Day 24 - Saturday 14th August - Soderbacke to Nora

Distance covered 88km in 4 hours
average 21kmph

I awake after a restless night in the wild, camped on the hinterlands between the edge of an empty road and the edge of a dark forest, unsure as to which is more comforting or forbidding. Feet in the forest, hands clinging to the edge of our trusted road. Up we get, transforming from beast to woman, and onto our bikes, the very pinnacle of human evolution. Fog enshrouds us, a carpet of cotton wall has fallen, muffling all sounds. Dead silence surrounds and we press on, into the unknown. The morning fog is clammy, it sticks to my skin, not just a visual disturbance but a physical one also, clinging to my glasses, rendering them useless. I take them off, we can't see further than a few feet anyway, the distance is white, horizon and destination unknown. I would guess that, as ever, there are pines to our right, and a lake to our left. This is Sweden after all!

After around 25km we stop for second breakfast, and 'brew' our own coffee by the lakeside. Still no cafes, to coffeestop Colby's sadness. The fog gradually lifts and we enjoy another sunny ride through, you guessed it, pine forests and lakesides. The hills are evening out and we manage to enjoy some good and fast peloton time, maintaining a good speed. We are taken by brother Sverigeleden bike path onto our worst 'road' yet, a sand and gravel monstrosity, making uphills virtually impossible and downhills somewhat dangerous, what with the slipping around on the sand! We complete the 20km section and roll downhill into Stora. Still no cafe and we enjoy some coke outside our favourite supermarket ICA. Alas Ive bought fizzy water by accident and our refilled bike bottles are spurting a refreshing sprinkler system over our legs as we enjoy our final 30km into the idyllic town of Nora, a destination we have been excited about for weeks, due to its hostel which is housed in a disused train!

Alas we once again have poor timing, Nora is today hosting the world powerboat championships and the tranquil lake is being ripped up by some noisy monsters whilst fat bikers look on and coo appreciatively. booooooo to the engines. Therefore the hostel is booked up and we go to one of the towns two campsites. The other campsite is marked as 'naturist' and unsure as to whether this means full of nature or full of naked people we decided not to check it out. Despite being marked on Sverigeleden map and on the actual tourist building as a stamping point for the cycle route, the woman in the Tourist Byra has never heard of our dear Sverigeleden route, and cant/wont sell us a map to continue our journey on its wending way. So we are back to our concise road map of Europe and will be going it alone on the roads tomorrow! Probably we will find this a lot faster than turning left and right every 500 metres as Sverigeleden wants to show us yet another lovely church.

We take a lovely dip in the lake, which is sadly not salty, but enjoyable all the same. We trot into town for a well deserved coffee and ice cream and I then once again crash after all the sugar. After some water and a nice shady sit down we shower and hit the town. Yet another Greek restaurant serving Turkish food and beer (?!) and we are beginning to wonder if its actual a turkish restaurant with a facade which perhaps appeals more to the Swedes? Most strange. Delicious plates of multiple unknown meats and carbs and we return to camp, for another ice cream. Wanting to experience some Swedish cuisine, I opt for a licorice ice cream. Its of course, salty. Unlike the lake where we sit and enjoy our dessert. There's a beautiful sunset, so perfect that after taking a picture of it, I have to delete it, because its so pink it looks like a stock screen saver and is unbearably tacky. I instead opt to take a photo of Philippa taking a photo of the sunset, which you can see in the screen of her camera. Much happier with this self referential shot, we retire to tents and sleep.