Northern Neighbours - a photo on Flickriver

            On the face of it, the two countries that make up most of the Scandinavian peninsula have more that binds than which separates them.  Take the intertwined languages for example.  I was forever impressed that Steve could speak to the neighbours across the border in Swedish, while they would respond in Norwegian, and there was enough common ground for the conversation to make sense.  A few times when this happened, the silence of monoglot in the middle was enough for them to seamlessly morph into English and remind me how useless we are at speaking other languages.

Norway of course is rightly famous for its extraordinary landscapes.  The Fjords, designed by one Slartibartfast, won him an award you know.  I didn’t see any Norwegian fjords on this adventure because we were in the east of the country, but Norway had made such an impression on me that I’d already booked a second trip there to visit them - before I’d even started the first one.  We’ll come back to that in a few months from now.  Meanwhile you could be forgiven for thinking that Sweden’s offerings to the world are a little more prosaic.  ABBA, IKEA (both so significant that my spellchecker only recognises them in capital letters), and Volvo of course.  And the sadly defunct Saab that they used to build not too far from here.  The Swedes also invented the word “smorgasbord.”  We do like a good smorgasbord at home.  And the day after this was taken, we drove towards the Norwegian border on near empty roads for more than three hours - in a Volvo - almost all of the journey through unbroken forests of spruce and silver birch, with regular glimpses through the cover to sunlit lakes.  There’s much to admire about this sparsely populated country.  We’ll overlook the rollmop herrings.  

Of course you can never really be certain about what lies beneath the surface when you visit a country.  At home we like to gently tease our Devon neighbours about their upside down scones, and I guess it’s much the same here.  “The little brother,” said one of the neighbours, Leif, the hint of a smile playing on his lips as Steve mentioned our adventure in Norway to him.  

But there’s another reason why I feel so attached to this landscape, and it was a connection I hadn’t even made until I was down here at the beach hut, looking at a scene that seemed so familiar, but seeing it with my own eyes for the very first time.  As a child of all ages, my imagination was fired by the stories of Tove Jansson, set in a place that feels a lot like this along the coast of another near neighbour in Finland - the first, and until recent years the only country among these northern realms that I’d ever visited before.  She wrote and illustrated her books so beautifully and tenderly that I’ve read them many times in the fifty years since I first picked up a tattered old copy of “The Finn Family Moomintroll” that had been owned by an aunt when she herself was a child.  Some books become more than just that. They become an integral part of you; they live forever in your dreamscape.  And more than any others, it was the Moomin tales that gave me a place to escape and call my own when I needed to. The stories were set in a world filled with outlandish and quirky characters of all shapes and sizes, where everyone was accepted and made welcome, whoever they were; however odd they might seem - a bit like the way in which I’d been invited into Steve’s home now.  The view of the perfectly situated cabin on the shore of the peaceful Swedish fjord took me to the heart of those magical tales, with the tiny  beach and the lazy rustle of saltwater across its pebbles.  Here I felt an innate sense of calm, while the few sounds that reached these ears came from the natural world alone. It was as if I'd walked through an invisible door and arrived in Moominvalley, the door I so often longed for in those childish days.  Strange that I should find it now that I'm at a time in my life when I no longer feel the need to escape. 

Norway, as I hope to show you, is a stunning country with incomparable landscapes.  But then you knew that already didn’t you?  Everyone knows Norway is a bit special - and not just in the Fjords or Lofoten.  But it would be all too easy to overlook its modest neighbour.  Sweden is worth a journey in itself.  It only took a couple of days here to realise that. And this was just one small corner of the nation, filled to the brim with forests, lakes, sea inlets and islands.  Scale that up for the rest of the country and it's a fine smorgasbord indeed.  Plenty enough to turn your visit to the peninsula into a cross border road trip. Time to warm up the Volvo then…..

Taken in: Sweden / Västra Götaland / Bräcke (show map)

Taken on: September 14, 2025

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Sets appears in: • Scandinavia 2025 • Sweden more » • Explored « less

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Camera: Nikon Z 7_2, f/13.0, 5 sec, 17mm, ISO 64 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon Z 7_2
Lens:	NIKKOR Z 14-30mm f/4 S
Aperture:	f/13.0
Exposure Time:	5
Focal Length:	17mm
ISO:	64
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 14.5.1 (Windows)
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