118.76km in 6hr24min. Sunny sunny but headwind
Averaging 18.5kmph, max 51
Chef Colby cooks up a storm in her new favourite kitchen: muesli porridge with apple and yoghurt.
We provide much interest to fellow breakfasters who are starting this fine day with cooked breakie and beers.
Hit "Cykelsparet"* offical Swedish bike route, as ever the obligatory meander out of town, this time avoiding the E4.
30km of lovely smooth tarmac through the Swedish countryside, enjoying the sunshine, not so much the headwind but making good time.
Coffee and cake then continue on Cykelsparet and turn off onto a Swedish country lane....ie no road surface just grit, gravel no rubble countless pot holes. Alice and Phillipa return to their mountain bike days and zip along at a staggering speed. I forget I am cycling a steel tank and return to days of riding a fragile road bike and try to dart in between pot holes. All this lunging side to side on a fully loaded bike puts my knees into protest.
The track continues for 30km until I sob joyfully at the return of tarmac. Sadly my right knee is not as forgiving and refuses to allow any force through without excrociating agony.
So cycling a a pace fit for snail olympics we continue to Ranea. Which looks to me on the map like a lovely riverside town, and on this lovely summers day I have visions of Richmond on Thames. And as I cycle along half my normal speed through gritted teeth my mind fixes on an ice cream at the riviera.
Of course Ranea turns out to be a small town with a roadside supermarket. Despite this I insist that there will be a picturesque riverside cafe affair "around the corner"... There is not.
Such is the disappointment of Ranea we press on to Luleå. Decrepid intrepid. I experience my most misearble cycling experince- on the up hill approach to Luleå (which I am slowly struggling up) we are overtaken by a roller skier.
Luleå is quite the metropolis. It also lacks public maps. Exhausted, ill and hungry, Alice trawls us around the streets looking for McDonalds. We give up and find the only open resturant, why do the Scandinavians have dinner so early?
We give up on finding the campsite and head to "Quality Hotel" for a quality night's sleep.
*Cykelsparet, along with Sverigeleden, are the national Swedish bike paths we are following throughout the north of Sweden. We have an A4 booklet of both of the routes, both with a lovely yellow cover. They are written complety in Swedish, give distances in Swedish miles (1=10km), and follow a scenic windy route. They also lack any close up maps of city centres. A bargain at £35 a piece.
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