Last summer we spent half a day riding a draisine on Dellen Railway. We absolutely loved doing that. It was so much fun that we have decided to do this maybe once a year. There are about 30 places in Sweden where it is possible to ride draisine so we wont run out of options for this activity in the near future.
This summer we found in the tiny hamlet Vitvattnet, about half an hour by car north of Kalix town, which hires draisines for rides on an abandoned section of the Haparanda Line.
On hot days there are a few reindeers that seek out the cool temperatures inside a railway tunnel along the line. We were lucky and saw these animals. Here is a short film of that.
The Swedish version of the TV show Survivor is named Robinson. Most seasons this show has been recorded on tropical islands in various parts of the world. In 2020, due to the pandemic, they recorded the show on the island Seskar in northern
On hot days there are a few reindeers that lurk around near a railway tunnel. We were lucky and saw these animals.
Sweden instead. We decided to locate one of the beaches they used then and camp there for a night. So we can now claim that we have slept on a Survivor beach.
On Seskar Island we found a memorial over an episode in Swedish history that we had never heard of before. In 1917 people protested against food shortages, protests that turned into riots. Eventually military was called in to restore order on Seskar again.
Haparanda Town is right on the border with Finland. On the other side of the border is the Finnish town Tornio. Together these towns effectively create a twin city. Well, at least that was true before travel between the two countries became restricted. During the pandemic we guess that they were more like two neighbouring towns with little in common.
We didnt bother with the hassle of crossing the border to Finland this time. We are both fully vaccinated so we guess that it would have been a straightforward process of just going to the border checkpoint and present the vaccination card. But we had no business in Tornio and we had enough things to
So we never actually crossed the border to Finland. But at another place we actually came within 15 meters from the border. More about that later.
Last year they in Haparanda put up a few humorous pedestrian signs next to the normal signs. The one that got the most publicity was depicting John Cleese as the civil servant in the sketch the Ministry of Silly Walks. Unfortunately the signs had to be removed since Swedish law doesnt permit them. But the John Cleese sign was not scrapped. It now hangs on a wall in the tourist information. We think it sucks that they in this particular case couldnt make an exception from the letter of the law and permit them. Seriously, we all need to laugh more than we do and John Cleese helps us do that.
Just over an hour by car north of Haparanda is the Arctic Circle. We just had to go and see it. Well, for obvious reasons its not visible so we couldnt see it per se. But there is a sign saying where the Arctic
This section of the Haparanda Line may be abandoned, but the train station is still there. Inside it felt a bit like a time capsule
Kukkolaforsen is a rapid in the Torne River. Next to the rapid there are, among other things, a camp site, a restaurant and a museum. We went there mainly because they offer something that weve never encountered before - a dinner on the river.
In summer fish migrate up Torne River to find calmer water in which they can reproduce. The Kukkolaforsen rapids are slightly difficult to pass and the fish cant do it in one go. They swim some of the way, find themselves a sheltered place and rest for a while. After having rested they swim a bit further. When they rest, they are easy to catch. If you know where the hollows are, all you need is a hand net to sweep them up.
Today this method of catching fish is restricted to prevent overfishing.
