Up the Indal from Järkvissle

The out-house

My father's boat-trip

My father loaded the inflatable dinghy onto the roof of his car. I imagine it was the blue Toyota RAV4, but it may not have been, because I don't know exactly when this happened.

Perhaps it was during one of those summer months when he was alone at the cottage, before Mum came over to join him.

The boat was an inflatable dinghy with an outboard motor. I seem to think it was grey and yellow. He inflated the dinghy when he arrived at the cottage and then it stayed all summer, when not in use, leaning against the shady end of the out-house. I wonder if the dinghy is still at the cottage, or if Miranda has it now?

He drove down to Järkvissle and launched the dinghy in the river. He started the motor and headed upstream. (Most likely he took a fishing-rod with him.)

There was a small island in the river. He landed here and drank his thermos of coffee. He was alone.

The idea was to go all the way up to Långliden, if not further. But a little below Långliden, the outboard suddenly packed up.

So he decided to let the current float him back down. However, it was soon apparent that the strong river Indal would always drag the dinghy towards one or other shore (and therefore towards all the hazards of submerged rock, fallen branches and snapped fishing-tackle).

So in fact he had to row all the way.  He was tired out when he got back to Järkvissle, but exhilarated. And ravenously hungry.




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[We never really had a name for the whole of the outbuilding.  We referred to the three rooms (each with its own door to the outside) as "Redskapsbod" (toolshed), "Uthuset" (in fact, a bedroom) and "Vedbod" (woodshed). These were the italic names on the key-tags, a little fainter each year.]