Getting out on the lakes and canals in Dalsland

A 146 year old bridge spanning a 33.5 metre gap, rising about 10 metres above a rocky crevice really doesn’t sound safe - especially for a boat to float over! 

Looking down on the Håverud aqueduct

The Håverud aqueduct is an inspired piece of engineering that was originally built as part of the Dalsland canal system for transporting cargo between Lake Vänern and Lake Stora Le. 

Not a bad 'road' to 'drive' along

It was initially thought to be impossible to build a lock at Håverud, as the rocks were crumbly, the currents strong and the fall from one lake to the next too high. Then renowned lock and railway designer Nils Ericson was called in. He designed and built an aqueduct - a 33.5 metre long free-hanging bridge that spans the river rapids and which water flows across. The aqueduct was officially opened in 1868 and is still in top condition providing safe passage for boats.

About to cross the aqueduct

As railways and roads were built, the canals were used less and less by cargo boats, and more and more by tourist boats. Since the 1970’s, it has only used by tourist canal boats and private boats. 

Loads of flowers line the canals

As do people's boats and deck chairs

We spent a day on the Storholmen, one of the tourist canal boats, traversing 6 lakes, 16 locks and 33 vertical metres. It was a stunning, sunny day and being on a boat gives you a very different view the Dalslands region.

The Storholmen

She's been around for a while!

We started in Håverud - a beautiful little town with plenty to see and do. There is a cafe, a restaurant, a visitors centre, a glass-blowers workshop, a second hand shop and the Canal Museum. The Canal Museum holds an extensive collection of old photographs and drawings from when the canals were built, as well as old machinery, engines and stories of the people who lived and worked along the locks and lakes.

Walking across one of the locks at Håverud

Looking up towards the aqueduct

Gorgeous bright summer homes are hidden away in the trees

The owners of the Storholmen Annika and Sture are super friendly and welcomed everyone on board like they were old friends. They told stories throughout the trip about sites we passed by, the wildlife, fish and birds in the area and of course about the history of Storholmen. 

They also served up a tasty 2 course homemade lunch consisting of traditional Swedish herring, fresh new potatoes, vegetables, roast pork and roast beef. The food tempts your tastebuds and satisfies any rumbling stomach. 

In the dining room

First course...

Second course

No meal is complete without ice-cream!

It’s a bit of a rush to get a seat at the front of the boat to start, but after the canal gates are opened at the first lock and water sprays up all over you, it gets easier to nab that elusive front row seat! 

Water beginning to flow through the gates

Some locks have 2 levels and boats move forward in stages

Watching one of the larger locks fill

It’s a tight squeeze to get into some of the locks - the Storholmen is just big enough to fit, and some delicate manoeuvring by Sture made sure we squashed in. 

Squeezing into a lock

Just enough room on each side too

There are several times where the road traffic is stopped and bridges raised for the boats to pass through the canals. If you ever have to wait for a boat to pass through a lock, it’s best to just sit back and enjoy the spectacle. (It’s pretty relaxed here in Dalsland and having to wait for a few minutes every now and then is no great discomfort!)

Waiting for a road and rail bridge to be raised

There is a manually powered lock at Beterud. This is one of only two locks on the canal that must still be opened by hand. 

A young lock-keeper for manually opening and closing the lock gates

The areas around the locks and canals are beautiful

A beautiful little summer house is situated right alongside lock 18 and is reputed to be the most photographed summerhouse in all of Dalsland.

The pretty little summerhouse at lock 18

Stunning scenery - especially on a hot, sunny day

Our trip ended in Bengtsfors where we caught a traditional railcar back to Håverud completing our scenic circuit through the heart of Dalsland.


The lakes are also a huge drawcard for kayakers and canoeists - especially as there are campsites set up everywhere for people to use. And it’s not just the cruisy holiday makers who traverse the lakes and locks. 

Canoeists on the lake

The Bengtsfors Kanot (Canoe) Marathon is a 55km gruelling canoe race that attracted over 400 competitors this year. Competitors follow a circuit paddling across 4 lakes and lifting their canoes from lake to lake each time. From an observers viewpoint, the hardest part of the whole race looks like it is trying to get back into your canoe each time you change lakes! 

The leading bunch - going strong after 20km!

Competitors emptying water from their canoes

Rene Olsen from Denmark has won the race the last 4 years and he was unstoppable again this year, beating his nearest rival by a measly fraction of a second! The first 4 paddlers finished within 13 seconds of each other which I find that quite amazing after 4 hours 23 minutes and 28 seconds in the water! 

There are several different classes to race in

The looks on the faces show how gruelling the race is

We were watching the canoeists near the halfway point at Skifors. You can imagine it was a bit busy with a constant stream of canoeists moving from lake to lake, supporters yelling encouragement and marshals handing out bananas and controlling traffic. 

Two guys in an old canoe appeared going against the flow of canoeists. Their canoe was loaded up with backpacks, tents and food and they looked so out of place in the midst of all the hype. They didn’t seem concerned though - rather they looked a bit confused by all the people standing around cheering them on...

Spectators at Skifors

The two guys going against the flow of traffic...

The largest lake in Sweden is Lake Vänern. The local myth is that a chunk of land was carved out of Sweden creating Lake Vänern, and then dumped in the Baltic Sea near Stockholm creating the island of Gotland. Lake Vänern actually feels more like the open ocean than a lake, especially when the wind starts blowing. 

Kristian and I did a sailing trip on Lake Vänern with some friends Simon and Victoria on their yacht. I so loved getting out sailing again - it’s been a few years since I have! We sailed a couple of hours south of Åmål to an archipelago of islands and moored up in a sheltered bay at a tiny island named Björkön. 

Åmål - our starting point

Simon and Victoria's yacht

There we simply relaxed. Dinner alongside other boaties, circumnavigating the island with the light of the super full moon to guide us, a late night bbq on the beach, being rocked gently to sleep (actually, I was so tired, I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow!), a brisk morning swim to wake up, more yummy food for breakfast…it was pretty idle weekend!

Moored up in the bay at Björkön

 Hiking around the island in jandles!

Pretty view of the bay with the super full moon

Bath time!

Bbq on the beach

On the way home, the wind was blowing about 12 - 15 knots from directly behind us. With both the mainsail and gib up, we got a reasonable amount of speed up. I was in control of the tiller for a while. It felt great having to concentrate on the sails, the wind direction, the waves...and trying not to accidentally gybe. (I did gybe once by mistake but thankfully everyone was fine!)

It was a little cool after a swim

If you ever make it to the Dalsland region of Sweden, you have to make an effort to get out on the lakes and canals in some way. Be it in a canoe, a canal boat, a yacht, a fishing boat, a homemade raft or under your own power swimming, it’s an experience you won’t forget.

Life rings and ladders are in many popular swimming and boating spots

Where the wild things are...

Living in the tiny, country settlement of Skifors brings a myriad of creatures and critters to your door that you very rarely - if ever - encounter in a large city. Most of them I’ve never seen before in real life and so it’s been quite an exciting time for me whenever something new appears. I understand it’s also been amusing for Kristian as he gets to experience my child-like screams of delight or terror every time something new appears.

A beautiful bee-bug-beetle thing I haven't been able to identify...yet

The wild animals roam freely and happily wherever they want to taking full advantage of allemansrätten (‘all man’s right’) - especially at night. 

Elk (also called moose) are spectacular animals but not exactly pretty. I think they look like a cross between a horse and a donkey on steroids and are actually quite intimidating. They are normally timid animals however and are much happier moving away and hiding behind trees when we get too close.  

Some elks will let you get close if you are quiet

Young elk trying to hide behind a tree

It’s a natural reaction to get a fright when something steps out in front of your car. But I’m not sure who got the biggest shock when an enormous elk (in my mind it was at least 5 metres tall) lumbered slowly across the road in front of our car one night. Me - because I’d never seen an elk that close before, or Kristian (who was driving) when I let rip a blood-curdling scream, jumped about a metre and tried to put the brakes on from the passenger seat.

This big guy kept a close eye on us

Badgers are occasionally out and about at night too. I was driving home one night (very slowly keeping a close eye out for elk) when a badger stepped out in front of me. It paused (like a possum does in NZ), looked up, stared at the car lights (like a possum) and waited for me to stop (just like a possum does). Which I did. Another badger joined it. And then a third one! Mother Badger and her 2 young ones stared at the car for a few seconds then raced through our light beams across the road to safety. They were the lucky ones. I more commonly see badgers ‘sleeping’ on the side of the road (just like possums do!)

Jack is dad to a couple of Kristian’s friends and seems to attract wild animals. I hadn’t seen any foxes so the boys arranged for me to go and see one at Jack’s place. For some reason, this particular fox decided that Jack would make a good mate and she started showing up when he was out walking. She kept hanging around and eventually Jack started feeding her. 

Mother fox

The fox showed up at 5pm just as predicted. She was beautiful. Course orange-brown fur, a sharp, pointy nose and a huge bushy tail that looked far to big for her thin body. She paused in the bushes initially, checking out the surroundings for safety, then decided it was fine to approach. She wolfed down the food Jack had put out, then sauntered off into the bush again. 

Scoping us out...

We found out that a couple of weeks later, she brought her puppies along for a feed. So it was back to Jack's place another night to see the puppies... 

One of the little foxes

And while I'm on the subject of puppies...Kristian's sister's King Charles Spaniel had a litter of 6 beautiful puppies (not exactly wild animals but too cute not to mention). They're at that lovely playful, biting, licky, cuddly stage - and there's still 2 up for sale!

Having a break between playing

But I diverge. Back to the wild animals... 

I didn't think there were many birds around when I first got here, especially as I very rarely heard any singing. But once I had them pointed out to me, I started seeing birds everywhere. 

Skäggdopping (pronounced h-wegg-dopping) are common on the lakes. Skäggdopping translates wonderfully to become the 'beard dipper'. I think they look a bit like cartoon ducks out of a Walt Disney show and they make me laugh every time I see them.  

Skäggdopping aka the beard dipper

Storlom are another stunning bird. They are about the size of a large duck with fabulous purple, grey and brown markings. And their call is quite haunting and gets into your bones - especially when it echoes around the lakes late at night.

Storlom - largest of the 'lom' birds

Sädesärla are super common everywhere (a bit like sparrows!). They never stop moving, flicking their tails up and down constantly and darting around eating insects. I think they are beautiful and have not grown tired of watching them flit around.

Sädesärla

One of the largest birds of prey in Sweden is the fiskgjuse (fisk-you-ser). It's an osprey with a wingspan of up to 1.75 metres and wickedly sharp talons for picking up fish out of the water. This pair have been renovating their nest for the last five years or so and were feeding a young bird when we went by. 

The fiskgjuse flew away from it's nest and tried to draw us away

In the top branches of the pine tree...

...is a pile of logs! Amazing how they get those huge branches up there.

I've never done any serious bird-watching before. We had some time to spare one afternoon, so drove for miles along narrow country roads to Kvismaren to see what birds we could spot. Jack was with us and was great at pointing out loads of birds, both common and rare.

Magical day for a spot of bird watching

Jack kept watching...the boys drank coffee

One of the more rare birds he spotted was a buskskvätta. This translates to mean 'bush pee-er'! It sat on the fence not far from us and … sang (what else do you think it would do???)

The tiny buskskvätta

Blue herons, swans, geese, canada geese, ducks, seagulls. They congregate here in large numbers to breed and feed. And we certainly picked the right time to come - there were fluffly, young birds everywhere!!!

Blue heron standing guard

Baby signets climbing up onto mum's back for a ride

Geese, geese, geese...are everywhere!!!!

Canada geese with a creche of goslings

It's just a seagull chick...but so cute!

Skrattmåsen aka the laughing seagull

There are plenty of other wild animals out roaming through the forest and lakes. Deer, squirrels, beavers, snakes, kanin (pronounced cannon, aka rabbits) and lizards. Thankfully, there are very few poisonous or dangerous animals around here and so I feel quite safe every time I go walking.

I haven't seen any beavers yet, only their old homes

Water snakes are common enough and quite harmless

Kanin are huge here!

I've been told there are bears in the forests too. But so far, these are the only bears I've come across...