First stop in Sweden is Dalarna, a traditional rural area much visited in the summer for outdoor activities and in the winter time for skiing. A vast area of forest and lakes with small towns full of wooden houses painted red. Stayed on a proper campsite for the first time this holiday, very nice next to a lake and the river. Mostly dry on first day so managed to get a mountain bike ride in – yipeee! 20km through forest tracks on a cross-country skiing course and then 20km along the side of the river through a number of cute hamlets. The next day we took a trip to the Orsa Bear park. Sweden is home to brown bears, lynx, wolves and wolverines but it is very unlikely you will ever see them. So far we haven't even seen an elk and there signs everywhere for them! So we visited the bear park to have a look at the native predators. As far a zoo type places go this was pretty spacious and natural. Seeing the animals was fantastic, the wolves especially. Didn't manage to capture any photos, the animals were sometimes hard to see or moving around fast. Great couple of dryish days!
