Our journey on the Göta canal continued on Thursday. There are four double locks after Berg harbour and we got into the rhythm once away. The canal snakes through the beautiful countryside scenery under several bridges and of course through the locks.
The speciality of Thursday were also two aqueducts. Suwena sailed slowly over the road. It felt a little silly when we sailed on top of the cars. In addition we drove between two water systems. On the left side the level of the pond was above us and at the same time on the right side the lake shimmered below the Göta’s water level.
Our original plan was to travel until Borensberg and spend a night there. The day however passed smoothly and we set a new target to get until Motala. After crossing lake Boren we arrived at the second largest flight of locks on the Göta canal. There are five locks in Borenshult with the total height of 15.3 metres. The lockage went exemplary and afterwards there were only a few bridges and one lock before Motala. In total it took nine hours of continuous driving and 15 locks. I must say that we got too greedy for one day because we were fagged out as we arrived in the guest harbour.
After a good long sleep we woke refreshed and went to explore the city. It was a graduation day and again we could see the celebration of Swedish students. Instead of trucks like in Stockholm last year, the students in Motala used tractors and had party trailers. The beats were turned up in every trailer as they drove on the streets of Motala.
Motala was also preparing for Vätternrundan that starts at the weekend. Vätternrundan is one of the worlds biggest cycling events. The longest route goes around Lake Vättern and it is 300 kilometre long. On Saturday we followed the ladies 100 km loop. One week later a 300 km main event will be pedalled. Staggering 30000 cyclists are participating this year and 23000 will go around the lake. OMG!
Motalas market also hosted a fair for cyclists. All kind of gear related to the cycling were offered. Well, now one pair of cycling gloves will be exceptionally used by boater. The usual sailing gloves with the open fingers are always too long for my fingers. If these gloves are not good for handling lines, no matter, I can always use them with our tandem bike.
The Motala Motormuseum is located in the guest harbour. The museum was a very positive surprise. We were prepared for old cars and different engines but in addition there were many other kind of apparatus as well. The museum had over 200 different cars, motorcycles, bicycles and other engine operated machineries. Furthermore there are over 300 historical communication devices like radios, TV-sets, portable computers and even telephone switchboards. Also the central operator was dressed according to the spirit of the times. The neat thing in this museum are well made props. The sections were decorated with mannequins dressed up including many accessories and suitable furniture as well. The feeling of the decade was present intensively.
Our favourite was of course the unbelievable amphibian car Blue Peter. Bill Rose bought in 1943 a little “tired” Austin 7 for four pound sterlings. He built a new frame for the car. He also had a need for a boat and while building the frame also the boat was born. And what a beauty she is!
The Motormuseum could have a better name because there are many other things to see. The museum experience was wonderful and it is a great monument for the technical history of Motala. After all over there have been the factories of Elektrolux and Luxor. The starting point for engineering workshops was Motala Verkstad that manufactured tools for building the Göta canal. Even in the book of Jules Verne the captain Nemo built an steel spur for his Nautilus submarine in Motala Verkstad.
