SCANDINAVIA - Clean Breaks: 500 New Ways to See the World - page 93

using eco-friendly materials and paints. Organic
breakfasts and dinner (usually local fresh fish)
are served in an attractive garden café. Owners
Jonas and Margareta Fallström hire out bikes,
so why not spend a full day cycling along the
towpath to the towns of Töreboda (Thursday is
market day), Hajstorp and Norrkvarn (where
there's a large canal-side restaurant). If you've
the energy you may get as far as Sjötorp (10km
from Norrkvarn) where you can treat yourself to
the local speciality of smoked salmon.
If your limbs ache after a day's cycling, you
could opt for a change of scene the next day, and
either go kayaking or just relax at the water's
edge and enjoy the calm of the canal.

122 cyclE AlonG ThE GöTA
cAnAl, SwEdEn

Spend a gentle day's cycling in the fresh air and
at the same time learn about a proud part of
Sweden's heritage. The Göta Canal was one of
the country's largest civil engineering projects:
built between 1810 and 1832 to transport goods
for export, it has a whopping 58 locks that link
rivers and lakes for 190km, from Mem on the
east coast to Sjötorp at Lake Vänern.
There are several long sections of the canal
where you can cycle along a renovated towpath.
The most popular attractions are the canal
museum at Sjötorp (where there are classic
boat motors and old naval maps) and the seven
locks at Berg, where you can watch boats being
lowered over 18m.
One of the greenest places to stay en route
is the House of Nature at Tåtorp - just a few
minutes' walk from the shore of Lake Viken
(where there is one of the canal's two hand-
operated locks) and a great base if you want to
explore the west and east sides of the canal. The
hotel, which is constructed entirely from timber

Need to know To get there from Stockholm, take
the train to Strömstad (5hr 45min; W www.sj.se)
and then local bus #505 to Töreboda (1hr), from
where the owners will collect by arrangement.
Nature Travel ( W www.naturetravels.co.uk; T +44
(0) 1929 463 774) organizes cycle tours along
the Göta Canal based at the House of Nature. For
more information about the history of the Göta
Canal, events and other places to stay en route see
W www.gotakanal.se.

(From left) Cycling along the
Göta canal; the timber-framed
House of Nature at T ˚ torp;
pleasure boats cruise the canal