Sweden: Vanersborg by Bike

Ann Crossing the Gota Alv at Vanersborg

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 Brilliantly! How the Swedes handle bikes on this major highway bridge, that is. Look at this, a bike lane and a pedestrian lane, full rails, the works. And it was heavily used. What a great country for human powered transport - all this in a fairly obscure industrial town of 20,000. I reported back to Ann that night that we absolutely had to ride up there on Tuesday, her day off.

Ann Testing the Tourist Bike

We were so stoked! We went down to the dining room with Ann's Swedish colleague, Roland, first thing the next day for the wonderful included breakfast at the Scandic hotel (though we were starting to get an idea that we would be tired of cheese by the end of this trip), already planning our outing. Dropped by the front desk to pick up the keys to a bike, and dang, they were all out but one. We were in big trouble. We were scheming all sorts of uncomfortable and marginally safe ideas like wadding a jacket on the cargo rack so one of us could ride behind the operator. This was not as outlandish as you might expect - these bikes were tanks. 50 lbs, minimum, of Swedish steel, extra spokes, even a pump holder tube. But it wasn't too comfortable, and the handling even on this relaxed a bike took a turn for the worse with all that weight on the rear wheel.

Alloy Plant and Loading Facility at Vanersborg

Concierge to the rescue! She suggested we go down to the tourist office at the south end of town and see if they would rent a bike - they usually had some. So we took turns riding the uncomfortable rack through the streets along the waterfront of Trollhattan to their tourist office and museum center. This is set in a beautifully re-purposed industrial area. Formerly a major fabrication and engineering site, it now houses small, high tech enterprises, the Trollhattan movie studios (nationally known and nicknamed "Trollywood" believe it or not), the Saab museum, and a cable car across the canal to the science museum and hydroplant tours.

Vanersborg Marina and Lake Van

The tourist office was just opening, and they were exceptionally helpful. They in fact had already put all the bikes in storage for the winter (this was late October), but immediately took us around the corner and down to the storage basement, found one my size, took our hotel name and room number, and off we went. Even nicer than the loaner from the hotel, this one had 8 speeds and a lighter aluminum frame. We repeated what I had done the day before, then began our exploration of Vanersborg proper.

From the top of the bridge we could see the industry down the Gota Alv canal and Lake Vanern up the canal. Lake Venern is the largest lake in Sweden and the EU, and the third largest in Europe - about 1/4 the size of Lake Erie. You certainly can't see the other side from Vanersborg, even from the bridge. 

Bike underpass at the Vanersborg Waterfron

We crossed the highway lift bridge in style, then dropped on a bike/pedestrian cloverleaf (yes!) under the bridge to a waterfront park and marina, empty for the season. The bike popped under this welcoming underpass, then headed along the lake shore, it turned out through  many kilometers of shoreline park, encompassing the entire north end of town. The Swedes seem to do well with their public land and parks. Everywhere there were views of the lake, tree covered lawns, and paths with access to the nearby neighborhoods. Eventually, we entered a nature preserve where the paths wound through undisturbed woods, slipping out to the shore periodically for a view, then back into the woods.

Urban Slickrock at Vanersborg

We even found a bit of urban slickrock (exposed bedrock you can ride you bike on) used as part of the trails in the park. Think there were some glaciers here recently? 

Nature Preserve at Vanersborg

I was developing an urgent need to find a restroom. And there was a nice brick one as I rounded the corner in the park, marked "WC" of all things. We saw a lot of English mixed with the Swedish. Some of the Swedes who spoke English had Brit accents and some Yank. To some extent, it was age dependent. I think the schools taught British English, but of course entertainment culture is dominated by American English. Younger folks seemed to have more Americanized English. I wonder if this is really true throughout Sweden?

One of Many Community Gardens

Thinking of language, it was interesting too, watching folks try to peg your origins. Especially on the flights around Europe the flight attendants, who commanded many  languages, had to make a guess about yours when they first addressed you, then remember throughout the flight what each passenger spoke. But I found if you were pretty quite, spoke softly, maybe looked and dressed a certain way, and used the simple Swedish greetings, they often took me for a Swede or assumed I spoke Swedish and if I didn't object, continued to speak Swedish (or later, German) to me throughout the flight. That was fun, and I could usually figure out what was going on - a nice challenge.

Back to the tour of Vanersborg. As we left the nature preserve, we passed yet another community garden. Houses and lots tending to be smaller here, it seems that more gardening is done communally. Each family has a small shed for tools and the like on their plot. The season was well past, so we saw no activity, but it must be amazing in the short, intense spring and summer here.

Vanersborg Watertowr

Downtown Vanersborg

Ending up on the northeast side of town, we crossed the ring highway and angled back towards downtown, passing lumber yards, car dealerships, plumbing contractors, and grocery stores. Kind of  the near-suburban strip, but much subdued. Closer to downtown we started hitting apartment blocks of mid-20th century vintage, heavy bus, bike and pedestrian traffic, and uninspired schools and community centers. If any part of our visit here looked a little less prosperous or wealthy, it was in this area. More similar to a traditional hardworking blue collar neighborhood in the States than we saw elsewhere in Sweden. We turned a corner by the historic water tower down the main boulevard (park and church in the center), then turned on a pretty little pedestrian shopping street.

Nicely done. We parked the bikes in a nearly full rack, one of many, chained them, and went looking for some gifts. We found a fascinating shop, kind of a Swedish Dollar General, though maybe not a chain. They had household stuff, a few Legos, Christmas decorations (and I'll have you note this was late October - we Americans are not the only ones rushing the season), snack foods. Teenagers standing around goofing off.

Bike Path Around Vanersborg

We went down the street a little further looking for coffee, and found a little local place. Not very fancy, but nice enough. Found our first Swede who had little or no English. He was very friendly, and we easily worked out that we wanted cafe (pretty universal word that). But the noshies were a bit trickier. We looked at the menu board, and and worked out something about a bagette and mushrooms. He helpfully described it some more in Swedish which we completely missed, but ordered away and took a seat at a small table. He disappeared up the short steps behind the counter to the kitchen. Another customer came in, they talked, then the customer went behind the counter and up the stairs. Bathroom! my always hopeful and observant wife cried. When the customer returned, she took her turn. Then I mine. Up the steps was the door to a tiny kitchen, and another door. Leaving that door put us in a stairwell, and after a bit of spinning around, I found the tiny WC door behind the entrance door. How cool, just like the Rosetta Cafe in Calumet at home, with the men's restroom across the unfinished basement down a narrow flight of ancient stairs.

Sun Setting on Lake Vanern

I came back to the worst meal of our trip. The coffee was great - never ran in to bad coffee in Sweden, they know how to make good coffee, and strong. But the meal was basically cream-of-mushroom soup on white bread buried under melted cheese. The few onions on it were ok. Another customer entered, apparently a good friend of the proprietor, and he grabbed a bowl of soup and joined his friend for a snack and a good talk. Very homey. Except for the three electronic gambling machines along the back wall next to us. And that's really the best part of our trip to Vanersborg - we got to visit a part of Sweden that doesn't expect to see foreigners much. It's set up for the folks that live there. We felt we got to know Sweden a little better that way.

But the sun (always when we were there - the light felt like mid winter back home at 47 north) was setting lower and we had to be on our way. Thanks, Vanersborg, for treating us like everyone else. Nice town.