From Filipstad south west around 150km is Dals Långed within the Bengtsfors kommun – a district blessed with acres and acres of clean fresh water lakes and crossed by the Dalslands kanal. The riding here is exceptional as are the lakes – shame I left my fly rod behind as stopping for Fika at the lake edge the fish were clearly rising, might of actually stood a chance of catching something.

Taking the opportunity for a few days R&R I am about 15 miles north east of Filipstad in Värmland County – surrounded by hundreds of thousands of acres of forest. I stumbled upon Västerbotten cheese (Västerbottensost) which is aged for 14 months and is absolutely stunning and in limited supply outside the region – its a softer Parmesan style salty, sweet and bitter – a really complex set of flavours, now all I need is some Surströmming.