Sweden's Höga Kusten - The Coast that rises from the Sea

Sweden's Höga Kusten (High Coast) has been rising by almost one centimetre per year since the last ice age 10,000 years ago. This has created a hilly Baltic Sea landscape on the Gulf of Bothnia with small and large islands. Untouched nature, dense forests and energetic, rather idiosyncratic islanders have plenty of room there.
Every year at the end of August a biting stench mixes with the fresh Baltic Sea breeze. For weeks the so-called sour herring, Swedish: Surströmming, is fermented in brine. Ruben Madsen is a producer of surströmming and an absolute connoisseur. In his wooden hut on the island of Ulvön he puts the herring in according to a traditional recipe. At the start of the season, the cans are opened for the first time. Lovers of the "stinky fish" then come from all over the world to taste the now world-famous delicacy in cans. Opening the cans of "rotten fish" is considered internationally as a test of courage, people film themselves doing so, the inhabitants of the High Coast can only smile about it.

Only about 40 people live on Ulvön all year round, everyday life here is too complicated, especially for young families. But since there is childcare, they have one less reason to leave the island. Elisabet Westin is responsible for just two children in what is perhaps the smallest kindergarten in Sweden, if not the world. With the help of the local residents, a playground is finally to be built so that the kindergarten has a long-term future.

In Hans Öhman's garden, boxes of objects from the last 100 years are piled up. The post office employee crawls the coast in the summer and takes almost everything with him that the people here no longer need. Every second week in August the locals come to his big garden auction, where Hans is at his best as an auctioneer.

Mikael "Micke" Danielsson specialises in assignments in the island world: Logs floating in the water, a broken sauna or a fast transport of sheep, with his special boats he makes it to every island. His favourite is the "Black Widow", a former military boat from the USA with a bow ramp. This way Micke can also jump ashore on flat banks.

In Långsele the inhabitants compete year after year in a traditional race, which is supposed to remind us of the daredevil raftsmen. They used to drive the wood on the rivers towards the coast to the sawmills. The apparently short rowing distance of just under three kilometres is often underestimated. The replicas of the traditional wooden boats are narrow, wobbly and constantly running full of water. Teamwork is therefore required: Sven Olof Olofsson rowing, Anneli Lind scooping.