Thursday, June 21, 2012

Sweden sweet Sweden




So we’ve been on our bikes for the last two days heading from Gnasta to Jonkoping and it’s been the most fun I’ve ever had. I don’t think we ever want to leave. On Sunday (6/17/12) we left Rob and his wife after they cooked us some amazing Swedish pancakes and then we hopped on a train for an hour and a half. Chris missed the connection even though he was right next to us, which gave  Josh and I an hour to explore Gnasta. It’s a small town with an amazing church on a lake. We eventually met back up with Chris and started on the real first part of the trip.
                                                     Maybe kungsangen means hoes.
                                                                     

After Chris caught up and we got on our bikes things got a little sour for a bit. Chris got a new Gps and it lead us on a cool little route ended on a horse trail. It was also raining so the trail was muddy and full of rocks. Not good for riding heavy bikes on. After a hour we finally got onto a good paved road. The rest of day was up and down hills while being surrounded by farms and forest. Skies full of clouds and rain, but we didn’t care. We stopped every hour or so to snack on crackers or bread along with whatever we got from the store that morning, enjoying the view. Nothing could have taken down our spirits. I’m sure there are areas of Washington that look just like the land we went through, but it just felt better doing it here. We eventually rolled into this small town and looked for a place to camp. This won’t sound to appealing to most of you, but we found a patch of woods about 100 feet from some apartments and set up camp there, in clear view of anyone walking on the trail 30 feet south of us. While setting up we also noticed the train tracks on the other side of the trail with trains constantly going over them. We didn’t care though.  It was our patch of land for the night and with the long day of riding we just had, sleep was the only thing we cared about.


On day two we stopped at the local grocery store for some more bread and snacks then headed off. It was mostly forest and some more hills. We would stop throughout the day for pictures and snacks then get back on the road. We went down this huge hill and Chris told us that we would be getting to a bridge soon. When we got to the bottom of the hill we all suddenly stop. No bridge. We might have yelled at Chris a little. We look around and across the water is a small odd ferry. Next to us is a cool little café that I went into for some information. Luckily everyone in Sweden speaks English.  The lady told me that the ferry came in 20 minutes and free! So I ordered 3 deserts from her and sat down with Chris and Josh for a treat with a view of the lake and some islands with little houses on them.



 When we got on the ferry the sun came out and the whole lake came into view. Beautiful is all I can really say.  When we got to the other side we were scared we would have to climb some more hills, but it became flat and full of farm fields. Sometimes you could find little sheds built into the hills like hobbit houses. We kept on riding till we hit a decent sized town and stopped for burgers and pizza.  We are now camped about 2 miles out of that town in the rain. Stinky and sweaty in some woods we stumbled on. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to play the game!

Ps. All women in Sweden are hot.






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