Day 26 - Monday: Karlskoga to Skövde...Phillipa

140.4km
Avg 24kmph

Awaking bleary eyed, after few hours sleep due to intensive art blogging, we head out into sunshine and blustery winds with a vague idea of making it to Falkoping, some 170km away. The countryside has changed from dairy farms to fields of oats and wheat, interspersed with the occasional wind farm!! Ticking along nicely, Hazel narrowly avoids a head on collision with the bucket of a farmer's tractor who gives way to us at a crossing as she smiles, waves and bats her eyelids as she wizzes past at the front of the peloton. And then.... we cross paths with another peloton!!! It does appear to possibly be a division of the girl guides group we observed earlier, with She-wolf and Daddy-bear keeping a close eye on the cubs... they do seem suitably impressed with us, much to our delight!
We reach the town of Gullspang after 50km and no break....sadly its still too early for coffee shops (honestly, who doesn't need coffee before 11!!) so we head out of town with our thermos and make a picnic - lovely!
There are a few hills en route but nothing too difficult, and our legs are starting to get a bit quicker and the gears a bit lower...we're maintaining good pace and Ali is beginning to plan her international cycling career....
We're also moving towards regular food breaks, rather than waiting til one of us crashes, and this seems to be working in our favour, as we've reached the town of Skövde, by 2:30pm!! However, the lack of sleep is starting to mess with our heads a bit and we decide to call it a day and find the hostel - we'll make up the 30km to Falkoping tomorrow. A quick trip to the Tourist bureau and hostel is sorted - we have a quick bite to eat and cup of tea then head out to do a shop, new supermarket - Willy's - but I'm too tired to get excited...the girls get into it though and can quite believe the size of the sausages in Sweden....dinner is wonderful - baked potatoes with mince and vegetables, and a kilo of peas on the side!!! I'm falling asleep at the table, and after a few laughs over Hazel and Ali's "Chirpy chirpy" dance-off, we have a new singing peloton favourite and are more than ready for bed - lights are out well before 10pm much to my delight!