Euro Day 32 - O-Ringen

Thursday, 25 July 2019

As I suspected, yesterday was a big day.  In fact so big that we didn't arrive at the event centre until 7:45, and we weren't eating dinner until 10. 

First up Jon and I went for a run  - it was a beautiful morning and Stockholm was shining in the morning light.

 

coming down the stairs and into the street from our hotel 

 

 

After breakfast back at our room (in a cup and with one spoon between us as we sent our bowls & cutlery home) , we packed up and headed out to Jon's long time friend Fredrik's place. This took two bus rides with all our luggage but we made it fine.  Fredrik and his family live in a gorgeous suburb quite close (15 mins from the centre).   And a 1 minute walk from a lake of course!

 

We spent a lovely morning swimming & chatting in the sun.

 

The apartments in their area also have a shared sauna, so when the lake is cold (it wasn't today), you can warm up in there. While we were there other local residents came and swum and went. Fredrik & Josephine's house is also right by a shady park, so lots of the other locals were sunning themselves there - it really was a great location and reminded me why Stockholm is a great city! 

 

After a delicious lunch Fredrik very kindly drove us out to the campervan pickup place. Even though I made sure I booked a pickup from Stockholm, it turned out the place which called itself 'Stockholm' is in fact a long way away - to get there on public transport it would have taken us a train and two bus rides, followed by a 20 minute walk.   Even driving straight there still took 45 minutes.  Sheesh! We're so grateful to Fredrik for helping us out !   It was way out of town through an industrial looking town, then actually another 8k out of that town, into the middle of nowhere, literally at the end of the road.  As we approached the address it was looking really dodgy..

..so we were all super relieved to look right and see campervans lined up ready to go..

 

As always it takes ages to pickup a campervan, you have to watch a 30 minute instructional video then get shown around it by the agent, so after a sneak peak we said goodbye to Fredrik who needed to head back to town to pack for the rest of the family summer holiday including a visit to Astrid Lindgren world, a couple of hours drive away.

 

Finally released from the campervan centre we drove straight to a supermarket and did a biggish (in volume and of course price!) shop. Then we finally hit the road for our 2 hour drive south to Norrkoping (I can't find the Swedish o's on this keyboard but it has a few) 

 

The drive was beautiful - we went past so many lovely looking lakes with boats and summer houses - exactly the Sweden I remembered from the 90s.   A few kms out of town we drove past billboards for O-Ringen then we tuned into O-Ringen radio.   We found our site easily and after a quick wander around the massive arena area we made dinner and ate it outside.  This campervan is really good - it is going to be hot again, but it's equipped with flyscreens on all the windows so we can keep it cool at night (thank goodness!). 

 

We're all looking forward to putting our orienteering shoes back on tomorrow and heading out into the lovely looking Swedish forests! 

2017List
Euro Day 54 - Not a rest day Friday, 16 August 2019
Euro Day 52 & 53 Thursday, 15 August 2019
Euro Day 51 - Drammen & WOC Tuesday, 13 August 2019
Euro Day 50 - Hello Norway! Monday, 12 August 2019
Euro Day 49 - SOW Day 6 Sunday, 11 August 2019
Euro Day 48 - SOW Day 5 Saturday, 10 August 2019
Guest Blog: Today's tip for aspiring young uncles Friday, 9 August 2019
Euro Day 47 - SOW Day 4 Friday, 9 August 2019
Euro Day 46 - SOW Rest(ish) Day Thursday, 8 August 2019
Guest blog by Paul the favourite uncle Thursday, 8 August 2019
Euro Day 45 - SOW Day 3 Wednesday, 7 August 2019
Euro Day 44 - SOW Day 2 Tuesday, 6 August 2019
Euro Day 43 - SOW Day 1 Monday, 5 August 2019
Euro Day 42 - Switzerland to France to Switzerland to France.. Sunday, 4 August 2019
Euro Day 41 - Sweden to Switzerland Sunday, 4 August 2019
Euro Day 40 - Island Idle - Part 2 Friday, 2 August 2019
Euro Day 39 - Island Idle - Part 1 Thursday, 1 August 2019
Euro Day 38 - If it's easy, it's not worth doing Wednesday, 31 July 2019
Euro Day 37 - What Next? Wednesday, 31 July 2019
Euro Day 36 - Back into the forest Monday, 29 July 2019
Euro Day 35 - O-Ringen - Race Day 3 Sunday, 28 July 2019
Euro Day 34 - O-Ringen, Race Day 2 Saturday, 27 July 2019
Euro Day 33 - O-Ringen - Race Day 1 Friday, 26 July 2019
Euro Day 32 - O-Ringen Thursday, 25 July 2019
Euro Day 31 - Hello Stockholm! Wednesday, 24 July 2019
End of Part 1 Wednesday, 24 July 2019
Euro Day 30 - Salzburg! Tuesday, 23 July 2019
Euro Day 29 - Hello Austria! Tuesday, 23 July 2019
Euro Day 28 - Even more Bohinj Sunday, 21 July 2019
Euro Day 27 - More Bohinj! Saturday, 20 July 2019
Euro Day 26 - Bohinj Friday, 19 July 2019
Euro Day 25 - Bled Thursday, 18 July 2019
Euro Day 24 - Hello Slovenia! Wednesday, 17 July 2019
Euro Day 23 - Plitvice Lakes National Park Tuesday, 16 July 2019
Euro Day 22 - Hello Croatia! Monday, 15 July 2019
Euro Day 21 - Dolomites to Trieste Monday, 15 July 2019
Euro Day 20 - Dolomites 3 Day - Day 2 Saturday, 13 July 2019
Euro Day 19 - Dolomites 3 Day - Day 1 Thursday, 11 July 2019
Euro Day 18 - Venice to Predazza, Sea to Mountains Thursday, 11 July 2019
Euro Day 16 & 17 - Part 2 - Venice Wednesday, 10 July 2019
Euro Day 16 - Part 1 - O-Nerding in Venice Tuesday, 9 July 2019
Euro Day 16 - Thunder and Lightning in Venice Tuesday, 9 July 2019
Euro Day 15 - Thunder and Lightning in Florence Monday, 8 July 2019
Euro Day 14 - Pisa and San Gimignano Sunday, 7 July 2019
Euro Day 13 - Cinque Terre Saturday, 6 July 2019
Euro Day 12 - Transition Day Friday, 5 July 2019
Tour Du Mont Blanc - Day 4 Friday, 5 July 2019
Tour Du Mont Blanc - Day 3 Friday, 5 July 2019
Tour Du Mont Blanc - Day 2 Friday, 5 July 2019
Tour Du Mont Blanc - Day 1 Thursday, 4 July 2019
Euro Day 7 - Annecy to Les Houches Sunday, 30 June 2019
Euro Day 6 - From St Etienne to Annecy Saturday, 29 June 2019
Euro Day 5 - Heading towards Lyon Friday, 28 June 2019
Euro Day 4 - Castles Castles Castles Thursday, 27 June 2019
Euro Day 3 - Goodbye Paris hello Loire Valley Wednesday, 26 June 2019
Euro Day 2 - Sore Feet! Tuesday, 25 June 2019
Euro Day 1 - Paris - so French!! Monday, 24 June 2019