Day Seven - Tingsryd to Hässleholm (74mi)
This was the last day of riding with Allison, and the day started off with some tears as we had a coffee before leaving Tingsryd. It was such a fun time visiting here, staying in the cozy cabin, and exploring her roots. The gravity of her heading home, and me pushing on for several more weeks really set in. Alas, we decided to focus on this last day and enjoy the time!
It was a cold, windy day, with temps in the low 50’s. There was no rain in the forecast, but that didn’t stop it from happening around 18 miles into the ride!
We took refuge under a canopy of trees, but still managed to get soaked pretty thoroughly. The break also allowed us to huddle and finish off a package of prosciutto, which was delicious!
A large portion of the day was on beautiful gravel roads in the forest. With the rain, it made the bikes a bit messy, but we were having good time!
The first half of the route, still in Småland, was forested with mixed forest floors of moss and ferns. We passed through lakes, nature preserves, and saw several hare darting around.
One thing we observed about Sweden is how well managed the forests seem to be. There is cutting and piling of smaller shrub trees, and we saw these labeled for us as bio-waste. We also saw a bio-waste plant near Linköping. Today we came upon a logging truck piling timber on a truck. He was taking up the entire dirt road, so we had to carefully navigate around him as he was working. It was impressive how well he could operate the arm of this truck, full of massive logs!
He also invoked a bit of creative character on the front of his truck.
You will also notice the 4 Bosch lights on the front of the truck. Many vehicles in Sweden have extra lights like these, presumably because of the long, dark winters here. I imagine when it’s dark, is DARK!
Speaking of darkness, these mugs were at the local grocery store in a small town along the route. So cool!
This was the store, a common chain in Europe. We stopped for a short break and a snack at this one in Knislinge.
It was right near this town where we started seeing so many cyclists. I talked with a group of three Danish gentlemen who were on a weekend bikepacking trip. They were equipped with carbon bikes and all the frame bags, similar to my set up. I missed getting a photo.
This is also where the landscape started to change to more like prairie farmland. We stumbled upon these beautiful highland cows, and talked to them until one talked back at us loudly and started shuffling its feet!
The hair over their eyes protects them from wind, bugs, and infections, a genetic adaptation from living in exposed conditions most typically in the Scottish highlands. They were impressive to see so closely!
After this encounter with the cows, we hit the pavement again and saw signs for moose and wild boar! It would have been amazing to see a boar, but we didn’t.
The rest of the ride meandered on bike paths and some beautiful side roads into Hässleholm.
When we rolled into town it was eerily quiet for a Friday night. It started raining, so we settled into the hotel lounge for a few drinks and then dinner. As we were going up to our room, a large entourage of rock and roll musicians was checking in. There was a guy who looked like Kirk Hammett from Metallica, but he was balding too much on the front, and still had an impressive mane flowing off the back. He oozed the essence of metal!
Another amazing day on the bike with Allison before I push off solo for Poland. My heart is super heavy, and emotions running high.