 58°29.19’N, 15°32.60’E Moored at Berg at the bottom of the Carl Johan Flight of locks. At least two boats are ahead of us, so we decided to overnight at the bottom and run the tender over to explore the Kinda Canal at the south end of Roxen Lake. We only passed through 3 locks today with a total gain of 20.7ft (6.3m) and now are at 108.9 ft (33.2m) above sea level.

Carl Johan Flight Position: 58°29.13’N, 15°32.68’E Looking up the Carl Johan flight from the tender. The flight of seven locks joined together have a total rise of 61.7ft (18.8m) and is the longest flight in the Gota Canal. And directly beyond are two sets of double locks, for effectively eleven in a row. We’ll be taking that on tomorrow morning.

Pedestrian Position: 58°29.10’N, 15°32.76’E The figure of a pedestrian just offshore from the Carl Johan flight

Kinda Canal Position: 58°26.73’N, 15°37.40’E A happy Jennifer entering the Kinda Canal, southwest of Berg.

Cottages Position: 58°26.29’N, 15°37.50’E Nicely-kept cottages along the Kinda Canal.

Basin Position: 58°25.59’N, 15°37.74’E We barely had enough water to run the tender through the channel to this small boat basin off the Kinda Canal.

Kinda Canal Lock Jetty Position: 58°25.29’N, 15°37.83’E The tender moored at the Kinda Canal jetty in Linkoping.

Lock Keeper Position: 58°25.30’N, 15°37.83’E Our initial plan was to take the Kinda Canal a few miles upstream through the first three locks. The locks are supposed to be open from 9am-7pm with a one-hour lunch break between noon and 1pm. But the lock keeper said he was taking a late lunch and might not be back until 3pm. That made our tender trip up the locks impractical and we decided to explore Linkoping instead.

Fountain Position: 58°25.21’N, 15°37.90’E Fountain just upstream of the first Kinda Canal lock.

Crossing Position: 58°25.23’N, 15°37.94’E We’d walked across a pond on pedestrian bridge that ended a few feet from the other side. We didn’t feel like retracing our steps, so carefully made our way across using two beams.

Turbine Position: 58°25.26’N, 15°37.93’E Large turbine from the old power station that used to operate here.

Sankt Lars Kyrka Position: 58°24.69’N, 15°37.47’E Linkoping has been inhabited since the Iron Age. It was a marketplace in the middle ages and became the religious center for the region in the 1100s, with a bishop installed in 1120. Sankt Lars Kyrka dates from the early 12th century.

Stor Torget Position: 58°24.66’N, 15°37.27’E Stor Torget, Linkoping’s main square, is lined with cafes and shops.

Folke Filbyter Position: 58°24.64’N, 15°37.28’E Statue in Stor Torget of Folke Filbyter, the 11th-century progenitor of the House of Bjelbo, that produced several medieval Swedish bishops and kings.

Linkoping Cathedral Position: 58°24.66’N, 15°36.96’E Spectacular Linkoping Cathedral was founded in the 13th century on the site where a wooden church was built in the 1100s.

Pulpit Position: 58°24.66’N, 15°36.96’E The fabulous ornate pulpit in Linkoping Cathedral.

Pilgrim Position: 58°24.68’N, 15°37.09’E Statue of a pilgrim resting in Linkoping Cathedral.

Fire Department Position: 58°24.65’N, 15°37.05’E The Linkoping fire department was doing a training exercise outside Linkoping Cathedral with their well-equipped Scania fire truck. We spent ages watching them and later chatting with the crew.

Hunnebergsgatan Position: 58°24.72’N, 15°36.79’E 17th-century buildings along Hunnebergsgatan in Linkoping.

Agatan Position: 58°24.70’N, 15°37.34’E Looking west along restaurant-lined Agatan to Linkoping Cathedral.

Central Station Position: 58°24.97’N, 15°37.52’E Linkoping central train station opened in 1872.

Inside Kinda Lock Position: 58°25.30’N, 15°37.84’E The lock doors were open, so we ran the tender into the first Kinda Canal lock before departing the area. The canal 56-mile (90km) has 15 locks with a combined elevation of 164ft (50m). When completed in 1872, the canal was mainly used to transport construction material. Today its primary use is tourism. The maximum dimensions for a boat to pass through the canal is 80 ft (24.5m) long and 14.75ft (4.5m) wide with a 4.9ft (1.5m) water draft and a 10.1ft (3.09m) air draft. Dirona only passes on the length dimension, but the tender would have been perfect.

Debris Position: 58°25.54’N, 15°37.73’E On the way back from the Kinda Canal, the engine was struggling to carry us much faster than 25 kts and was slow getting on plane. We stopped and found the prop fouled with a waste plastic bag.

Close Quarters Operation Position: 58°29.19’N, 15°32.50’E The Gota Canal locks are full of close quarters operation and most boats are well-fendered, but its impossible to have enough fenders to avoid all possibilities of contact. In this video, you can see the rafted boats in front of us having some trouble maneuvering, and fending off to avoid contact with Dirona. We don’t think any damage was taken here, but this is one of the reasons why boats tend to pick up small nicks and dings even if the operators are careful to avoid contact.

Looking down Carl Johan Flight Position: 58°29.24’N, 15°32.35’E Looking down from partway up Carl Johan Flight to Dirona moored at the bottom.

Wasa Lejon Position: 58°29.15’N, 15°31.54’E The tour boat Wasa Lejon makes day cruises between the top of the Carl Johan Flight west through the canal to Borensburg. Here is it returning to its berth at Berg through the lower chamber of the double lock Berg lock.

Water Flow Position: 58°29.15’N, 15°31.84’E Water pouring into the lower chamber of the Oscar double lock as the Wasa Lejon continues descending to the basin above the Carl Johan lock flight.

Kanalkrogen Delimo Position: 58°29.15’N, 15°31.57’E We finished the day with an enjoyable meal canal-side at Kanalkrogen Delimo in Berg.

Click the travel log icon on the left to see these locations on a map, with the complete log of our cruise. On the map page, clicking on a camera or text icon will display a picture and/or log entry for that location, and clicking on the smaller icons along the route will display latitude, longitude and other navigation data for that location. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps.