THE DAY WE WENT TO SWEDEN - MONDAY 8TH JULY - PERUWELZ TO MONS

With no obstacles on our route we could probably have put the pedal to the metal and been in Mons for smoko, but that’s really not how we roll.  We did make it in time for lunch and by the time we’d done nothing, and had a chat with the Port Captain, the afternoon had been well and truly underway for some time.

We’ve not visited Mons before, and were recently made aware that the Vikings had settled far and wide in the sixth century or so but we were quite surprised to discover that one of the remnants of the Swedish scourge remained just a few kilometres away.

Navigation on foot turned out to be a challenge as we had to pass below or across no fewer than eleven lanes of freeway traffic on the way, with pathways so bio-diverse that jungle greens and a machete might have been appropriate.  For a time it seemed far safer walking on the road’s edge than battling with the nettle and blackberry and other spiky things including a bush that looked for all the world like the invasive species we called “Chonky Apple” when we were kids in the north of Australia. 

That particular name must be some sort of woke faux pas now, as a search for that plant turns up “Chinee Apple” which to this not quite objectively focused pair of eyes, seems to have greater opportunity to cause offence, but once again, I digress.

Eventually we made it to IKEA safely, having managed to steer one of us away from the temptation to pick a large bunch of wildflowers on the way : “we can do that on the way back”.

There, we quickly found everything on our list, stopped for a close to awful coffee and a less awful slice of apple pie, bought a very small flowering plant to match the time we will be on the boat this year, and made our way happily back the way we came, leaving the wildflowers to live another day.