Day Two - Nyköping to Linköping (72mi)
I’ve never experienced Sweden so close to Mid-Summer. I briefly woke up at around 3am to go to the restroom and it was already light outside. It was still light at 10:30pm when I went to bed. Good thing for eye shades to sleep in. Because of this, I got a great night of sleep.
Getting sorted for departure in the morning was much simpler as the luggage was now gone and it was possible to just focus on getting coffee, breakfast, and packing up only the things being carried on the bikes. In short order we were on the bikes, in beautiful weather again.
Sweden has some of the most beautiful and friendly horses I have ever seen. This one walked up to us from across the field to say hi as we stopped to admire her beauty.
It was a nice tailwind on a section of highway, as can be seen by the grass bent over gently.
There are so many red cottages and homes on the countryside of Sweden. This one had an interesting sign so I stopped to take a photo.
About 30 miles into the ride we were needing a snack and some caffeine for jet lag, and stumbled upon the perfect spot. They clearly had a coffee mug club, and they were on proud display right at the entrance.
Subtle signs of metal music seem to be everywhere. I even found them on these mugs at the coffee club!
The lunch was top notch at this place. You could tell this was a destination spot overlooking the water outside of Norrköping. I got the cod with a dill cream sauce and a chocolate ball.
The environs of the lunch spot were full of flowers.
After lunch we passed through Norrköping and were promptly treated to even more flowering vistas! You could see and smell this batch a mile away. Allison was in heaven, and had pollen all over her nose when we carried on.
The next several miles took us off the pavement, through farm fields, forests, and summer homes. Riding through this landscape brought frequent changes from pristine farm land, to dense forest with scree floors in the space of meters. It truly is an amazingly mixed landscape, all very well taken care of.
Closer to the end of the ride there was the Göta Kanal, where we stopped at the loch and had ice cream and coffee as we checked out the ship and scenery nearby.
All said, we covered 72 miles of ground on another gorgeous day in Sweden. All the prep for the trip is starting to show. I’m feeling really strong on the bike, and all the technology, route planning, and gear planning decisions are working out well. Thanks for reading. Tomorrow it’s off to Jönkoping. For those who are curious, in Swedish the letter k is an “sh” sound. Pronouncing all of these city names is hard, and the locals listen to me say them with a smirk on their faces. They are too polite to correct anyone. More tomorrow!