Lake "Near By"

Ouch. No, seriously, ow. My legs are bloody killing me. Ash and I decided to go for a swim in the nearest lake today. We even had a map and everything. See, even though Sweden is full of wonderful lakes to swim in, they're not actually near any of the houses. But anyway, she looked up this big old lake and hand-drew a map. We packed bathers and lunch and water bottles and everything, and set off.

I know Sweden isn't nearly as hot as it is back home, but it's still hot enough to make it slightly yucky to walk around in all day. After an hour and a half of walking (and going down the wrong forest path, and doubling back and finally finding our way) we finally made it. The lake was rather beachy, all in all. There were kids and dogs and people BBQ'ing everywhere. It was even rather sandy. The nicest part was the fact that the forest came almost all the way up to the water's edge, which made it all nice and shady and lovely.

Swedes have no modesty.

Me: 'Er, so is there somewhere to get changed?"
Ash: 'What's wrong with here?"
Me: 'There's a guy on that rock over there. And we're right out in the open!'
Ash: 'So?'
Me: '...Hold my towel.'

So that was embarrassing. Never mind, we found a patch of grass, dumped our stuff and chased some ducklings (aw) into the water. It was freezing, and of course we were girly and got in slowly with much squeaking. (But, you know, I used to just jump right in. Sweden has made me a wuss.) When we'd adjusted, the water was beeeeautiful. We swam for a bit, then got out and ate lunch, then lay around in the sunshine (ozone layer! yes!) and then went swimming again. When we were getting changed to come back home again, two guys wandered past. Thank god for seeing them coming and my towel.

This was followed by getting an ice cream and trekking for another hour to get home. Actually, the walk home was much better, as everything had cooled down and we actually knew where we were going. Makes a difference, I'm telling you.

But ouch. I'm not a seasoned stroller like our dear Squishy-Shoed Skits. I don't mince past mangroves like Myo. Yeah, I do go on 5km walks about five times a week. But eugh! My legs! Just cut them off at the hip!