To Gulholmen
Trip Start
Unknown
1
21
24
Trip End
Jun 20, 2006
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Gulholmen,
Sweden
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Then checked out, left the car at the Hotel and walked over to the Bohuslans Museum where there wasn't much info in English and the Archivist was off for lunch. Picked up some bumph. Went to bank to change money. Slow, slow. People seem to go to bank to have long chat with cashiers. One guy seemed to look over his shoulder a couple of times as if checking to make sure that he was irritating the waiting customers by taking an excessive time...
On my route Northwards I'd missed out on looking for the island of Gulholmen where JB spent the first night of his herring-vessel journey from Gothenberg to Stromstad, so I had planned to seek out this island on l=my return leg
Gullaholmen
.Jumped in the car and went in search of Gulholmen. Got lost - all because I didn't have accurate map - the big road map didn't have granularity of local roads and the map in Rough Guide didn't seem very helpful.
Eventually found my way there - to ferry point of what used to be a little island but now connected to mainland by causeways. Didn't have long to wait for ferry, which also took on board supplies of ice cream etc.,
Only a five-minute crossing, and I was amazed to see that the village looked pretty unchanged since JB's decription of 143 years ago....
However, in the evening we arrived at an inhabited island, and here some small vegetation prevailed. This was a place called "Gulaholmen" (the Yellow Isle.)
As we approached it, we found a village of some twenty or thirty houses, of timber, and for the most part painted red. Those next to the water's edge were built upon longitudinal beams, which rested on stones placed loosely over each other, like a stack of cheeses. A more convincing proof of the security of these natural harbours could not be given than this - for one blow of a heavy sea would have swept away supports, houses, and all, in an instant!
I was delighted to discover that there were TWO museums on the island. The first one "The skipper's House" was so popular with organised tours that I was unable to get to talk to anyone about JB's claim to have been the first Englishman on the island, and the second is only open for a short season (July-August) like so many things hereabouts.
The exhibits in the Skipper's House were excellent.
The view down the channel in the centre of the village was wonderful....
I sat on the quay and chatted to a Swedish couple as we ate ice creams and waited for the ferry back to the mainland; then the short trip back, and a five-hour drive down to Helsingor including a long, long delay in traffic at Gothenberg. As I sat in the traffic talkingby mobile phone to Timothy in Marcilly, I wondered at the changes in technology over the 143 years since JB's journey.
