20 July 2014 (hot and sunny) 109 km

Sweden and peaceful night’s sleep do not seem to go together.  Here we were on a suburban street with probably twenty really expensive mobile homes and only one other tent on a nice patch of ground.  We did however have two bars in close proximity.  One of those bars as we were falling asleep was playing country music, and although it’s not our choice of music, it was certainly nice to fall asleep to.  At 3am at which time I can only imagine the bar owner was finally clearing up, I was jolted awake by the sound of smashing glass as he was disposing of his empty beer bottles in the recycling bin while talking noisily to his sidekick at the same time.  My next reawakening was at 4am when I presume on a Sunday morning most people are tucked up in their beds…….but no, not here.  Cars coming out of driveways, noise from the main road….I’m beginning to wonder if these people ever go to sleep.  Dozed off again and woke for the final time at 6.20am along with Ju who had managed to sleep through the sound of breaking glass and noisy neighbours and had a cup of tea before packing up the tent and hitting the road an hour later. 

Started off on the cycle track along the suburban streets of Melbystrand which led us to a forested area after about five minutes.  We pedalled along a wonderful straight, smooth, flat road in the shade – couldn’t have asked for anything better as it was already starting to get warm.  After a few kms the nice smooth surface went to hardpacked dirt and gravel, still a pleasure to cycle on though.  The road turned to a track and it was here we met two German bikepackers going the other way.  They were on their way to Halmstad as we were and said they thought this was the wrong way.   We said no, we needed to go this way to get across the river and invited them to follow us.  We proceeded to lead them along the track which further deteriorated to a point where we had to push our laden bikes uphill through sand.  Great, not only were we lost but we’d taken two other hapless souls down with us and besmirched the NZ name.  Tried to pass ourselves off as Australians but one of the guys used to date Kiwi skier Claudia Rigler for fifteen years and knew the difference.  Luckily our perseverance paid off and the track got better and then joined up with the track we were all supposed to have taken in the first place.  It was a lovely ride in the end through the forest and then it turned to deserted roads and the four of us cycled along at a good rate of knots.

A selection of the beautiful churches we saw today

At 8.30am we farewelled our German companions and stopped at a school (closed as it is Sunday), and ate breakfast on a shaded bench while our sodden flysheet dried on a sunny patch of concrete.  Packed up and headed to Halmstad which we reached at 10am, hoping to utilise the Maccas power supply as our computer needed charging.  Ordered a couple of Frappes but found there were no plugs at this Maccas – drats!  Did make use of their Wifi however and had enough power to upload the blog for the previous two days.  Then we visited the Tourist Bureau and purchased a map to figure out where we were going to go next.  Not that it did us much good as we proceeded to get lost trying to get out of town for the next 45 mins!  Extremely frustrating, especially in such intense heat.  We know what you’re thinking…..can’t even read a map.  However, what you need to realise is that when following signs that suddenly run out and trying to relate that to a map is really frustrating.

Halmstad

Finally took what was initially, a very busy main road, minus the cycle track.  Luckily a few kms down the road a cycle track appeared and it was great and we were really able to clock up some miles which we needed to do.  We realise we have quite a bit of cycling to cover in the three weeks left to us.

The beach at Steninge

Stopped for a cool off at the seaside town of Steninge.  Beautiful looking beach if you didn’t go and inspect the water too closely!  We ignored the fact you couldn’t see the bottom and felt the odd squishy thing under your feet or brush past you (kelp?  Jellyfish?  We didn’t know and didn’t want to know!).  The water was very warm and a sign read that it was 21°C and we can believe it.  Apparently Sweden gets one week of hot weather a year although judging by the tans you would swear they got a lot of hot weather.  They sure are sun worshippers and don’t seem to worry about the risk of cancer from sun or smoking.  So many smokers we can’t believe it – especially the youngsters. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent on roads, no cycle tracks and encountering a number of hills.  The scenery changed as well with a lot of forest and farmland and definitely getting greener.  We were really starting to tire as we neared Falkenberg so were hugely relieved when the last 8km was on cycle track

Definitely getting greener

through forest with a nice smooth surface and flat all the way.  Once in town it was straight to the beach for probably our best swim in Sweden.  The water was pretty clear, a sandy bottom and once again, really warm.  We went out deeper than everyone else in an effort to find really cold water, which did work.  Thoroughly cooled down, next priority was to find a campground, which wasn’t difficult as it was right by the beach.  It was absolutely chocca block and very extensive and the thought of staying in that human mass was not appealing.  But we needed to charge the computer so went and asked the price.  390 kroner we were told – that’s the equivalent of $80NZ.  So we turned around and cycled fifteen minutes up the road to MacDonalds and ordered a big mac combo each for 130kr for the two of us and plugged the computer in while we ate and wrote the blog.  So here we currently sit, filling in time while the computer charges.  We are currently at 40% but have a McFlurry each to see to so might get to 50% by the time we finish that!

Left Macca’s at 9pm after two hours of charging the computer and guessed our direction on a road that looked appealing.  

Another lovely church in the dying light of a beautiful day

Kept an eye out for a freecamp but couldn’t find one so ended up at a campground after a very nice, cool, traffic free ride in the right direction for once!  They charged us 237 kroner for the night (just under $50 NZ) and we pitched tent while the sun went down in a glorious blaze of colour.  Their sunsets seem to last longer and it is obvious that the sun does not dip too low below the horizon before it comes up again as the nights are never pitch black. 

Another sensational sunset

 This campground was not quite as plush as we’re used to (Denmark seems to rule in this area), but perfectly adequate.  The big bonus was the grass was lush and green and the camp, although busy, was not overcrowded and was very quiet and we both enjoyed a great nights sleep.