DIY lock

Highlight of our canal leg today: a hand-operated lock. Usually, we ask the lock guards for some help: “Could you push our boat off the wall? Do you have any recommendations what we could do at our next stop?” So first, we were a little surprised when the lock guard said: “I would appreciate some help, please.”, when we entered the lock. Despite the heat, Alan and Magda has a lot of fun opening the gates and water outlets on this DIY (do it yourself) lock ;oP

On the ride today, our boat had picked up so much sea weed that Alan had to dive to remove our large green “veil”.

In Borensberg, we found a super nice sand beach by Lake Boren with a huge lawn, playground, jumping platform, restrooms – and everything for free! In this hot weather, the place was very popular =oD

For dinner, we used the grill-out area on the meadow, right by the canal, that was provided by the marina. Despite the nice summer evening, we didn’t have to share with anyone.

In general, there are only a few mostly Swedish vessels traveling along the Göta canal with us. We’re lucky that in this late season and in Corona times, we don’t have to worry about getting a docking spot or a free shower cabin =o) Not meeting big passenger boats on the rather narrow canal also makes traveling much more relaxed.

Astonishment on our way to Motala: When we were crossing Lake Boren, we saw a lot of black smoke and as we came closer even fire. Through our binoculars, we could detect it was a barn that was on fire *scary*