Day Three - Linköping to Jonköping (84mi)
Straight-on headwind. All day long. Today was a crusher, mentally. From the beginning there was a wind directly into our faces, making for a very long day as we turned the pedals towards Lake Vättern.
Early on in the ride we came upon a small farm with ponies. There were so many adorable little creatures meandering around.
The area to the west of Linköping was clearly farming area, with loads of cool barns and beautiful fields of wheat, rapeseed, and wild flowers.
After passing through the town of Mjolby it became flat, reminding us of Iowa and the upper plains of the Midwestern U.S. Battling the headwind in this very exposed section, we saw what appeared to be a tractor pull. It wasn’t clear exactly what was going on, but it involved massive farming equipment, tractors, and a bunch of people milling about off the road. Most importantly, it looked like there was a toilet and a food truck so we stopped. We used the bathroom (WC) and attempted to get food from the truck, but we learned it was a private event and were told to go to town for food.
What we learned was that we were nearing the town of Väderstad, where there is a massive farming equipment company of the same name: https://www.vaderstad.com/us-en/
They must have been showing customers some new equipment, not doing a Swedish tractor pull!
The town itself was small, and quite nice. There were a number of gift shops with high quality souvenirs.
The small restaurant in town was serving one of the nicest buffet lunches I have ever seen. There were Swedish meatballs, roasted veggies, and beet salad, to name a few. Sorry for the poor plate presentation in the photos. It was a buffet and I made a mess of the plating!
After lunch it was hours of pushing straight into the wind through fields as we approached Vättern.
The mental slog of it all was hard to process, turning pedals over on the paved road, endlessly wondering when there would be relief. Finally, the directions had us turning right onto a small gravel road, which turned into a grass path in the woods.
A nice lady with her dog assured us the path connected through. We meandered through an area full of cottages, feeling the temps drop, and then Lake Vättern appeared, with a cool wind smacking us in the face. The landscape turned a bit rocky and the riding got more interesting.
The terrain became rolling, with small bits of protection from the wind. In the open spots next to the lake we got blasted in the face with a strong 20mph wind. It was demoralizing. When we stopped for a beer and some food it started raining a little bit.
The saga continued on and on. Eventually we stopped at the most technologically advanced gas station we have ever seen. Half of the space was dedicated to car chargers, the bathroom had sounds of nature and aromatherapy, and there were tasty hot dogs and salads in a lounge area. Amazing!
After a small break there we kept riding, and climbed through an area away from the lake where there were horses and beautiful vistas.
In the end, we finally arrived in Jonköping after 8pm, mentally thrashed from a long day of pushing into a relentless headwind. There was little time for dinner, so we fueled up and went to bed. What a day.