Thurs. July 28th: Thursday is a work day for me so I had planned to only spend a couple of hours traveling before pulling in to the marina at Norsholm. They have 20 berths, lying alongside, and a decent café called Kapten Bille’s. As usual there was fast wi-fi and a warm Swedish welcome, so I spent a pleasant evening working and watching the boats go by while ensuring my small business was keeping in the black.
Fri. July 29th The next morning we crossed Lake Roxen, which is expansive, beautiful, and (on the day we crossed) very flat. We traversed its 14.6nm length in about three hours and were greeted at the other end by our first ‘flight’ of locks, seven in total, which would take us up to the town of Borensberg. We were comparatively lucky because we only had to wait about 15 minutes for the first one to open, and it was a gloriously sunny day and a drama-free traverse through. Each lock took about 15 minutes to negotiate, so two hours later we emerged.
We then had to pass through four double locks, cross an aqueduct which took us OVER a freeway, past seven remote-controlled bridges and another lock before we stopped for the night at Borensberg. This is a charming riverside town, a little sleepy but very civilized. We pulled up after the lock ahead had closed for the night on a jetty in the shadow of the historic Gota Hotel, a real ‘Vardhus’ relic of the early 20th century canal tourist trade. The hotel had the air of a gently declining dowager, and rather than eat there for the night, we walked into town and found the charming Pizza Napoli restaurant, where four of us enjoyed decent but unmemorable pizzle for $75, before walking home, enjoying the sights a little, and turning in for the night.
Saturday: July 30th: We started our day with a an uneventful crossing of Lake Boren (7nm) and were greeted at the end by a flight of five locks which would take us up to Motala. This town is the gateway to Lake Vattern, 17nm miles across and with it the highest point of the canal, Forsvik, at 91.8m above sea level. There’s not much to recommend Motala. We stopped at a large jetty just before the last lock before the lake. We walked into town to the Sanny Thai restaurant for a decent enough meal and then turned in.
Sunday: July 31st: Time was slipping away from me because I had a crew scheduled to arrive in Gothenberg in a few days and because of my earlier brush with Covid I had entered the Gota Canal a little later than planned. So this day was my makeup day, and I planned to cover about 40nm. This was possible only because I was starting at Lake Vättern, going 17nm with no locks, followed by the Karlsborg-Forsvik-Lake Viken-Tatorp-Töreboda leg, another 30nm but with only two locks. With over 30 berths Töreboda has one of the largest marinas in the canal, but given our expected late arrival I wasn’t 100% sure we’d find an open spot. Turns out we arrived just in time, taking the last spot on the left shortly before sundown. There were a couple of excellent bakeries and restaurants nearby, and for a bonus we berthed right in front of a gorgeous wooden Norwegian yacht, which I spent at least 30 minutes ogling. We ate dinner on the boat and enjoyed a few glasses of wine, the mood quickly turning merrier as England’s Lionesses won the Euro 2022 final, beating Germany 2-1. If only the men could follow suit…
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