What a difference 24 hours can make. For one, the weather can change completely. Ok, it did not, but the forecast was promising. Moreover though, a day is enough time to get some weary and tiredness out of your bones. Whatever it was, I was very energetic and motivated to get back into it again after our break with kindness.

With a kitchen at hand, breakfast came and went in record time. Packing went pretty good as well, even though the rain still was not quite ready to release its wet hold on us. I did most of the packing, while Nina used the opportunity to talk a little bit more with her old friend Emma. We left with little fanfare, with a final pet for Sigge from Number 3 and that warm fuzzy swell in the chest after encountering good people.

A quick shopping break and a free banana for the Agent of Entropy later, we were on the road again. The rain was slowly left behind for impressive clouds and soon even some glimpses of blue ahead. Even though we were very early, we decided to stop over on our way to the Engelsberg ironworks in the old silver mining town of Sala. The old town grid had just enough to offer to keep us curious on a brief stroll waiting for the chosen lunch places opening time of 11am. Of course, we had to stock up on coffee time treats for later …

Mat & Prat turned out to be a decent choice. Not so much for the food on the lunch menu, which was fairly good, but for the complementary desserts provided on this “Pancake Thursday”. How can one not be of improved spirit after having been offered free pancakes with cream and strawberry jam? 

Next up was one of my picks: The Engelsberg ironworks, one of the oldest ironworks in Europe. Very early industrial era stuff. To our disappointment, we had missed to check the opening times and the place was already shut down for the winter. We missed the last tour by a week. The grounds were pretty cool nonetheless, but we decided not to wake up the kids and only go for a quick photo walk. Ah well, at least the sun has come out behind the clouds.

As we had decided to take our time, we set the course for a campground early to have a nice tea time there. Or so we though – but out of the corner of my eye, only a few kilometres on I spotted a cool looking site on the roadside and so we stopped to investigate. As it turned out, I stumbled onto my share of old industrial architecture anyway: “Fagersta Västanfors hembygdsgård” is a kind of heritage village crossed with a cafe and park. We took a good hour to walk around, show Number 3 how manual locks (the watery kind) work and look at various curiosities. If not for the infuriating fact that I did not manage to charge at the extremely conveniently placed Vattenfall fast charger (a curse upon all your houses, dear energy suppliers), it would have been perfect.

The camp ground later on was also right up our ally. It was pretty big, but seemed almost completely devoid of other guests at the same time. So we were free to pick prime real estate right next to the playground with plenty of space and privacy from any neighbours. And it offered fast washing machines. With a last shower just around our tea, coffee and cookies time the rain bid its farewell and we had a brilliant, long evening at the lake. All topped off by a stunning red and purple sunset right over the lake. What a difference a day can make!

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