21 July 2014 (sunny and hot!) 107 km

We were up at 6am and over to the kitchen block……with everyone else still asleep. Plugged in the computer to charge….we’d had about 45-50% when we left Mc Donalds last night, so we needed it up. Had a morning cuppa and whilst Ju showered I kept watch over stuff…..and vice versa !

When we were both showered, we packed up camp and were on the way by 8.30am.

Nice coastal road…. And quiet !  Enjoyed lovely fairly flat riding until we reached the outskirts of Varberg, then got a huge hill to welcome us to town. Rode into the centre and found a Bibliotek [Library] where Julia began charging the computer and doing some uploading and checking messages.

Whilst she was busy, I took the opportunity to sneak away. The address I had been given for the contact was here. After about 15 minutes I found the house. Very old, but with that definite Swedish air.

A knock on the door was greeted by a svelte, extremely well tanned beauty, wearing nothing but a skimpy negligée

‘Do come in” she spoke

I was inside in an instant

‘What’s this all about” I said

“Let me slip into something more comfortable” she said

“How much more comfortable can you get” I thought.

Whilst she was away, I scanned the room, looking for clues, [but I never was very good at Cluedo, so stopped and looked at some paintings on the wall instead]

She returned to the room wearing……… a Onesie !

“That’s better” she acknowledged

She moved toward me…. And pulled me into her…. Whispering huskily in my ear…….

“Sven’s got a new Volvo”

My mind was racing…….”What’s that” I replied

“Sven’s got a new Volvo

“Is that some kind of code…. Because I don’t understand” I retorted

‘Na… I vas joost saying zat my boyfriend Sven has a new Volvo”

“Cut the crap lady” I said in my former secret agents type voice

“Now take me to this Sven”

But Julia had finished the blog and returned from downstairs with what she told me was a cup of coffee.  It was about the size of a thimble and I asked her if she’d seen any dwarfs round here.  “Only Grumpy” she muttered.  She explained it was apparently a macchiato – not quite the same thing as  our favourite drink from Starbucks but we hadn’t had a coffee yet this morning so beggars can’t be choosers.

Varberg

After slaking our thirst (yeah, right) we went for a tour around Varberg, taking in the town and it’s sights. Found a supermarket with the help of a couple of locals [ must say, it’s the best way to gather any information ] and found a shady spot in the park to make and eat our lunch.  Again it was incredibly hot today but as we lunched, some cloud came over and we figured we could do without a swim at this stage, although Varberg did look to have a reasonably nice beach although typically shallow and a bit murky.  It also looked like it would be really warm and we wanted cold.

Then we hit the cycle path North called Ginstleden Cyclosparet.  It is well signposted and we had an enjoyable but hot ride and an hour later, sweat dripping from everywhere [well… me at least………Julia was…..glowing ] we reached the seaside village of Karradal where we promptly threw ourselves into, what has to be, the best swim we have had on this trip. Water warm, but not too warm, sandy beach …..fantastic !  Until we noticed the jellyfish!  But we were that hot that we had a ten minute rest on the beach then cautiously went for another swim with not quite the same reckless abandon as our first one.

Once out of the water, it was up to a toilet block which had a freezing cold….delightfully refreshing shower. Amazing…!  Thoroughly cooled down we hit the cycle lane north again, following the west coast up towards Gothenberg.  We had mostly traffic free cycle lanes all afternoon which was brilliant – you wouldn’t have even known there was a car in Sweden sometimes.

The water always looked inviting - but you can't judge a book by it's cover

The afternoon was sweltering hot and it wasn’t too long before we were hot again and this time we  stopped at Stravanstrand for a swim but upon spying the outside shower thought, stuff the swim with the jellyfish, and just cooled off under the shower.  It was great.  Pete soaked his headband which worked a treat in helping him keep cool and I had my wet hair streaming down my back so we both felt good for the next half hour at least!

Stopped at Raglund for an ice-ceam in the shade and then in Asa to get out shopping, which was another welcome reprieve from the heat.  From here we had to go on the road and it was busy so it took us an hour to find the perfect place to have dinner.  

Good spot for dinner

This happened to be the site of an old church that had burned down many years ago.  It was on top of a hill with a cemetery behind it but we didn’t think anyone would mind as it was also out in the middle of nowhere.  Had a delicious dinner blighted only by the constant flies hanging around.  We were tempted to pitch the tent here for the night as we’d already done 77 km but with the constant attention of the flies and the noise from the busy road below and the fact that it was starting to cool down a bit, we decided to push on.

On the cycle lane Ginstleden Cyclosparet

We were rewarded for this decision immediately by getting onto a cycle lane again but then followed several hills which our aching muscles really felt.  As we entered the town of Kungsbacka we saw a cyclist lying in the grass at the side of the cycle track with his bike partially on top of him.  We stopped to ask him if he was OK as he looked asleep, or worse, and had a couple of minor cuts on his arm.  He was probably in his 60’s and I think had fallen off due to being drunk but he managed to get out ”Yes Yes, ok, thank you very much” which left us both feeling sad he was in such a state with no-one to look after him.

Kungsbacka

Out of Kungsbacka we cycled through some beautiful valleys which were reminiscent of Switzerland and as we rounded one particular bend, a couple of deer leapt out in front of me and bounded across the road in front of an oncoming bus and leapt over a fence and then chased each other round the meadow there before disappearing into the woods.  Beautiful, but could have been very dangerous!

We were on the lookout for a freecamp but no opportunities were presenting themselves and then we hit the coast and the opportunities were even less as there was always a house nearby.  It was not built up, very spread out suburbia with no apparent centre to these areas.  Had a straight cycle track right through the middle of this area.  Passed through Saro and Billda, to name a couple before at 10.20pm we came upon Amundo, which was a nature peninsula for birds, wild animals and plants.  At the side of the carpark we spied a discreet patch of grass perfect for what we wanted.  There were still a number of people around though so we made a cup of coffee before we set up the tent.  We wondered when all these people would go home and watch TV or go to bed!  They were out walking, running, cross country skiing on roller blades and generally just being an impediment to us getting the tent up and going to sleep.  Finally pitched the tent at 11pm when it was only just getting dark and gratefully went to sleep.  There were still people walking on the nature reserve though at midnight, which made us a bit nervous, so we didn’t really sleep that well.

The view from our tent - we'd cycled 107 kms for this so it had to be good!