Last night was just lovely, watched sunset and listened to the pitter patter of the rain. My end of the harbour was very quiet with only the occassional dog walker so i was able to sit under the trees and watch Vadstena go to sleep
A good nights sleep though i woke often. Not that i am unfortable but its just a sleeping back is so restrictive in allowing to move around. I did sort out my pillow problem by using my clothes in stuff bag plus the inflating pillow so all good there. Woke at dawn to the geese honking and a lovely sunrise
My plan lastnight before going to bed was to stop here in Vadstena for another night and then catch the train home on Friday. However after chating with Susie and with Covid still out there and the fact i have 2 (3 if i need it) days to get back we decided that maybe i could cycle back
So having had breakfast and feeling strong and in positive spirits I set off with Söderköping as the destination for the day.
45 minutes down the road in the middle of nowhere at about 0800 i had a puncture in the rear tyre. I was supprised its taken as long as this to get one as my Brompton has given be cause for concern with its tyres but i was really hoping that these marathons that i have on would be good enough. Nevermind I thought i have a couple of spare inner tubes so stopped to fix the puncture. Big problem.
The Brompton has a unique design to its gearing which means to remove the back wheel you need to undo the gears and remove them first. They are held on by a custom nut and a small chain like cable with an adjuster on it that you unscrew. The cable then parts and you can remove in before undoing the nuts, gears and eventually the back wheel. No matter how much i tried i could not for the life of me get the adjuster to undo so i could remove the cable. Looked at the YouTube video a dozen times to see what i waa doing wrong and there was nothing i was doing that looked wrong
I had no choice but to walk back the way i had come and wait for a bus to take me to Motala. Then i had to wait for the bike sho to open before the owner (thanks Mats!!!) supplied me with wisdom, condolenses and tools. He was able to use some grips to get the adjuster to undo and then left me too it. I was able to remove the wheel, replace the tube and put everything back together (during which i found that the bike shop had put a couple of the nuts back on upside down). Pumnped up the tyres according to sugested PSI (which by the was far higher than i had them before which is probably why i got the puncture and a reason why its been such hard work!). The gears are very fiddily to calibrate so again watched a video and experimented until the gears worked. I still need to look at the other gear changer but at least i have back what i started with
The route down to Söderköping meant I had to pass through Linkoping but before getting there i was to pass through some lovely countryside. Farmers are out in force with the combine harvesters collecting the wheat and it was down one of these country lanes that my back pack went flying into a ditch. I forgottent to attach the complete set of bungies and hence it wasnt secure enough. Luckily no damage but a few kilometers later my route took me down the side of the Göta canal where losing my rucksack would have been potentially disasterous!. The route down to Berg was an absolute delete. My tyres at the right PSI, the level path and no traffic meant i was flying. My average speed was 50% higher than previous days
At Linkoping i was able to buy a couple of more insrtant meals from XXL before following the route to Söderköping and checking into the camp site there. Was a bit miffed that they wanted to charge 290 SEK for my tent. They had a vandrehem but that cost 680 SEK but then they said they had a room in one of the old out buildings for 350 SEK so i took that. At only 60 SEK more (cost of a coffee nowadays) i was able to plug everything in to recharge as well as sit at a table and write my blog in peace and quiet.
So what started out as a high and then hit a pretty big low has turned out just fine. Now just need to decide how to get home
Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/GHOgUejtFib
Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/SNSL1tltFib
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