πCycle.net

Its been very eventful so far but we have arranged for the new wheel to be delivered to Finland so we just have to make it there. We spent the afternoon in Gothenburg and visited the Röhsska Design museum which was full of lovely Skandinavian stuff. It took us a while to escape Gothenburg. Denmark was great for cycle paths, every effort is made to keep you seperate from the cars. In one case we even had our own roundabout in a subway under the car version ! In Sweden thing are a bit different, they are not clearly marked and often just look like pavements. Also signage in general is very poor. Our exit was not helped by the fact that it was raining quite hard and my new waterproofs are not up to scratch.

It rained for the first 5 days in Sweden so we got into the habit of taking over campsite kitchens to dry out. We did follow a disused rail track to Ulricehamn but when we got there there were cycle routes heading north or south but not east, the direction we wanted to go ! The only direct route was a major road which we were advised had the highest accident rate in southern Sweden ! We went north doing a 20 mile detour. As a result we headed up the west coast of Lake Vättern taking in some very quiet country tracks and visiting Karlsborg fortress. The fortress took 90 years to build and is 5km long. Sweden is packed with wildlife. We have seen cranes, eagles, hares, deer, red squirrels and loads of birds I can not name. In one basic campsite we shared a plot with a blue tit family in a bird box. In the morning the chicks took a possible first flight, one landed on my leg which was a bit of a shock for both of us.

In Askersund we tried to find a bar for a beer in the evening. The only establishment we could find open was an English style pub playing 80’s music. The local Örebro beer was good but very expensive – £6 for a pint.

If you are into Facebook take a look at Brevik campings page as they said they would load a photo of us – I think its meant to encourage people there. I managed to stand in front of my knickers drying on the rear of the bike.

We had been heading in a near direct route to Stockholm due to our technical issues but the traffic/routes were getting grim and then…..we met a Canadian cycle tourer heading the other way following a cycle route from Stockholm to Gothenburg – doh. He gave us maps for the rest of our route so we headed for the coast which has been much more pleasant. I have not really researched any cycle routes as UK ones are so poor and tend to wander all over, but this one has proved quite handy. We have seen Engelborg manor house which had gardens in renovation including a maze and an orangerie and Trosa which is a picturesque coastal town.

We have made it to Stockholm but have got a bit tired trying to find tourist information – so far we have only found a terminal in the train station where you can have interactive chats with staff – not very user friendly. We have updated the mileage and its still higher than we expected. No photos as we have not brought the correct cable. We are very bad at stopping to take photos any way. My ideal so far would be Swedish landscape (a bit like rocky bits of Yorkshire) with the Danish cycle infrastructure. Tomorrow we get the evening ferry to Turku, Finland, our third country where the language will be incomprehensible.