Overnight

We left the campsite in Stockholm this morning and needed to do some food shopping. Uppsala was the next town north, our thinking it would be easier to head for a town than try and find a decent supermarket in the city and risk another venture into the labyrinth of tunnels, (a terrific system I'm sure but cars were coming from the left and right, the same going off, some lanes at a standstill and no idea if this was the correct road, satnav woman was reasonably ok underground but did throw a wobble when emerging from a tunnel a couple days ago and we went round in circles having missed the slot to exit).

Certainly a good move and on the way we called into IKEA to look for a pair of scissors; possibly an excuse to visit the place on its homeland, we also had some food and did a very quick wifi - too early for a blip - and then across the car park to the Coop Forum, a large supermarket and the best we have shopped in since leaving the UK, we even bought two camping chairs to replace the defunct pair loitering in the locker under us. They are no more.

The other 'top up' on the list was Liquid Petroleum Gas. The van has two biggish bottles that are filled from a LPG hose, we don't use replaceable bottles which is fine in France but earlier research told us the Top Up LPG is not so readily available in Sweden and Norway. Before leaving home I found a website that listed places in Sweden who sell LPG and today was our first attempt to test the list near Uppsalla, it nearly failed but luckily I caught sight of the sign just as we were passing. It wasn't set up in a garage as expected but in a separate area.

In the van LPG is used for cooking on the small 3 burner hob, central heating and hot water, we now have two full bottles which should last through the next 5-6 weeks. The advantage of staying on a campsite will be to hook up to their electric system, we can boil a kettle and use the small heater to save on gas when it's cold, as it will be as we head north and cross the Arctic Circle. This evening we are parked beside a lake, a beautiful area with the sun shining and birds singing.
We sat by the lake with a glass of wine watching a few fish jump, a pair of wagtails on the jetty and two common sandpipers fly over to the grasses.