Yes, I am going to be really German in this post. Why? Because Germans are simply crazy about elks. Why that is I do not understand myself. Seems we simply think that they are cool, cute and maybe because they incorporate this calm, almost phlegmatic character that we sometimes wish to have but somehow lost in our modern, busy lives, often dominated by job and having less and less time for ourselves.

Last summer I even saw German tourists, stopping at the most inappropriate place at the road side for – taking a picture of the typical Swedish elk warning sign… That behaviour is a bit too much, if you ask me. And also this. Definitely too much.

Anyway. I lived in Sweden for over a year now and one cannot say that I haven’t been out in the woods here, rather on the contrary. But I never saw one of these animals. Now yesterday, almost dozing off in the evening summer heat on the train between Linköping and Norrköping – there he was! A young male elk that apparently attempted to cross the rail when the train arrived. It was a funny picture, because he went really fast out of reach of the train, but only as much as necessary, then looking back rather annoyed at the big wheeled steel monster that interrupted his evening potter. Cute picture. And a really shiny brown fur he had, slightly glowing in the late afternoon sun. I am not totally crazy about them, but this one was truly beautiful.

Did you know that elks apparently always let the first car or motorcycle pass? So the first driver is always save, but the second one might have a hard time avoiding quite a few kilos of elk attempting to cross the road?
The second driver might even have such a distance to the first driver that he is not aware of being the second one to the elk’s mind…

Being a motorcyclist, I am therefore not that eager to encounter any of these lovely animals on the road…

I do like the Hälge, though.