Sailing in meadows

The next day I'm wandering around the cobbled streets of Stockholm's beautiful old city and happen to make my way to the front of the Royal Palace overlooking Stockholm harbour. Here, to my amazement, is our boat, the MV Diana, moored and looking remarkably canal-worthy. I feel like Lord Jim, the shipwreck survivor of Joseph Conrad's great thriller. Did I dream we abandoned this boat which, 24 hours later, is awaiting the next group of passengers?

This was to be a story of an idyllic four-day journey on the Gota Canal through the heart of Sweden and up the Baltic coast to Stockholm. Ours is the first trip of the season. Through the winter the MV Diana had been berthed and overhauled in Gothenburg. Sweden's weather in May is usually unreliable overcast and rainy. Amazingly, we luck upon 3 1/2 days of warm and balmy weather.

Spring in Scandinavia is one of the wonders of nature. You can feel the world shaking off the long, dark winter. The endless stands of bare birch trees turn green with new buds. The Swedes throw off their winter coats and cycle along the canal towpath. They sit in beer gardens and beside the locks drinking and chatting in the sun. They walk excited dogs and wait and watch as dozens of bridges open to let the canal boats pass. The fields are awash with flowers and the trees are alive with birds singing. There is a sense of elation and urgency. Winter has departed and there is probably only 10 or 12 glorious, summery weeks before the days start closing in again.

The Gota Canal is a celebration of human ingenuity and a highly elaborate tax avoidance scheme. As early as 1429 the Danes were taxing all vessels sailing down their coast and through Oresund, "The Sound", a narrow strait separating the Danish island of Zealand from the Swedish province of Scania. This meant every ship travelling between Gothenburg, the only port on Sweden's west coast, and Stockholm had to pay to sail around the Danish coast.

The Swedes were so infuriated that they went to war in 1630 when King Christian IV of Denmark tripled the taxes. They dreamt of avoiding the impost by building a series of canals and locks across the centre of their country and as early as 1607 a lock was built to speed the transportation of timber to the coast. On September 26, 1832, the King of Sweden sailed along the Gota Canal, 200 kilometres of canals and locks passing from the Baltic to the Atlantic, constructed mostly by hand.

The four-day journey, described in the literature about the MV Diana as a journey through "two seas, one river, three canals, eight lakes and 66 locks", leaves the quay in Gothenburg on a crisp and sunny morning. The captain and crew have laid out a red carpet, literally, and the passengers six Germans, four Australians, two Canadians, one American and 27 elderly but wonderfully spry Norwegians are greeted warmly.

Built in 1931, the dimensions of the MV Diana were limited by the size of the locks many times during our journey there is no more than a few centimetres between the ship and the lock gates. This is 1930s-style travel, where the experience is more important than creature comforts. While the main dining room has a 1930s charm and elegance, the cabins are the exact equivalent of a small Pullman-style railway carriage: narrow bunk beds, a tiny wash basin, a small wardrobe; no room to do anything but sleep. The toilets and showers, regardless of cabin class, are shared.

The food is consistently excellent and memorable. We dine on such Scandinavian delicacies as smoked reindeer with fig marmalade, horseradish and Vasterbotten cheese; alpine char from Lake Landosjon with almond potatoes and white wine sauce; and vanilla pannacotta on cloudberry sauce.

On the first day we chug along at five to eight knots, making our way up Gothenburg Harbour, along the Gota River and into the Trollhattan Canal, through a series of locks and across Lake Vanern. There is no room for boredom on this journey. The countryside changes constantly and every moment, on both sides of the vessel, there is something of interest.

Past Gothenburg's industrial zone we cruise slowly through an idyllic countryside of green fields carpeted with flowers and edged by neat copses, dotted with tidy houses and huge barns. On the low hills above the floodplain we see villages with church steeples rising gracefully and steep-roofed timber houses bearing windowboxes splashed red with geraniums.

By 1.15pm we reach the first lock at Lilla Edet. Canal enthusiasts know this as the oldest of the Gota Canal's locks. Its first incarnation was built in 1607; it was replaced in 1784 and again in 1844 and 1916. But Lilla Edet's dubious claim to fame comes from the town's paper mill, which, after World War II, manufactured Sweden's most popular toilet paper, the delightfully and appropriately named "Edets krapp".

Although we know this is the first of 66 locks, everyone rushes to vantage points as the crew hurls ropes up the dripping sides of the lock and fastens the vessel to the bollards.

It is here we realise that, for the people who visit the locks, the boats are a source of fascination. We, the travellers, have become a tourist attraction. Crowds gather on the edge of the locks to watch as we enter. The gates close and we rise slowly.

At Trollhattan a staircase of four locks was built so boats could "climb" what had previously been a waterfall. Today the four locks have been replaced by a huge single lock and nearby the Trollhattan Canal Museum offers an insight into the complexity of building a canal.

When, at 6pm, we pass through the Brinkebergskulle lock at Vanersborg we are 44 metres above sea level. As the long northern night fades gently, we cross Lake Vanern, Sweden's largest lake and the third largest in Europe. On our trip the MV Diana crosses the lake at night. This means that about 3am it reaches a set of eight locks at Sjotorp. The inevitable bumping against the lock walls ensures a night of interrupted sleep.

At dawn we're woken by another gentle thump as we enter the Godhogen-Hajstorp sequence of four locks. There is a smudge of fog on the fields and the pungent smell of pigs and fertiliser wafts across the canal this really is rural Sweden. The MV Diana now winds through the meadows from lock to lock. Energetic passengers can alight and take a brisk, crisp walk along the towpath.

The second and third days are a wonderland of special attractions. The railway bridge at Trollhattan, built in 2001, is an engineering marvel. It has four towers and a central section that can be raised vertically to heights of 10, 20 or 27 metres. There are two small locks operated by hand. There are bridges that retract, bridges that open in the middle and elegant swing bridges. There are places where the canal is so narrow the crew have to jump ashore and tie ropes to bollards to ease the vessel around impossibly tight corners.

At Forsvik a Christian group, the Kindbom family, sings hymns, delivers short sermons and presents the crew with bunches of flowers as the vessel passes through the lock.

This is the loveliest section of the journey. The canal is lined by trees and the towpath is alive with cyclists and walkers. There is an air of timeless peacefulness.

We reach the Berg Canal, the highest point on the journey about 91.5 metres above sea level. After passing through Lake Viken and Lake Vattern, the vessel descends to the Baltic. This provides the most dramatic lock experiences. At Borenshult there are five locks and at Berg everyone alights as the vessel descends a dramatic staircase of seven locks.

On our last day we're scheduled to visit a Viking community at Birka and to pass through the Hammarby lock before arriving at Stockholm's historic old town. But then a rock gets in the way. And that rock makes the final day and the whole wonderful journey truly unforgettable.

Bruce Elder travelled courtesy of MyPlanet.

Getting there

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flies to Stockholm return from Melbourne (from $1879) and Sydney (from $1899), including tax; flying Thai Airways to Bangkok and then SAS with an aircraft change in Copenhagen.

Cruising there

Three vessels - the MS Juno, MS Wilhelm Tham and MS Diana - cruise for four and six days on the Gota Canal from May 1 to September 14. Fares are priced from $1850 a person for a four-day journey in a C-class cabin to $4520 for six days in an A-class cabin, including all meals and some conducted tours. Cruises depart from both Gothenburg and Stockholm. Phone MyPlanet on 1800 221 712 or see myplanetaustralia.com.

Reading

- by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo translated by Lois Roth (Vintage Crime, Random House), deals with a fictional crime committed in cabin A7 on the MV Diana. The body is found at the bottom of the locks at Borenshult.

- (2 volumes) by Vilhelm Moberg, translated by Paul Britten Austin (University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis) has a good overview of the history of the country with frequent references to the places passed along the paths of this journey.

- by Willy Svahn and Brita Nordholm, (Gullers Forlag, Sweden) is an excellent, well-illustrated guide to travelling on the canal. For sale on the cruise.