Part 1 - High Hopes, Harsh Reality: Disappointment in Sweden's Båstnäs

The most photographed view of Båstnäs car cemetery through my lens.

In this blog and ongoing series, you can follow Abandoned Nordic's urbex road trip as we journey from Finland to France along a longer route. The trip will take about a month, and along the way, various things happen. The journey has just started, with the first stops taking place in Sweden.

On Sunday, June 30th, at 5:51 AM, we close the door of our home in Helsinki. I know the exact time because I film the moment, capturing the sound of the door echoing in the stairwell. It will be a while before we return to Finland, and I feel a brief pang of melancholy, but I suppress it. If I listened to that feeling, I would remain where I am, and that’s not what I desire. I’m happy to be on a journey.

Our trip back to France is an epic road trip across Europe. This time, the route is not the shortest, unlike in March when we traveled from Cherbourg to Helsinki. The journey will cover about 8,500 kilometers and pass through eight countries: Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, and Italy. We have allocated a month for this trip. We have planned a route that also includes many abandoned places and I have calculated the distances between stops, warned Kimmo and mentally prepared myself for a tough start. In less than a week, we need to cover almost 3,000 kilometers, but after that, we will have more time between our planned stops, making it much more relaxed.

We packed the car the day before for an early departure. Everything is packed very systematically, which is actually my special talent. If we need something like nail clippers, it takes a maximum of thirty seconds to get them, as I know the exact location of every item. One of the worst things I can imagine is traveling in a messy car, where time is wasted searching for needed items, especially over a month-long trip.

Our belongings fit better now since we bought a roof rack and box while in Finland. The box is relatively small but provides much-needed extra space. There was a delay with Thule's distributor, and we only got the box on the last business day before our departure, despite ordering it well in advance in mid-May. We had already made a backup plan, contacting a shop in Gothenburg on our route to get a box if the one to Finland didn’t arrive in time. Luckily, it did, so we don't have to hold our gear on our laps until then.

In addition to the roof box, we also bought a tent, intending to use it as much as possible to save on travel costs. The tent ended up saving us about 1,000 euros, as we spent about half of our nights in it.

Our first leg is from Helsinki to Naantali, where a ferry departs for Kapellskär, Sweden. The ferry ride takes about ten hours and is much more pleasant than expected, as the ship, Finnsirius, was brand new. Our previous experience with the same company’s ship in March, traveling from Travemünde to Helsinki, was quite shabby.

The ferry arrives at Kapellskär port after six in the evening. Our planned route takes us across whole Sweden from east to west, very close to the Norwegian border, where the first place we will photograph is located: a massive car graveyard. During the early stages of the drive, we consider two options: either drive straight to the photo location, which takes six hours from the port of Kapellskär, and sleep briefly in the car upon arrival, as sunrise is only an hour or two away, allowing us to photograph in the best light. The other option is to find a good spot to set up the tent earlier to get a full night's sleep and then arrive to the location around midday. The latter option is not the best one for photography but it is what we choose, considering I’m not the only member of the expedition. So, near Örebro, we spend our first night of the trip in a small camping area. We set up our new tent tired, cold, and in the dark, but despite these challenges, we did well for the first time. In the morning, however, we realize that in the darkness of the night we had chosen a spot very close to an area that had apparently been used as a toilet somewhat regularly.

The temperature drops surprisingly low at night, and we don’t have sleeping bags. The reason for this lack is the logistical challenges of our lifestyle. Our sleeping bags are conveniently stored in our warehouse in Rouen, as we didn’t know in March that we would be camping when we returned to France. Even if we had an inkling, we calculated that July would be warm enough to sleep in a tent without sleeping bags. Well, we almost freeze during the night, which was expected given the evening’s chill. The next morning, as soon as the hypothermia subsides, we stop at an outdoor store to buy sleeping bags. Our principle is not to buy anything we already have in storage and can retrieve on our next visit, but we had to compromise for the sake of survival. The decision was correct, as the first warm night when we no longer needed the sleeping bags came in the Czech Republic, and a few nights in between were even colder than the first.

After acquiring sleeping bags, we resumed our drive toward the car graveyard. We last visited it in the winter of 2017, a long time ago, and I have dreamed of photographing it in the summer since then. The place is far from Stockholm, and many other countries have been more enticing to us than Sweden, so the opportunity has only now arisen. Visiting adds a significant amount to our journey, both in kilometers and time. We want to leave the Nordic countries as soon as possible, but the place is very special, so we think it’s worth it.

Unfortunately, other people have also noticed its uniqueness, and it has become a tourist attraction. Therefore, there’s no point in keeping its location a secret: the place is in Båstnäs, and you can now also find it on Google as Ivanssons Junkyard Car Cemetery. Feel free to spend a pleasant family time there, as there is plenty to see, with hundreds of cars gradually blending into the forest. Reserve several hours and bring snacks, as there are tables where you can enjoy them. The site even has a restroom, which was being installed while we were there.

So, it really was something different than we expected - a complete circus. On this beautiful summer day, the place was buzzing with Polish Soviet car enthusiasts on some kind of Gumball rally route, various families, and other miscellaneous people. I was disappointed and my mood turned very negative. It was extremely frustrating that this pointless visit took an entire day of our trip and significantly added to our driving distance.

We explore abandoned places not just for the photos but for the unique experiences they offer. The rarity of encountering others in these locations amplifies their uniqueness, and if we do meet someone, they are usually there for the same reason: to capture something special and elusive. Timing is essential for both the quality of photos and the depth of experiences. The most stunning photographs and intense moments often occur in the early morning or late evening. If we had driven straight there and photographed at sunrise, our experience would have been completely different, with no one else around and in much better lighting.

Waiting for clouds on a sunny day is very nerve-wracking I absolutely hate it. I try to rise above the disappointment, and we spend a few hours wandering through the forest and taking photos, even though it’s clear that the pictures won’t be what I had hoped for.

I vowed to myself that this would be the last time I find myself in this situation if I can help it. In the afternoon, we start driving towards Malmö, intending to cross the Øresund Bridge to Denmark and spend a day in Copenhagen. Our next photo location is after that, and we will go there at the optimal time of day, that’s for sure. My expectations are high!