Huså - Rätan, Sweden · PIXELS & TRAVELS

Today our journey continues south. In the morning we have a leisurely breakfast and clean the house, because unfortunately we have to leave this lovely accommodation. We have spent two nights here, the second of them on Annina’s 25th birthday.

Huså lies on the north side of Åreskutan, on the western shore of the Kallsjön. After copper ore was found here in 1742, a mining village grew up, and the copper works was set up in 1745. In the village and on the slope above it there are still mine holes, ruins of smelters and slag heaps. When mining stopped for good in the 1890s, the manor house of the works took in guests who came for the fresh air, the first tourists according to Länsstyrelsen Jämtland.

Once everything is packed, we set off. Our next destination is Rätan, a small village where we want to stop for the night on our way further south. By road it is about 165 kilometres from Huså. We stay in Jämtland, as Rätan is in the municipality of Berg. The village lies on the eastern shore of the Rätanssjön, which the Ljungan flows through. Several Stone Age dwelling sites are known along its shores.

It seems as if only pensioners live here. At any rate there is a walking frame outside every front door. The impression is not entirely wrong: At the end of 2020, according to the statistics agency SCB, 29 per cent of the people in the municipality of Berg were 65 or older, compared with 20 per cent in Sweden as a whole. We have a whole house to ourselves and even another, smaller cottage on top of that. The accommodation is rather old, but has everything we need. Overnight we can recharge our batteries here, and the car’s as well.

Red wooden house with a blue door and a wooden veranda, surrounded by birches and pines

After a short while at the house, we set off for the nearby lake and look for a nice spot. We stay here for a while and do a workout as well. We like it so much that we decide to fetch our dinner and eat it here by the lake. We have curry rice and a few snacks. We eat at a picnic table on the shore, with crispbread and butter next to the rice, and we have brought a game box along too.

We spend the rest of the evening by the lake as well, reading or editing photos. The water is so calm that the clouds and the blue sky are reflected in it. Across the lake we can see a village with a light-coloured church tower on the opposite shore.