This morning we went to the beach. Gålö Beach, to be exact. According to Mirinda, it’s the closest at just under half an hour from us. It felt a lot longer getting there but that’s usually the way when travelling to unfamiliar destinations. Like Sweden. It took us a lot longer than it would if we regularly commuted.
Of course, it wasn’t really beach weather, so we didn’t bother with our swimmers or diapers. We just rugged up and let the dogs roam free, given the deserted nature of the place.
The beach is just a small part of the Gålö nature reserve. The nature reserve has been in existence since 2007 and encompasses a total of 3834 hectares about a third of which is water. The remainder (1756 hectares) is water front, forest and cultivated land.
The water is the Baltic Sea which is only lightly salted. We were told this but didn’t quite believe it. So Mirinda tasted it. It’s true. The Baltic Sea is not very salty. It also explains why the girls drank some and weren’t sick.
Speaking of salty water, apparently kids in public pools here are required to wear diapers. They are meant to contain any solids that may escape their tiny, uncontrolled bodies while flapping around in the water. I don’t know what the cut off age is for the diapers but have difficulty imagining a teenager wearing them.
Upon further investigation I have discovered that there are also special adult swimming diapers for those with butt leakage issues. And, to be completely honest, no-one wants to meet a strange brown fish when swimming in a public pool.
Moving away from the ghastly and returning to the beautiful, we walked the length of the beach and then some way into the forest before turning back. We stopped a couple of times to check out the many swans in the vicinity as well as to identify the speedy ferries appearing between the islands.
My maritime tracking app helped with the latter while Mirinda’s monocular did the same for the former.
We even spotted a bathing place for Suzy.
We collected Max and headed back, our heads suitably cleared, cobwebs blown clear away.
We stopped off at the post office on the way home in order to pick up Mirinda’s guitar strings which we’d ordered on Amazon last week. This led to a rather elongated period of Mirinda re-stringing her guitar. At one point she exclaimed “What’s this seventh string for?” An understandable question given she has a six string guitar.
I should add that today Mirinda had the day off so, as well as the beach, we treated ourselves to a visit to Tyresö centrum. A coffee, a sandwich and very welcome visits to the pet shop then the Systembolaget, which is definitely my favourite shop.
We also popped into the 24 hour gym to find out about membership. Unfortunately I didn’t have any ID with me so will have to try joining another time. Mind you, as it turned out, it’s probably a good thing. Late in the day I read a report that said that gyms in Sweden will probably be closed soon.
And then there was all the mud on the Western Front…
…which I felt I was struggling through trying to listen to this week’s WFA webinar.
There were a number of technical issues, not least my laptop misbehaving. Still, the bits I did manage to see and hear were excellent. As usual.
