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Leaving Leafy Sweden

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And so we come to the end of the fields, forests, fells, fjords and farmhouses of our Swedish journey. Archetypal rural Swedish scene We’re now on a ferry between Stockholm and Turku in Finland, having spent the last 16 days wending our way slowly around from Malmo to the southern coast and then up the eastern coast to Stockholm, arriving today. I’ve just totalled up and see we’ve covered a total of 996km (we’ll use Swedish rounding to say it’s 1,000km, OK?) and have seen a lot of scenery. It’s been a journey through rural landscapes, with some coasts and lakes thrown in. And hills. We came here expecting fairly flat landscapes, but it’s turned out to be surprisingly hilly. Not big hills, but lots of little ones, which rather spoils the two main benefits of climbing hills: panoramic views and long, fast descents down the other side.  Our route had provided us with a lot of greenery in the form of fields (especially wheat) and forests - both coniferous and broadleaf. And lots of cha...

Wending Our Way Through Windy Southern Sweden

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After six days of cycling, we’re properly underway and starting to get into the rhythm of life on the road. From Malmo, we’ve gone around the southern coast of Sweden and we’re now slowly heading up the eastern coast towards Stockholm.  Biking out of Malmo on the first day, we were passing through undulating rural farming land. Much was with a tail wind and we were breezing along at a good clip. We took a cross-country route to the southern coast with a lunch stop once we’d reached a little port. There, we were approached by Kenneth, a journalist based in Uppsala, who was writing a magazine article on the cycling attractions of the area. He was intrigued by our story and took notes and photos - we may soon become famous. Tall poppy Our first night of camping at Ystad seems to have set the scene for our camping experience. We paid 365SEK (c. 63NZD) for a little tent site in a far-distance corner, bounded by a busy road, of a massive campground which catered almost exclusively for ca...

Bikes, Ferry and Many, Many Trains

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We’re finally underway on our European bike tour after around five weeks in the UK. Having based our trip around cycling, it’s been more than a month of family and friends. After walking the kids to school on Tuesday (10 June) morning, having a last coffee at ‘our’ local cafe (they already know our orders…), we packed our bags, loaded our bikes, got obligatory photos and set off from James and Tamara’s front door. The route from north London to Liverpool Street Train Station in central London - c. 15km - was surprisingly pleasant with cycle lanes, cycle paths and minor streets pretty much the whole way. There was the one jarringly steep hill (the clue was in the name - Upland Road) which reminded us what cycling with a laden bike is all about. Suited, booted and ready to ride The train journey from Liverpool Street to Harwich was equally straightforward, apart from the brief flurry of activity and stress transferring bikes from one platform to another at Maningtree, via lifts and stair...