Today was not destined to be a big day as Vedstena had been my target after 2 days. So completing it in 3 was in one way a bit of failure but being honest with all the issues i have had to face im petty happy with making ii in 2.5
Not a bad sleep but not brilliant, woke twice during the night for a pee which is a habit i really must try and break. Also my plan of just peeing in the bushes all went to hell as somebody else had moved into the tent area across from me.
Breakfast of museli and and a hot drink (also refilled both flasks with boiling water, my little pot does a great job btw) and i was ready to leave. I really need though to have a system because things were all over the place this morning. Everything needs to have a place and i must put things back in their place as soon as i have finshed with them otherwise i can never find them again! This morning it was my knife, fork and spoon set followed later by my cycling gloves!
On the road by 0900 and the cycling was glorious. No major roads and just village after village, farm after farm. Having spent the last 4 weeks in a "husbil" (Recreational Vehicle, mobile home) it was great to see so much varied landscape with woods and farms. Everything was looking really pretty
No camels today (or lamas) but did go past a Swedish Infantry regimental depot that was displaying one of its old personal carriers by the side of the road and there was a presistent roar of jet engines which i know comes from a Swedish Airforce base near by as i passed iot years ago when i cycled to Göteborg. So today had a definite military theme that was complimented by a visit to the Gota canel at Mortala
Dug by hand by 58,000 Swedish soldiers in the early 1830's this canal connects the Baltic sea with Göteborg. The locks are all in working order and the canal is stuill used today by tourists. In fact as i sat there a boat came through looking to go down the locks
Motala is the start and finish of the "vatten runden" which is something i have been trying to do for years. A 300 km "race" around lake Vattern is concidered one of the Swedish classics (along with the Lidingo Loppet and Vasa Loppet, running and skiing). I have been signed up for it at least 3 or 4 times now and each time failed to start either because of conflicting arrangements or because of Covid. This year i was signed up but the start was delayed until September which would have meant cycling a lot in the dark. As i had planned to use the Brompton (most ppl use carbon fibre road bikes) i estimated at least 18 hours to get around. Having just done the same distance from Stockholm (all be it on a heavier bike) in about 25 hours I think I am being a little optimistic. Still at least i got to do a few KM to Vadstena
So the plan was to stay at the camp site but as they wanted to charge me as much as a stay in a Vandrehem i thought to hell with that and went into town. Called in at the tourist information and got a complete list of places to stay and started to ring around. Many didnt answer, some did saying they were closed because of Covid and others were fully booked. Eventually i asked around at the castle ("slott") and was told that i could pitch my tent down by the harbour where there was a service house with showers, toilets and electricity. Even better it was just 40 SEK so i pitched my tent and headed into town
Looked up the top place to eat and it wasnt where i was expecting it to be. It wasnt anywhere near the tourist end of town or the hugely expensive spa that has now replaced the rather basic hotel we used to come to 25 years ago. Very nice food run by a young crowd of enthusiastic waiters and chefs i blew all the money i had saved on the switch from camp site to harbour but didnt regret it for a second.
Was about to look around an informal get together of classic cars (that happens every wednesday during the summer) but it started to rain so headed back to the tent. Lets see how it goes tonight. Maybe tomorrow I get a bed somewhere
Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/Xi2NKf6LDib
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