Thor's Outdoors!

On the road again - August 27

I'm back on the road! The last three weeks were spent with family at home in Sweden with lots of relaxation, good food, and fun adventures like canoe trips with nieces and nephews to uninhabited islands for an evening of grilling hot dogs and marshmallows!

It was time to head off again though, and I had hoped to leave yesterday already but wasn't quite set on my route so I decided to wait an extra day and not stress. Leaving took a lot longer than I thought. Despite being up at 6:30, the packing, cleaning of the house and all the other last minute things meant I didn't depart until about 1pm. It was sad leaving too. The weather was absolutely perfect and it just felt like such a shame to leave already! I did stop by Norra Sandsjö church on my way out. I worked there the summer of 2001 as a groundskeeper and even helped dig some graves! There are a lot of family ties to the church as well, so it was really nice to stop and reflect for a bit. I met Robert there who I worked with back in 2001, and got to show off my bike to him. After saying good bye to some other friends in Norra Sandsjö I finally headed south in earnest. The road was so familiar that it didn't feel like I was on tour, rather that I was just on some short trip and would return home in the evening. Once I got south of Sävsjö and in particular past Stockaryd, I was back in the groove. I took some smaller roads which was much more enjoyable than the highways, and saw the best that Småland has to offer with dark dense forests, beautiful shimmering lakes, and rolling farmland with red houses alongside. At Lammhult I initially missed my turn so had to backtrack about 3 kilometres, but the rest of the way was not difficult to find. Passing through Alvesta I stopped to take a photo of the Oljeshejkerna Johnson gas station that I remember having passed many times as a kid, without ever getting a photo of the funny picture of two older Swedish guys dressed as sheiks! Outside of Alvesta my route joined again with Sverigeleden, the main Swedish cylo-tourism route and I'm excited about tomorrow as I get to follow it further. I had to find a spot to camp quick though as it was getting dark, so about 10km south of Alvesta I turned down a small track leading into the woods and set up camp for the night!

Saying farewell to home

A shadowy photo of Robert and I at Norra Sandsjö

The second overturned car I've seen in Sweden on my ride so far!

The Oil Sheiks of southern Sweden

Skååååååne - August 28

I woke up early to the chatter of the squirrels that had probably smelled my food and were looking for a snack! I was relatively efficient in getting started and left camp at about 9:30, feeling good about my chances to make it deep into Skåne today. It was another stunningly beautiful day with sunshine and mild temperatures reaching about 22C in the afternoon. At Vislanda I must have missed my turn, but I followed the signs for Sverigeleden and it took me all the way to Agunnaryd. The town famous of course for being the hometown of none other than Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA. (The A in IKEA stands for Agunnaryd too!) I sat down at a cafe to replan my route, and ended up taking some really nice backcountry roads down to Älmhult, the HQ for IKEA. Their operations there are just massive, with giant warehouse after giant warehouse, and there must have been at least 200 bigrig trucks parked in front of the distribution centre. Not long after I passed by Osby, also a town that has found itself incorporated into a famous brand, BRIO. The makers of wooden toys, including train sets that I played with as a kid. I followed the main road 21 to Hässleholm, and got directions from the locals on how to best cross through town. The road west had bike paths all alongside it through Tyringe and Perstorp to Klippan. I made it all the way to Klippan! 156km for the day, and managed to find a spot to camp by a little stream in a forested area right near the town centre. So, overall very happy with the progress made today making up for the shorter ride yesterday, and excited about taking ferry to Helsingör tomorrow to continue my tour in country number 3!