We enjoyed the peacful jetty in Ljungsbro so much that we decide to stay an extra night and explore the area by bicycle. We pedalled to Berg to visit the canal museum and lock door display, then cycled west to tour the Ljungsbro area.
Below are trip highlights from August 7th, 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.
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Morning
Position: 58°30.31’N, 15°30.00’E
A lovely calm morning along the Gota Canal.
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Spitfire
Position: 58°30.31’N, 15°30.00’E
Spitfire enjoying the view from the bow.
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Venemestari Interview
Position: 61°3.75’N, 28°11.22’E
Aleksi Vienonen, a journalist for Helsinki-based Venemestari magazine, came out to interview us while were in Lappeenranta near the end of our trip through the Saimaa Lakes. The published article in Finnish is here, and a rough English translation through Google translate is here.
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Bicycle Maintenance
Position: 58°30.31’N, 15°30.00’E
Lubing our bicycle chains and filling the tires with air before setting out for a bicycle ride. We really love having bikes aboard and those Giant FCR-2s have done really well over the past decade. We’ve replaced a lot of parts, but they’ve overall been very reliable and never have stranded us anywhere. They are lightweight and comfortable to ride long distance.
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Ready to Go
Position: 58°30.28’N, 15°30.05’E
Ready for our first bike ride along the Gota Canal.
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Lock Door Display
Position: 58°29.11’N, 15°31.83’E
We rode the bikes back to Berg to visit the Canal Museum there, as we didn’t have time the day before. This is one of several old lock doors on display outside the museum.
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Gota Canal Museum
Position: 58°29.12’N, 15°31.85’E
The small Gota Canal Museum in Berg details the construction history of the canal and why it was built. We knew the canal would allow more direct transport of goods across the country, but the engineering project seemed so massive it was hard for us to believe the economic gains from the shorter distance justified the expense. The museum explained that a major influence was that during times of war, the Danes would blockade entirely the narrow Oresund channel between Sweden and Denmark, preventing ships from passing between the west and east coasts of Sweden or between the North Sea and Baltic. And in peace times, the Danes often levied heavy tolls. As a consequence, even at monumental expense, the Gota Canal made security and economic sense.
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Kanalkrogen Delimo
Position: 58°29.15’N, 15°31.57’E
Watching a boat lock through over lunch at Kanalkrogen Delimo in Berg.
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Monument
Position: 58°29.15’N, 15°31.40’E
Monument to the 60,000 workers who built the Gota Canal between 1810 and 1832.
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Ljungsbro Aqueduct
Position: 58°30.28’N, 15°30.41’E
Looking up to the Ljungsbro Aqueduct that we passed over yesterday.
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Dirona
Position: 58°30.29’N, 15°30.06’E
View to our wonderful berth along the Gota Canal near Ljungsbro as we pass heading west on the bikes.
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Forest
Position: 58°30.75’N, 15°28.70’E
Cycling through the forest west of Ljungsbro.
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Crop Circles
Position: 58°31.27’N, 15°25.57’E
Amateur “crop circles” along the Gota Canal.
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Ljungs Kyrka
Position: 58°31.44’N, 15°27.08’E
Ljungs Kyrka (church) outside Ljungsbro was consecrated in 1797. The doors were locked, so we couldn’t have a look inside.
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Stieger Tractor
Position: 58°31.65’N, 15°26.81’E
We stopped in to look at some farm equipment that caught our eye. Here Jennifer is standing next to a Stieger Cougar tractor with a Scania engine. The North Dakota-based US company has been producing tractors since the 1950s and have been one of the few successful mass producers of four-wheel drive tractors in the world. The tractor design has been licensed to a number of other companies and sold under different names over the years, including New Holland, Case International, Ford, Hungary-based RABA and Vandel of France.
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John Deere Tractor
Position: 58°31.65’N, 15°26.82’E
A John Deere 8R row-cropper tractor, made in Waterloo, Iowa.
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Cultivator
Position: 58°31.65’N, 15°26.75’E
A wide Vaderstad cultivator hooked up to the John Deer 8R tractor. Wider farm implements are far more efficient, but of course, substantial horsepower will be required to tow this when it’s dug deep into the earth. That’s why its hitched up to a 9L, 8-wheel-drive John Deere.
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Ljungs Slott
Position: 58°31.68’N, 15°26.62’E
Ljungs Slott (castle) was erected in 1774. It is privately-owned, but open in the summer for visitors. Surprisingly, early August is beyond the end of the summer season and the castle is closed for the year.
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Wasa Lejon
Position: 58°30.31’N, 15°30.00’E
We arrived back to Dirona in time to see the Wasa Lejon returning to Berg on its daily run to Borensborg.
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AWOL
Position: 58°30.31’N, 15°30.00’E
Spitfire knows he’s not allowed ashore, but can’t resist the grass there. He says it’s some of the best in Sweden. :)
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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. |
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