Travel notes

The first time I went to Sorsele, where the picture at the head of this page was taken, I flew to Stockholm, took the night train to Östersund, and then a bus for six hours up the 45. The next time, I drove myself the whole damn way from Saffron Walden. Last year I was too busy writing about it to go at all. This year I think I have discovered the best way of all: I will fly to Gothenburg, catch the night train up to Östersund: eleven and a half hours, with a first-class sleeper all to myself: it even has a shower; and then take the lovely slow toy train up the Inlandsbana to Sorsele, which is six hours in much greater comfort than either a bus or a car. What makes this really marvellous is that I don’t have to be rich to do it. The night trains on Swedish railways are not only much nicer than cheap air travel, they are now only a little more expensive. The whole trip comes in at less than £450, and I have found a way to fly from Stansted to Gothenburg that doesn’t require me to enrich MIchael O’Leary. It is a little more expensive, though not much if you have, as I will, a bag full of fishing tackle and camera gear, and there’s a change in Berlin, but that seems to me a detour well worth making to get around Ryanair.