ship’s log 24: back to the sea using the Trollhättan canal

Jun 16

After exploring not only the Baltic Sea but also the inland waters of Sweden, it was finally time to head back out in to the north sea sea. To get there, we took the Trollhätte Canal, which connects Lake Vänern with Gothenburg on Sweden's west coast.

Compared to the Göta Canal, the Trollhätte Canal feels much more industrial. There are only a few locks, but they are huge, and getting used to them was quite an adjustment after everything we had experienced on the smaller locks of the Göta Canal. With so many people on board, we had plenty of helping hands, which definitely made things easier, although it also meant that the captain suddenly had a lot more people to coordinate!

Another thing that makes the Trollhätte Canal special is that much of the route isn't actually a canal at all. Instead, we were sailing along the Göta River itself, following the natural river through the Swedish landscape.

On the evening of our first day, we needed to get some fuel, but there wasn't a convenient marina fuel station nearby. There was, however, a regular petrol station a little further away. So we decided to take our scooters and a couple of jerry cans and headed off to get fuel. Getting back to the boat was a little more creative. We put the full jerry cans on the scooter, sat on them and drove back to the boat. Surprisingly, it worked perfectly without anyone getting hurt.

So perfectly, in fact, that we decided to do a second run!

After two days of locks, rivers and a slightly questionable fuel transportation method, we finally arrived in Gothenburg.

We decided to take a day off to do some laundry, explore the city and simply enjoy having a bit of time on land. This would also be the last day with my parents, witch meant waving goodbye to my parents when their train left the station.

After spending several days together on the boat, sharing meals, exploring islands, surviving a grounding and working on boat projects together, saying goodbye was definitely hard. At the same time, we can look back on so many new memories we created together, and I'm incredibly grateful that they came all the way from Switzerland to experience our life on board.

And luckily, they promised it wouldn't be their last visit!

Stay tuned for our next big adventure!

Day 59: Vännersborg SE - Lilla SE