Sweden part 2: the other Sweden
This is the 3rd year in a row that we visited Sweden, and we noticed that there are 2 different parts: the remote and wild north (which we refer to as the “real” Sweden), and the farmlands of the south. The last week we spent in the latter.
After the wilderness road we tuned almost due south and followed the suggested route by our navigation app, which seemed to change every day. We contemplated also to go back into Norway, but after our disastrous experience with the weather there, we decided in the end to cycle to Gothenburg.
We followed small roads, avoiding the main arteries as much as possible. Slowly we got back into civilization, making planning of grocery shopping easier, but finding spots for camping more difficult. Houses and farms everywhere, how annoying! It meant that we sometimes had to go into small forests next to the road, where the ground is bumpy and mosquitos were happy to see us. Even the dreaded “no camping” signs became more frequent. On one occasion we conveniently ignored such a sign, as we cycled 140 km that day and we really didn’t want to spend another minute looking for a better spot.
The weather was mostly gorgeous though, Kevin got even his sandals back out and we even got a sunburn! The fog in the morning and the occasional shower couldn’t bother us. Another advantage of going south was the change in temperature. While it got rather chilly up north, the 16 degrees around Gothenburg feel positively tropical to us now. We were also happy to see other trees than just birch and pine, after 2 months of cycling in the north it was good to see oak and beech again. It’s the small things in life.
The last week has been calm, we have to adjust a bit to the shorter days. Sunrise after 7 am and sunset before 7 pm, it’s a change from the North cape, where we would have 16 hours of daylight.
Today we will take the ferry to Denmark, a new country for the both of us. It should be nice and flat, which is a nice change after the constant up and down in the Nordic countries. Slowly we are counting down towards the end of our trip!
