Day 25 - Petroglyph Pottering

We woke to another sunny, warm day. While Mr C washed the other side of the van, I did a bit of clothes washing.

It wasn’t far to reach the UNESCO area with rock carvings. We have seen petroglyphs in Pakistan, Spain, USA, NZ, South Africa and Namibia to name a few, but this is by far the richest in number. The area covers 41 sq km and contains around 615 sites with carvings. The visitor centre was closed when we arrived so we walked up the hill in woods to the Vitlycke panel with 500 images carved on a large granite rock between 1700 BCE and 300 BCE. The images have been enhanced with red colouring as it would be hard to see otherwise. There were ships, humans (mainly men with thick calves and erect penises) wielding weapons, animals and sledges and cup marks. A booklet from the visitor centre showed the location of some of the other sites. We drove to Litsleby to see the largest rock carving in Sweden, the Spear God, measuring more than 2 metres. We were pleased to see some carvings on the rock there left in their original state - it seemed more authentic somehow than with the added red colours. I was impressed how wooden walkways had been erected to allow access by wheelchair.

We stopped at the Co-op for supplies of milk, yoghurt, fruit and veg. We fancy a veggie curry tonight - last night I made a tomato and broad bean concoction enhanced with chilli and some harissa paste which we had with some left over potatoes and broccoli, fried. It was surprisingly good. It’s amazing what can be made from not much.

Our third site, Fossum, was reputed to have one of the most beautiful carvings, the Sun Horse but it failed to show itself to us. The carvings had not been enhanced and despite there being a chart, we could not make it out. We decided we were rock-arted out, had some lunch and looked on the app for a place to stay the night. We drove down the coast to Hamburgsund where the App indicated there would be possibilities but now there were a “Private Parking” signs. It would have been a lovely spot though the town itself was very much a holiday one with new blocks of flats being built and loads of swanky boats moored up.

We headed back north to investigate Fjallbacka, another seaside place, famous for being Ingrid Bergman’s favourite place (she had her ashes scattered on nearby islands). I don’t think she’d like it so well now - it was quite a big place with masses of new housing and a huge marina. It wasn’t campervan-friendly either, even to park for a few hours anywhere with a view of the town. It had been on my list as a treat to explore but we cut our losses and drove a few miles further north to Kampersvik - surely with such a name we’d find a place? It appears we have - there is no sign to say no vans or overnighting at the place we have in front of a small marina on the opposite side of a little inlet from a short row of houses stung out below a steep hill. We are facing west and it is sunny with an open aspect to the east so hopefully we’ll get the warmth of morning sun.

I have chosen for my blip the Fossum panel's most famous image - the Fossum Woman. The distinguishing mark for women used in the rock carvings is long hair tied up into a ponytail. It may
be possible to identify women in other ways. For example, the Fossum Woman has a dot - or what is known as a cup mark - between her legs, which is sometimes interpreted as an image of the female genitalia. But the men with axes on the panel also have cup marks between their legs, so in this case the cup marks are signalling something else that is not yet understood.