And that's the end for this year.
Last night's stay in Strömstad was very pleasant though the hotel was a disappointment.
Up and out early as I needed to get to Uddevalla in good time.
Great cycling with only a couple of really crappie roads to contend. One was so overgrown I was seriously expecting to just end in a forest clearing!
On arrival had to make a decision whether to risk taking the bike on the bus overnight or to send it as a package and take the train.
Decided to take the train so next task was to pack the bike. No bike shop in Uddevalla so had to cycle back out 10 km to a bike shop at one of the out of town centres. Ended up having to pack the bike hope she arrives in one piece.
So posted her back and caught the train. Back in Stockholm tonight in my own bed and a hug from Susie!
Friday, 27 June 2014
Wednesday, 25 June 2014
Day 7 - Oslo to Strömstad
Another great days cycling. Getting out of Oslo was interesting as this time I was following the fjord, along with about every other major form of transportation. Railway and motorways were pretty packed in. Eventually got to climb out and up to find the smaller roads and gradually wound my way South back to Sweden.
Crossing over the border was very interesting. On the Norwegian side there is just closed businesses and abandoned border buildings, a reminder that Sweden and Norway have no border that is manned any longer and that the duty free transition of goods between the countries means that no business can survive on the Norwegian side because of the cost of living being so much higher than Sweden. On the Swedish side are shops after shops, rising like a shimmering mirage from the farmland.
Strömstad is no longer the sleepy little fishing town I visited 20 years ago but a bustling hum of activity. Good for them, they certainly had smiles on their faces
Crossing over the border was very interesting. On the Norwegian side there is just closed businesses and abandoned border buildings, a reminder that Sweden and Norway have no border that is manned any longer and that the duty free transition of goods between the countries means that no business can survive on the Norwegian side because of the cost of living being so much higher than Sweden. On the Swedish side are shops after shops, rising like a shimmering mirage from the farmland.
Strömstad is no longer the sleepy little fishing town I visited 20 years ago but a bustling hum of activity. Good for them, they certainly had smiles on their faces
Tuesday, 24 June 2014
Day 6 - Arvika to Oslo
Great days cycling. Weather was perfect scenery was beautiful and the roads decent enough. Crossed into Norway about mid day and eventually found somewhere for lunch. Road to Oslo was busy at times but managed to find back roads and bike paths most of the way. The road to Oslo was very interesting had no idea the city was surrounded by hills. Pleasant evening wandering around and then back to the hostel where I chatted with my room mates
Monday, 23 June 2014
Day 5 - Uddeholm to Arivika
Good night's sleep and early breakfast. Followed the old railway from Uddeholm to Edeby as I met up with the only member of SAMA82 at this summer house. What an idealic spot it was
Afternoon ride was once again very hilly but my navigation was better than yesterday and no dead ends. Arrived in Arvika in good time to find a hotel so no panic like yesterday wink emoticon
Afternoon ride was once again very hilly but my navigation was better than yesterday and no dead ends. Arrived in Arvika in good time to find a hotel so no panic like yesterday wink emoticon
Day 4 - Tällberg to Uddeholm
An exhausting day with everything!! rain, hail, sunshine, wind, hill climbs after hill climbs, a route failure, and almost nowhere to stay!!
The day started well with breakfast with Susie and a slow and pleasant start, on the road by 0830
The morning was a pleasant ride from Leksand to Dala-Järn with a lot of hills and weather that really couldn't decide to rain or to shine. Off with the coat, and it would rain, on with the coat, and the sun would come out. Arrived in Järna. Nothing there so went a bit further to Vansbro where I fairly disgusting lunch at a roadside restaurant.
From there it looked straight forward down to Hagfors. The road was great and the scenery pleasant but the weather sucked with rain and hail, heavy at times. However it was always going to be a risk, there is nothing worst than arriving in small town Sweden on a Sunday evening with no hotel booked.
Also doesnt help that within about 30km of finishing the road ended and despite my best efforts I couldn't find where Google thought I could cycle. It looked like the road was through a farm but no way was I going to trespass. So i had no option but to backtrack, added 15km to the days total and an hour.
Arrived in Hagfors to find one hotel had closed down and the other wasnt open (they had gone home) so my worst fears had come true. There was nowhere to stay, my mobile phone battery was running very low, I wasnt going to get an evening meal so the only choice was to cycle on to Uddeholm where I was able to find somewhere. Reception closed at 2000 and i arrived at 1955!!
Lets hope tomorrow is a little less filled with drama. Biggest problem is finding places to stay so really need to consider carrying a tent!!
The day started well with breakfast with Susie and a slow and pleasant start, on the road by 0830
The morning was a pleasant ride from Leksand to Dala-Järn with a lot of hills and weather that really couldn't decide to rain or to shine. Off with the coat, and it would rain, on with the coat, and the sun would come out. Arrived in Järna. Nothing there so went a bit further to Vansbro where I fairly disgusting lunch at a roadside restaurant.
From there it looked straight forward down to Hagfors. The road was great and the scenery pleasant but the weather sucked with rain and hail, heavy at times. However it was always going to be a risk, there is nothing worst than arriving in small town Sweden on a Sunday evening with no hotel booked.
Also doesnt help that within about 30km of finishing the road ended and despite my best efforts I couldn't find where Google thought I could cycle. It looked like the road was through a farm but no way was I going to trespass. So i had no option but to backtrack, added 15km to the days total and an hour.
Arrived in Hagfors to find one hotel had closed down and the other wasnt open (they had gone home) so my worst fears had come true. There was nowhere to stay, my mobile phone battery was running very low, I wasnt going to get an evening meal so the only choice was to cycle on to Uddeholm where I was able to find somewhere. Reception closed at 2000 and i arrived at 1955!!
Lets hope tomorrow is a little less filled with drama. Biggest problem is finding places to stay so really need to consider carrying a tent!!
Thursday, 19 June 2014
Day 3 - Falun to Tällberg
My cell was very comfortable and I slept like a rock until about 0400 when the rain outside woke me.
The staff had left me a massive breakfast so feeling stuffed I was on the road by 0800 with a very easy (though wet) looking ride.
Didn't have far to go as Susie was coming up by train from Stockholm and we had planned to meet at Tällberg. The route this time looked good and it turned out that I first of followed an old road and then an old railway. In fact it was the best cycling I had done so far as it was off the main roads, beautiful and interesting.
The railway turned out to have been closed in 1958 having been opened in 1889. It was a truly wonderful ride with no signs of traffic, just perfect silence punctuated by the birds and mosquitoes! Following lakes, forest and the occassional small village it eventually desposited me within 10 km of my end destination.
I had spent the day wondering what the dotted line on my map meant and it turned out to be a closed road being repaired. However their was an alternative so i found myself arriving in Tällberg by 1030 well in advance of Susie.
Another easy 50km and a great way to start the midsummer
The staff had left me a massive breakfast so feeling stuffed I was on the road by 0800 with a very easy (though wet) looking ride.
Didn't have far to go as Susie was coming up by train from Stockholm and we had planned to meet at Tällberg. The route this time looked good and it turned out that I first of followed an old road and then an old railway. In fact it was the best cycling I had done so far as it was off the main roads, beautiful and interesting.
The railway turned out to have been closed in 1958 having been opened in 1889. It was a truly wonderful ride with no signs of traffic, just perfect silence punctuated by the birds and mosquitoes! Following lakes, forest and the occassional small village it eventually desposited me within 10 km of my end destination.
I had spent the day wondering what the dotted line on my map meant and it turned out to be a closed road being repaired. However their was an alternative so i found myself arriving in Tällberg by 1030 well in advance of Susie.
Another easy 50km and a great way to start the midsummer
Wednesday, 18 June 2014
Day 2 - Sala to Falun
Good nights sleep and a simple breakfast found me on the road by 0730.
Once again I used Google Maps and worked out my route well in advance though I was a little nervous of the stretch from Hedemora to Falun, it looked like a big road and I really don't want to go near big roads on this holiday.
Again glorious cycling through farmland with only one navigational error that almost found me in Avesta which wasn't what I wanted. Took a detour to get back to my route and this road vanished into a field with a very rough track across it, again the joys of Google Maps and rights of way :)
Coming close to Hedemora I stopped briefly at a cross roads to check which way to go when a local pulled up in his car and we had a chat. He took a look at my route and suggested I went a different way. He zoomed in on my map and suddenly this tiny road appeared that I had missed that meandered next to the main river. He explained if I followed this it would bring me out on the outskirts of Falun and I would miss all the main roads. Only issue was where to have lunch but i was sure i would find something and find something i did, a supermarket appeared from nowhere and I was able to grab a sandwich.
Lovely cycling and another easy 125km found me in Falun where I was able to find a vandrahem. Deja vue because it was the old jail and it had the same layout as the one in Visby I stayed in when I went around Gotland.
Once again I used Google Maps and worked out my route well in advance though I was a little nervous of the stretch from Hedemora to Falun, it looked like a big road and I really don't want to go near big roads on this holiday.
Again glorious cycling through farmland with only one navigational error that almost found me in Avesta which wasn't what I wanted. Took a detour to get back to my route and this road vanished into a field with a very rough track across it, again the joys of Google Maps and rights of way :)
Coming close to Hedemora I stopped briefly at a cross roads to check which way to go when a local pulled up in his car and we had a chat. He took a look at my route and suggested I went a different way. He zoomed in on my map and suddenly this tiny road appeared that I had missed that meandered next to the main river. He explained if I followed this it would bring me out on the outskirts of Falun and I would miss all the main roads. Only issue was where to have lunch but i was sure i would find something and find something i did, a supermarket appeared from nowhere and I was able to grab a sandwich.
Lovely cycling and another easy 125km found me in Falun where I was able to find a vandrahem. Deja vue because it was the old jail and it had the same layout as the one in Visby I stayed in when I went around Gotland.
Tuesday, 17 June 2014
Day 1 - Stockholm to Sala
First day on what is going to be a different bike ride this year.
For a start I don't have much time and secondly I have to plan everything around midsummer with Susie and work commitments with regards a trip to Italy to deliver software.
So the bike ride this year is in two parts, first I will cycle up to Tällberg in Dalarna for midsummer and then i will complete the section between Uddevalla and Oslo so that next year I can start cycling in Norway. It's going to be tough though because of the distances, time constraints and lastly lack of accommodation.
Only found out I was going to be go cycling now at the very last minute, literally, so packed up everything and headed out onto the road once Susie got back from her doctors visit.
The first part of the ride today was a repeat of last year as the route followed the same roads as my initial day of last years ride as far as Bålsta. The big difference this time was that I was using some different technology. First of all I had planned my trip using Google Maps and then exported it as a series of GPX points using http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/ which is a free application that let me create a GPX file. This I then uploaded into a free app on my android http://osmand.net/. This gave me offline maps that I could use to navigate, a huge improvement over last years effort.
So this meant that I found my way through them jungle of the Stockholm suburbs and was able to navigate successfully to Sala without any problems whatsoever. So effective was the navigation that I was able to miss out all roads that had cars. Of course it wasn't all a bed of roses, at one point I popped out on a golf course much to amusement and the golfers confusion!!
Of course having missed out on all the cars it meant that I found myself winding my way through endless farms and forests, beautiful days cycling and an easy 127km to start the trip with. On top of that Sala was a nice little town with a cheap(ish) hotel used by workmen.
For a start I don't have much time and secondly I have to plan everything around midsummer with Susie and work commitments with regards a trip to Italy to deliver software.
So the bike ride this year is in two parts, first I will cycle up to Tällberg in Dalarna for midsummer and then i will complete the section between Uddevalla and Oslo so that next year I can start cycling in Norway. It's going to be tough though because of the distances, time constraints and lastly lack of accommodation.
Only found out I was going to be go cycling now at the very last minute, literally, so packed up everything and headed out onto the road once Susie got back from her doctors visit.
The first part of the ride today was a repeat of last year as the route followed the same roads as my initial day of last years ride as far as Bålsta. The big difference this time was that I was using some different technology. First of all I had planned my trip using Google Maps and then exported it as a series of GPX points using http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/ which is a free application that let me create a GPX file. This I then uploaded into a free app on my android http://osmand.net/. This gave me offline maps that I could use to navigate, a huge improvement over last years effort.
So this meant that I found my way through them jungle of the Stockholm suburbs and was able to navigate successfully to Sala without any problems whatsoever. So effective was the navigation that I was able to miss out all roads that had cars. Of course it wasn't all a bed of roses, at one point I popped out on a golf course much to amusement and the golfers confusion!!
Of course having missed out on all the cars it meant that I found myself winding my way through endless farms and forests, beautiful days cycling and an easy 127km to start the trip with. On top of that Sala was a nice little town with a cheap(ish) hotel used by workmen.
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