The wrong way to Sweden

by Alan Cole · Published Monday, August 17th, 2026 · Updated Monday, August 17th, 2026

Scandinavia isn’t that far from the UK as far as overseas holidays are concerned, but Anna had decided she’d quite like to have an overnight train experience on a sleeper train. Quite why she wanted this hadn’t been confirmed until we met a German guy towards the end of our holiday who said, “I guess it’s nice to experience the changing landscapes and appreciate the distances involved, which you don’t get on a plane.” Anna decided that this was her way of justifying it and went with it as her motivation for the sleeper train. I didn’t want to point out to her that she wouldn’t experience any of that whilst asleep!!

Anyway, it wasn’t to be as the overnight train from Berlin to Stockholm was moved forward by two hours. We were told of this change about a week before we travelled. Our flight from Birmingham wouldn’t get in on time, so plans were changed. The overnight train would have to be replaced by a second flight and we now had a convoluted itinerary to get to Mon, where our holiday would start properly.

Car from home to Borth
Train from Borth to Birmingham
Shuttle monorail from Birmingham station to the airport
Flight from Birmingham to Berlin
Flight from Berlin to Stockholm
Shuttle bus from Stockholm airport to a hotel for a short overnight stay
Shuttle bus back to the airport in the morning
Bus from the airport to the train station in Märsta
Train from Märsta to Nörrköping
Bus from Nörrköping to Söderköping
Taxi from Söderköping to Mon

Mon was where we finally collected our kayak and camping kit ready for five days of peace and solitude in the Saint Anna Archipelago. More about that in another blog post.

We did have a pleasant afternoon in Söderköping, which apparently used to be an important medieval town. We got off the bus on the main road and trundled our suitcases towards the canal and a nice hostel/guesthouse right on the canal side. As always seems to be the case for us in Scandinavia, it was a warm, sunny day and we were earlier than expected. We decided to sample the enormous ice creams from the renowned ice cream parlour next to our hotel. They were indeed huge!!

We then checked in, wandered along the canal, popped into a supermarket to buy some supplies for our kayaking expedition and visited a few of the sights. This part of Söderköping was very touristy, but pleasant enough. The old town was interesting and the canal side was a nice place to while away some time.

We ate at one of the restaurants lining the canal and then headed to the outdoor bar associated with our hotel before retiring to bed after a busy couple of days.

The following morning we noisily trundled our suitcases across town once again and waited for a pre-arranged taxi in the sunshine. It didn’t arrive, so phone calls were made and we finally made it to Mon in a substitute taxi, 45 minutes later than planned. The sun was shining, the bay looked inviting, sheltered as it was from a strengthening southerly wind.

At last, we’d made it to Kajak Paradise, where we could get the kit we’d hired, have a briefing and head off into the wilderness of the Saint Anna Archipelago.