Ann and Roger travel: July 2026

Thursday 30th July 2026

Before leaving Obbola I had a look around. There is an interesting birdbox at the start of the path to the footbridge.

I was wondering whether the path would be suitable for Ann's mobility scooter.

There is a long drop type toilet in the woods - note the ramp and wide door for disabled access.

I went up onto the footbridge to the island nature reserve - it was very very wobbly!

Looking back at the parking area from the footbridge.

I described the route to Ann and we both decided to give up on visiting the island! Ann went for a walk instead.

We set off and tavelled south west along the coast of The Gulf of Bothnia. The Swedes call this area The High Coast. We arrived in the town of Ornskoldsvik, did a supermarket and alcohol shop, took on diesel and parked for the day by the harbour. We are so far from the open ocean here that there is virtually no tidal variation and the "sea water" is hardly salty at all.

We are parked next to a tall appartment block right next to the water.

Ann went for a ride around on her mobility scooter, Can you spot her in the distance underneath the big crane?

Later on we went out for a meal at The Bishops Arms just down the harbour side. It is a Swedish interpretation of a British Pub. Ann had fish and chips and I had Moules Frits all washed down with what turned out to be British Beer! When we returned to our van there was a tremendous rain and hail storm.

Today we travelled 73 miles (118 kilometres). We are at: N63.28630 E18.71629

Ornskoldsvik Street View

Wednesday 29th July 2026

It was a beautiful morning in the middle of nowhere. We had shared our parking place with this French registered van overnight. We managed to wash and have breakfast using some of our stock of bottled water as without a working water pump no water would come out of our taps or toilet flush. I discovered online that a motorhome dealer near Umea on the Gulf of Bothnia had a water pump of the type we use in stock. The only problem is the dealer is 250 kilometres (155 miles) away to the south east!

We set off travelleing south east intially on almost empty roads so we could make very good progress. We stopped at this rest area to empty our toilet cassette. The woman from the white van seen here has just emptied and cleaned out two cassettes which are on the paving outside her van. She is unlikely to be caught short!

We stopped again for a drink and a biscuit (or two or three).

We arrived at the dealer's at about 12.30 where I bought and fitted the new water pump.

We moved on the short distance to a parking place next to a hay meadow which was being cut at the time. We saw lots of Cranes flying over. These are very large birds. We had this unrealistic idea to go and eat out at a restaurant in Umea. I programmed a stop at the car park next to the restaurant followed by a stop next to an estuary at Obbola into the sat nav and we set off. I became totally confused as the sat nav, instead of taking us tto the restaurant, took us to our proposed stop for the day!

When we finally got to the car park by the restaurant, the car park was totally full and the restaurant packed out at 16.00 on a Wednesday. We returned to Obbola and stopped for the day.

This is the parking place for visiting a nature reserve which is on a island in the estuary accessed by the footbridge seen here.

Instead of fancy food in the city centre we had vegetable stew for our tea. Very nice.

Today we travelled 178 miles (287 kilometres). We are at: N63.75239 E20.30928

Obbola Street View December 2021

Tuesday 28th July 2026

It was raining this morning. We travelled south, then south west, then west and finally south on E45. We took on water at a garage in Arvidsjaur and stopped briefly at Avaviken for a rest. We emptyed our waste tank at Sorsele.

We stopped for the day at this rough parking area near Blattnicksele south of Sorsele on the E45.

There are a lot of mosquitos here so we stayed in the van with flyscreens on open windows. It was nice weather for a change.

Surprisingly this excellent free parking area is was not on the park4night database so I have added it.

Just as I was about to go to bed I noticed that the pump which supplies water to our kitchen sink, washroom tap/shower head and the toilet flush had stopped working!!!

Today we travelled 149 miles (240 kilometres). We are at: N65.35792 E17.57818

Blattnicksele Street View

Monday 27th July 2026

It was raining this morning at Gallivare but improved as the day went on. We bought groceries in town. We travelled west then south to Porjus, seen here, to empty our toilet.

We continued south to Jokkmokk seeing six reindeer along the way. We took a detour on minor roads and in so doing crossed the Arctic Circle without having to pass the inevitable tourist trap on the main E45 road.

We came on south to this beautiful parking place next to a lake at Tarrajaur.

Here's the view from the sliding door on the side of our van which we've been able to leave open for the first time in many days!

Ann is much better this afternoon. She was able to walk down to the lakeside and back.

Today we travellex 91 miles (147 kilometres). We are at: N66.42609 E19.68305

Tarrajaur Street View - the toilet bloc isn't here anymore!

Sunday 26th July 2026

Ann slept well last night - thanks to the camomile tea? Pharmacists are very clever people. She is still however very breathless, weak and wobbly! We travelled south east on E10 through seemingly never ending forests. We then travelled south on E10/E45 through a long section where the road was being upgraded so very slow progress. It rained all the way. We stopped for the day at a really nice car park by a lake on the outskirts of the town of Gallivare. Here's the view from our side door.

The car park has a toilet and lots of rubbish bins.

A Netherlands registered motorhome turned up in mid afternoon.

Later on a British registered campervan arrived and parked just in front of us. Birmingham plates.

Later still the local girl / boy racers lined up for an F1 type standing start right next to our parking place. What a gas!

There are lots of picnic benches here, as well as fire pits etc. It's a really nice place but it just keeps on raining and raining! There are now five vans here - one German, two British, one Netherlands and one Spanish!

Today we travelled 73 miles (118 kilometres). We are at: N67.13797 E20.62934

Gallivare Street View

Saturday 25th July2026

Much nicer weather this morning. Ann was still unable to sleep due to breathlessness. Before leaving the parking area I had a wander around. There is a public shelter, it's only for resting in, not for staying overnight.

I went inside.

The place had a nasty feel about it which I can't quite describe in words!

There is also a boathouse which is locked.

We set off and travelled east. We stopped at the city of Kiruna and made a few purchases before going a few kilometres further east and stopping for the day at a level parking area next to a tennis court. We opened the door of the van and a few mosquitos came in so we decided to go back to Kiruna where we took on diesel and parked outside a large shopping complex. Ann got on her mobility scooter and rode into a pharmacy where she talked to the pharmacist about her health problems. He recommended camomile tea to help her sleep. We then did the nearby supermarket where we bought, amongst other things, some camomile tea.

The car park in town was pretty awful so we retraced our route to the parking area by the tennis court which we had previuosly turned our noses up at due to mosquitos. A german couple turned up in a little VW camper and spent a long time brushing their dog. We stayed inside our van fearful of the wee beasties!

Then a large german registered motorhome turned up. The swedish registered caravan had been there all along.

The germans in the small VW camper packed up and left.

Finally another big german registered motorhome arrived and parked neatly next to the first one. They put up their satellite dish and levelled with their hydrolic ramps - if you look carefully you will see that their front left tyre is off the ground! Ann had a large mug of camomile tea before going to bed.

Today we travelled 83 miles (134 kilometres). We are at: N67.84166 E20.40596

Tuolluvaara Street view of turn off for parking area

Friday 24th July 2026

Nasty wet weather this morning - water dripping into the van through the ceiling near the front skylight. Travelled east. Stopped to do clothes washing at a garage at Evenes which has a washing machine and dryer available for public use. The machines are in a cupboard just infront of the toilets which are in constant use as it's a very busy garage just next to the airport. Here's the queue for the loo - the washing machine and dryer are just the other side of these people. Anyway I eventually got our big bag of dirty washing washed and dried and they only charged me £2.35!

We continued east and soon crossed from Norway into Sweden. We stopped for the day at this very nice lakeside car park near Bjorkliden. We stayed here previously on 26th May 2014.