Day 18 Ornskoldsvik to Docksta - Sunday 8th August - Ali

56.9km covered in 3hr 6min
average speed 18.3kmph
max 55.6kmph
odomoter reads 1570.8km

It's a slow start what with the three hour buffet breakfast and blogging to be caught up on. At 10.45 we slowly crawl away from the hotelbox perched on the motorwayside amongst supermarkets and edge of town furniture stores. Feeling very Sundayish we roll slowly down the hill into Ornskoldsvik, previously described to us as being "just like San Francisco". Since it is neither fabulously glamourously or gay, I can only assume that they were referring to the fact it is full of bloody hills. Although I immensely enjoy the descent, logic
always creeps in to remind me that with every downhill must come an up eventually! We are now on Sweden's "Huga Kusten" or High Coast. It's still not salty but ridiculously hilly. Not in the smooth rolling sense, but in the discrete round hill next to hill sense, as if cycling across a giant beach with millions of massive sandcastles plopped everywhere. Incredible descent followed by excruciating asent is the order of the day, often on sandy rubbly "roads" to avoid our arch nemesis/secret lover the E4 motorway. Before leaving SanFran of Sweden we decided to pump up our tyres properly at the petrol station. Eager to achieve the perfect pressure, I whack on the gauge and promptly blow up my tube! A tyre change later and it's midday, we slip into full granny gear and slog it up the hill out of town. We begin to behave like proper cycle tourists and trudge along chatting like grannies. Up hill and down dale and after ten miles the obligatory coffee stop in a charming little museum
staffed as ever, by old ladies. There's historical tableaux and I'm
in seventh heaven! We are once again engaged in conversation about our trip and after an hour we are back on the road, slowly progressing. After a bit of e4 action we decided that we are tired and will not make it the 150km to
Harnosand today. We decide to progress only 20 more miles to Docksta, as recommended by the lovely tourist information girl in LauraMarling/Nordmaling. Choosing a slow and safe 20 miles of Cykelsparet rather than e4, the Sunday ride is again interrupted by lunch break, for
once not on the motorwayside! We make it to Docksta and stock up at le supermarche whilst watching an enthusiastic local crowd cooing appreciatively as an old man throws shoes?! Some sort of variation on boules, I guess. Those Swedes! Hostel is a few km down the e4 but annoyingly the day ends on 996miles on my odometer! Leisure time is duly passed and we retire to bed, eager for an early start and long day.