Day: September 3, 2017

Lund to Jogestad Motel nr Linkoping

Day 4 in the motel

Phew! I enjoyed staying at the Hotel Finn. Breakfast was fun – completely self-service great coffee from a machine, croissants (no one knows how to make proper croissants apart from the French and those who copy them), muesli with yoghurt and orange juice. I paused a while in the room to get calm before I set off. The bike was still where I left it, entirely unmolested. I decided that today would be my non-motorway day and put in a direction of Vaxjo which I have no idea how I would pronounce if I had to ask someone the way to it. I was taken onto and across on the route 23. It was a beautiful ride, lovely calm scenery and on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning. Fields, dwellings, lakes and of course pine trees. The only downside was the incredibly low speed limits in this country that most people seem to stick to with a few over-takers. Plus some agricultural vehicles but once the first 40 or so miles were done, things speeded up and I was going at not much less than I rode on some of the way over here through crowded motorways in Holland and Germany. The roads are mostly good though with those nasty dangerous wire barriers in the middle of some.

The bike was running well, the hotel was good and I was pleased that I decided to avoid all motorways.

Looking for what I thought was a picnic area I ended up in a small town that had yet another unattended machine in the town square – this time one that served petrol once you had worked out that you had to put in a credit card in a separate booth. Fuelled up I headed off again. My next stop was in a small layby by a wood. I also had some food and Mango flavoured Oatley in its land of origin. Not much but enough to feel thoroughly sorted and ready for the rest of the trip. The map told me that after Vaxjo taking the 31 and 32 in a northerly direction would take me right here – another 200k.

I suppose the scenery got progressively less scenic and a little more industrial at the same time that the weather got worse. We were promised cloud but we got rain. So stop number three was at a rural bus stop to pull on the huge Mr Balloon Man rain suit. As fortune would have it someone had left a single chair just next to the bus stop making the ridiculous procedure of climbing into the suit very slightly less awkward. Eventually the GPS put me onto the E4 motorway which I had been avoiding all day but just for 5 miles before depositing me outside the hotel on a rather forlorn country road. I had to double check I really had booked this place and I had. The person at the desk who spoke impeccable English told me that the motel rooms were round the back and I should drive round there. I remembered that this is what attracted me to the place and being able to park the bike under its own veranda out of the rain is perfect. The cabin is cute. I’m not sure when they were built but they have been renovated recently and have the same bathrooms as the Hotel Finn with great under floor heating. I had a meal of white fish at 4.30 because the kitchen closes at 5 on Sundays. The restaurant reminded me of similar roadside places in Norway that seem to attract families out for a rather casual eat. Only if it were Norway the food would be covered in cling film. Here it wasn’t.

I have the radiator on in the room. It was 14 degrees outside earlier and the places are built of wood. Each cabin has an electric supply for electric vehicles. I wonder how much that is used. There seems to be only one other vehicle here. It is pretty bleak outside now in the wet.

Tomorrow my ferry for Helsinki leaves at 4.30 and so I have an easy journey from here to Stockholm. The forecast shows very dark clouds and rain so it will be a matter of wrapping up and keeping my head down – not even hoping to avoid it. I hope there is somewhere under shelter to wait at the ferry terminal. And I wonder what time they board the ship.

So far I think my planning has paid off well. The distances and routes have been fine and the hotels good. So, after tonight, one night on the Ferry and then I arrive in Helsinki that will be my home for nearly two weeks.

240 miles (again) taking 5 hours and 4 minutes.

From Germany to Sweden via Denmark

Day 3 In Lund

I’m in heaven. I better write it down before it wears off. I’m in Lund with its beautiful fresh air and cool evening sun. I think it is the relief after riding all day and finding such a cool hotel here – no fusty check- in desk where you have to ring a bell and wait for someone, just a touch screen and credit card machine. It produces a plastic card that lets you past the lobby and into your room. Everything here is new. No thick carpet and the smell of air freshener (as in yesterday’s hotel) – we get stone steps and a bare wooden floor – newly installed minimalist bathroom, free no-fuss wifi and more electric sockets that you would ever need. And for breakfast they are cool with letting you bring your own and just have their coffee – also from a machine (Machines can make better coffee than humans often do – believe me.)

You ask ‘is there a supermarket near here?’ Of course is the answer and it is open late. I head down there and see that Lund is a young person’s town – young persons on their bicycles, young persons on their way to a toga party. This is refreshing as someone who has spent too much time in small German country towns which are fusty and conservative – without exception.

My bike is parked outside on the street. It should be safe. It is heavily disguised as a pile of blankets with a padlock.

Let’s start the day’s events. Coffee and croissants in Germany – neither exceptional followed by muesli with UHT milk of course. The party of older folk filled the dining room. Packing up was easy. And I seem to have paid my bill some time in the past. My stomach was upset again, a strange regular occurrence on my travels – hence a couple of unscheduled stops on the way to the ferry. But the road up to the tip of Germany, an island called Fehmarn got quieter and ended up pleasant – and the sun shone throughout the day. I arrived just in time for the 11.45 crossing and my ticket seemed to get me on even though I’d booked a later trip. On the crossing I stayed with Belinda on the car deck for most of the trip. There were some neat but not robustly effective (I thought) wall-hanging straps to tie down bikes (mine was the only bike) but I did not trust it after my disaster on a Norwegian ferry.

It was lovely to get into Denmark. Again the roads seemed almost empty and the temperature was a pleasant 18 degrees. I bought some petrol and food and stopped at one of their functional picnic with petrol and toilet spots half way. The traffic got heavier as I approached Copenhagen. The Oresund crossing was fun as ever and it was so easy to pay having found out in advance which lane to use. It was obvious anyway. Then it was only about 20 miles from Malmo to lovely Lund. I have passed through Lund once before, parking on cobbles in the old town centre – which is of course an old university city – but never stayed.

Supplies at the supermarket were not wide-ranging and of course entirely lacking anything remotely alcoholic. Luckily I am prepared. And Sweden is the home of Oatley! There are so many more varieties than we are allowed in boring old UK. There is a kitchen here in my room with a microwave so I have a pizza to try to cook. I can’t read the instructions on the box. It either says microwavable or microwave is not recommended. I have the feeling that it will come out piping hot but still look completely raw.

I just tried to fold up my map of North West Germany and gave up and instead lay on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

track to Lund

Total distance I rode 247 miles. It felt a lot less than yesterday.

Total riding time 4 hours 27 minutes plus 45 minutes on the ferry.