31 July 2014 (hot and sunny) 80km

Got plenty of rain in the night but that didn’t worry us as the tent did its job admirably and kept us nice and dry.  Woke to steady drizzle so didn’t get as early a start as we’d planned, but as soon as it stopped, we packed up a very wet tent and waited for twenty minutes for the ferry which was just outside the camp gates. 

The marina by the campground this morning

It transported us five minutes across the water and at 7.30am we were climbing our first of many hills through scenic countryside on the lookout for more moose – no luck this morning though.  By this time the bad weather had moved away and once again it was turning into a hot morning.  Cycled for twenty kms to Varsta where we arrived at 8.45am and the supermarket was due to open at 9am, which gave us time to hunt down an ideal breakfast location.  This we found in the form of a secondary school once again closed for the holidays allowing us plenty of room to dry out our groundsheet, tent and flysheet.

Breakfast bombsite - spreading our stuff out to dry 

Who said gypsies have all the fun.  Anyone seeing our gear spread out on school grounds would feel sure that gyppos had moved into the area, the only difference being is that we weren’t trying to rob the lead off the roof!  Well that and the fact that an hour later we were gone with no sign of us ever having been there.  It’s amazing they have the nerve to call themselves travellers really – they seem to be stay putters to me.

On the road again but now we had well and truly left the countryside and were in the outer towns of Stockholm.  We were on the lookout for a toilet and spied one by a playground.  While Pete went to the loo and I stayed out with the bikes, I realised it was a free community swimming pool as well as a playground and suggested we go for a swim.  Pete wasn’t keen but I was so jumped in for a cool off.  It was a lovely swim with no taste of chlorine, no kelp or algae to deal with and nice and deep – fantastic!

Right after this, the straight forward signs saying Stockholm, had disappeared off the cycle track and we were left to ponder over various other options which we assume were suburb names.  No Centrum, Stockholm or City Centre mentioned.  By luck we noticed a map in a bus shelter and figured out the suburb we needed to aim for was Gullmarsplan as this was where the bridge was over to Stockholm central.  This worked a treat and we soon found ourselves in the middle of Stockholm, pedalling towards the ferry terminal. 

Scenes from Stockholm

Got there about 1pm and booked ourselves a couple of seats on the next morning’s ferry to Turku, Finland for a cost of 500 kroner ($100 NZ), for the two of us and our bikes.  Thought this wasn’t too bad as it is an 11 hour trip!

Next we went on a bit of a tiki-tour to try and find a hotel seeing as we had to report to the ferry at 6.15am tomorrow, we did not want to be packing up a wet tent with no place to dry it on the ferry.  This could have been quite awkward as we didn’t want a real dump but we didn’t want a real snooty place either with our dusty bikes and dusty selves to check in.  We lucked out and found a Scandic Hotel and when I went to check in, I struck a great girl on reception.  I asked how much for one night and she said 1470 kroner ($290 NZ) but then said to me if I were to book it myself online I could save a bit of money.  She said I could use their wifi and so I sat in the reception lounge, logged onto their wifi and got the same room for 990 kroner ($200 NZ).  They had a luggage room where we could store the bikes and then we went upstairs to our lovely little room with white sheets and fresh towels and comfortable bed.  Having been used to living outside for two months though, Pete did find it a bit claustrophobic, but after a quick shower we turned the air con right down and took off in search of lunch.  Found a nice little place round the corner from the hotel and Pete had a burger and chips with a Guinness while I had salmon and dill potatoes and a glass of wine – really enjoyed all that because it was now 3pm!

Then we collected our bikes from the hotel and did a bit of sightseeing.  Biking is the only way to go when you want to see a city.  We covered 22kms in Stockholm this afternoon and were both very tired when we returned to the hotel at 8pm.  It is a very beautiful city and has so many old and majestic buildings, you don’t know where to go first.  While we were cycling around we got asked by  some tourists for directions and then another tourist asked if she could take our photo while we sat and ate ice-creams by the harbour.  Either we look like locals or our fame has spread!

finished the tiki-tour with an exploration of the Old Town - loved this part.  These buildings were this tall and close.

For dinner we just got half a hot chicken and some salad from the supermarket along with a tiramisu for me and a pistachio dessert for Pete.  Delicious!  Back at the hotel where we had free wifi, we finally got to skype Briana and upload the blog before eventually turning in about midnight.

The Royal Palace