Sweden 2013 FINAL REPORT

Transcription

1 Sweden 2013 FINAL REPORT The Challenge. Continuing the development of Paddlesports opportunities within the County a group of Explorer Scouts set out to train in the skills of Open Canoe Trekking with the goal of spending ten days and nights in the Swedish Lakes, carrying all the necessary kit and provisions for their journey. In the summer eleven Explorers and seven leaders travelled to Sweden for their Wilderness Adventure. Training On top to some personal skills training that most of the applicant had already completed the contingent undertook three training weekends. The first weekend was at Bispham Hall in Early February and was a rather cold ( Minus 5!! ) affair aimed at getting the group to work as a team and assessing and developing camping skills. A number of team building challenges as well as sharing ideas on cooking and menu options. The second training weekend took place on the shores of Coniston and was a light weight camp with the group paddling from Browne Howe p to the campsite and then on to Coniston Village. Day two was a challenging day on the water in far from ideal paddling conditions but again the group rose to the challenge. The final training weekend was a moving water trip on the river Ouse. By now the group was working well together and were all looking forwards to the summer adventure.

2 The Location Our hosts Colin and Alison run Byns Campsite near the town of Eksharad to the north of Karlstadt in the heart of the Swedish Lake district. Our route took us to the north again around the Svartalven or Black River. See Appendix A for a high level routemap. The Adventure Begins! The group met at Manchester airport for a day of travel. Checkin was straight forwards and with the excellent baggage allowances given by Norwegian Airlines there were no packing worries. Our arrival in Sweden was however a little less straight forwards. The ground handling staff managed to misplace around 20 of out bags after unloading them. Several searches of the loading area did not turn them up so we left the airport for a five hour drive to our campsite without much of our bedding, food and tents. Fortunately during the drive we were contacted by the airport who had found our bags which would be forwarded on behind us. Our hosts in Sweden Byns Campsite were excellent and provided shelter for us whilst our bags caught up and we spent the day packing up ready for our canoe trip. Drought!! We set off on our trip in lovely weather but had been warned that due to the dry summer, open fires would be restricted on much of the tour. We had MSR stoves as backup and so were not worried. The dry season also meant that water levels were very low and some of the cuts and canals we were due to use were not deep enough to float in. A very large feature of the trip became the number and length of the land transports or portages. The teams worked well together and soon got into a rhythm, unpacking the boats, shouldering the bags and wheeling the canoes along the trails. The worst day of the trip involved a portage over a narrow, windy and wet trail that climbed steeply over a hill. Many trips up and down the hill were needed as the boats could not be wheeled. That night there were several blisters to be treated.

3 The weather was in the main kind to us with dry days and light winds, though we did have one day of strong headwinds and others with thunderstorms and hail though the worst of the weather usually came after the days paddling and we were safely camped down for the night. Food We were lucky enough to be donated a large amount of trail food from the Mountaineering group. We used this for Breakfast and Lunch Packs and carried dried and cured foods for the evening meals which were then supplemented with Bannock, cakes and even fresh breads cooked on the fire. A sample days menu would be Breakfast Porridge or Museli with fruits or Jam Lunch Noodles or Soups with Biscuits Evening Meal Rice or Pasta with Cured Meats Bannock ( Sweet or Savoury ) Packet Puddings It was intended that the staple foods would be supplemented with some fresh fish but the only thing that could be caught with any regularity was Pike. We cooked a couple but the strong flavour was not to the Explorers taste! A Day Trekking Most Days started with breakfast around 7:30 with the aim of being on the water for 9:00. Lunchtime usually coincided with the mid or endpoint of the days portage and we began looking for a campsite around 4pm. Somedays we were lucky but on others we paddled until after 6pm before we found a suitable site. Evenings were spent cooking, Bathing, fishing and preparing fresh water for the following day. Homeward Bound. Arriving back at Byns Campsite we had a day of recovering, showering and repacking for the trip home. The final phase involved a very early start with the same 5 hour coach trip back into Stockholm where we met up with a local Scout leader who kindly let us bunk in his Scout Hut. We spent the afternoon in Stockholm exploring and souvenir shopping before meeting up for a meal and returning to the Scout hut. The Last Leg of the trip back to Arlanda and home to Manchester was uneventful with no more lost baggage.

4 Summary It has to be said that due to the number of Land transports, the equipment and the types of baggage we took meant that the trek was much more physically demanding than we anticipated. The whole group though rose to this challenge and put in some fantastic efforts to keep moving. Even the dried out Canal didn t phase them and we managed to cover over 100Km of the planned 120Km route. We saw some beautiful and remote scenery and camped in some really impressive open sites. All the Explorers spoke of their sense of achievement and were all proud that despite the challenges on the way, that they had been able to spend days paddling away from the leader team and camping out on empty beaches and that they had also been able to keep up with the planned route. Although the trip was not able to fully get into some of the more back woods element of canoe trekking this is certainly something that can easily be expanded on now we understand more about the terrain and its inhabitants for future trips. Every one of the leaders has expressed an interest in returning to the area to camp again.

5 Appendix A : The Route

6 Appendix B : Trek Diary Day 1 : Bus Journey to the start with only a short paddle and portage, camped together edge of river Day 2 : Long portage due to the dried up canal finished with an up hill leg beside a hydro tube, most Sweden's energy comes from hydro power. An even camp on the beach in two groups. Day 3 : The day of the Hill!, no pictures as everyone was too busy and frustrated first we couldn t find portage then found it and it was ever the top of a hill which didn t really have a path, no decent campsite, camping on heather though we did manage a swim in the lake - first wash Day 4 : A decent days paddling with some unusual scenery, a wooden church, todays portage wsas mostly down hill, amazing night camping on islands as two groups Day 5 : We found what we christened the haunted house, a disused and abandoned Swedish summerhouse by the lake. The day ended with a thunderstorm Day 6 : Finally a day with no portages!! but instad a stiff headwinf all the way down a long lake no campsites, found beach at end so ended up doing a long day Day 7 : LONG day no campsites along the river but was a slight current so travelled quite far. We saw bear tracks ad met a group of German scouts at one of the commercial sites on the river. The Leader team found snakes!! Day 8 : Another island campsite with picnic table and bin, swimming lap of island, bannock feast Day 9 : Supermarket day! Troll trail. Again we struggled to find a campsite and finally camped on island last night most under tarp Day 10 : short paddle went round an beautiful island home before the final stretch to the pickup point.

7 Appendix C : Trip Itinery DAY/DATE ACTIVITY Sunday 28 th July Fly out to Stockholm from Manchester Monday 29 th July Tuesday 30 th July Thursday 8 th August Bus Travel to Campsite Depart Campsite for Canoe Trek 10 Days Duration Return to Campsite Friday 9 th August Saturday 10 th August Sunday 11 th August Rest Day and pack for Stockholm Bus trip to Stockholm and overnight stopover Fly Back to Manchester

8 Appendix D : Pictures