Yes, we wanted snow and preferably a lot of snow. Such a true Swedish winter that lasts from October through April. We also thought it would be a good idea to open the new cottage to guests right in the winter. Because, of course, we also want the Dutch guests who are no longer used to anything as far as winters are concerned to enjoy this time of year in our beloved country.
On our previous visit at the turn of the year, there was already a considerable layer of snow. Temperatures were around 0 degrees during the day and 6-8 degrees below 0 at night. We drove a few more days a little further north and there was a lot more snow and it was also much colder. When we left we were ”worried” if there would still be snow when our guests arrive who booked for the February/March vacation. This concern was very unjustified as it turned out later.
It began to snow. We saw on the weatherapp low temperatures, between -10 and -25degrees and 5-10cm fell daily. Our favorite neighbors at our house in Krusbo send app messages with photos of layers of snow every time. They tell us they spend entire weekends just shoveling snow. We are made happy by such news and look forward to the coming departure back to our2nd home.
At the same time, a slight concern also begins to develop about how we are going to ensure, with such conditions, that our guests will still be able to reach their cottages. We decide to go at least a few days earlier, so we can be sure that the cottage and the road leading to it will be in order before they arrive.
When we arrive Wednesday night prior to spring break, it is immediately clear that we are going to be busy. We plow our way through the thick layer of snow and decide to bring in only the essentials at first and otherwise enjoy for once where we have ended up; the real winter wonderland we so desperately wanted. We changed into what amounted to thick, lots of layers, sturdy and above all warm and we set off for an evening walk in the moonlight. Our dog does not know what hit her, she jumps tirelessly through the fresh delicious thick layer of snow like a young deer. She soon turns from a black rottweiler into a white snow monster.
It is beautiful – the serene silence and tranquility we know from this place – comes in even more now with the white moonlight reflecting off the white carpet pad.
Starting the next day, we get to work. Shoveling snow at one house, shoveling snow at the other house, making the road to the cottage in Knåpbodarna passable. The quad with snow plow and the special grass machine that removes snow instead of grass are our great friends here. We try to get some of the immense layer of snow down with a special “snöraka för tak” (snow scraper for the roof), but this is a hopeless task.
Just before our guests arrive, we discover that the problem with the electricity is bigger than we had hoped. So big that despite all kinds of repairs, it goes wrong every time. After the Saturday morning a few hours before the guests arrive, even smoke comes out of the DVD player we do get slightly stressed.
But to what will become apparent further into this week, our Swedish neighbors are golden. One of the neighbors turns out to be a very good electrician and he manages to solve the problem that was indeed not easy. Our hero puts the final wires back in place, we test that it works and at that moment 2 adults with 2 children and a dog drive up the path. The vacations for them can begin!
We are relieved and happy and even though it is quite cold we dress even thicker and decide to go for a ride on the quad together. Nice ff cross through the snow to celebrate that it all worked out. After about 5 minutes, I have the bright idea to go into a nice little trail, after all that is much more fun than riding on the road. You know one of those cool trails that they also tear up with the snow scooters on, which is awesome! I see Martin hesitate, but probably because of my glimmers of pleasure he goes along with the idea. And so we shouldn’t have done this. After only a few meters we get completely stuck. Everything we try with the quad makes no difference, we just get stuck with a complete ice slab at the bottom. It was going to be a long evening. Finally after with 2.5 hours of digging and pushing, it managed to get loose. We could hardly feel the joy of this from fatigue.
Being stuck with the quad was tough, but being stuck with a Dodge is even tougher. The Dodge with which we have proudly pulled several other cars out of ditches already, was now itself in a ditch near our house and there it was stuck. Only after our hero from earlier, the electrician who also has a tractor, came to help did we manage, with a lot of effort, to get this heavy boy back on the path. How I felt sorry for Martijn, who was constantly shoveling and doing from noon until late in the evening.
Despite these unexpected challenges, and there were a few more like them, we had a good time. Of course, it sounds cliché to say we learned from it, but that’s the way it is. We were born in the Netherlands and are not familiar with these winter conditions. So this means, for example, that you have to take into account that when it is winter all sorts of unexpected things can happen and most things generally take a lot more time.
And where in mid-January I was worried about whether there would be snow during spring break, now I’m really starting to wonder if the snow will ever go away this year?