What’s been happening?

Yes, this blog has again been pretty much in recess for the rest of 2018 and all of 2019. But a summary of all of 2018 can be found here and for all of 2019 here.

7 Sep 2018

“Forty thousand sons of the city gave their lives for you”

6 Sep 2018

27 Aug 2018

Left Kalmar for Stockholm on the Saturday, and overnighted at this quiet highway stop about 50 kms north.

All day drive yesterday, Sunday, to get to our Stockholm digs last night, this being our view from the bedroom window this morning.

First task of the day today was to choose which of Stockholm’s 86 museums to visit.

25 Aug 2018

Kalmar, on the mainland opposite Öland, occupies an important part of Nordic and Baltic history, with fortifications here going back over a thousand years. The castle fell into disuse in the 17th century and was restored in the 19th.

At the time of our visit an exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci’s works and art was on show. In the foreground are replicas of two motorised vehicles that he designed, 500 years ago!

It’s also a popular place for weddings.

24 Aug 2018

Excellent campsite at Saxnas, Öland.

And so the sun sets today on another highly enjoyable international rally of the UK Tandem Club. This was our third, with previous ones being in Gouarec, Brittany, France and Chaam, Netherlands (as well as quite a number of rallies within the UK). Although somewhat smaller (only about 90 people compared with about 350 at Chaam!) the scenery and quiet roads of Öland (pron. err-land) made for some wonderful rides with many old and new tandem friends.

We were hugely grateful to the small US manufacturer of our tandem, Bike Friday in Eugene Oregon, for the brilliant turnaround of the frame repair job without which we couldn’t have attended (see post for August 11). In all we covered the best part of 300kms during the week, all on the tandem with the exception of a day on our new Bike Friday New World Tourist Silk singles which are proving to the the perfect motorhome-based bicycles; make that perfect sports touring bikes, period.

25 Aug 2018

Shots from the week: Relaxing lunch spot...

...rustic windmill in remote part of the island...and boat at Bläsinge harbour on the Baltic Sea-facing eastern shore of Öland.

25 Aug 2018

Jill and Stephen on their new Rohloff-equipped Orbit tandem.

American tandemists-surpreme, Sandy and Dennis from Florida, who cycled the Danube and Rhine on the way here. (Easy for them, having done the TransAmerica ride some years ago!)

...and yours truly on our beloved BF classic. (Note to selves; must get more adventurous matching tops!)

17 Aug 2018

The Swedes appreciate cycling. To demonstrate it, compare the size of the cycle path with the road!

On the highways, though, motorhomes at this time of year just about out-number cars.

Next overnight stop was at a historic Baltic town, Karlshamn. (Free 24 hour parking for motorhomes.)

16 Aug 2018

On disembarking we found the popular resorts around the southern coast of Sweden were swamped with motorhomes, and it took a while to find this nice little spot.

Just down the road was the historic little hamlet of Gislövshammar, with 4,500 years of history (see next shot).

14 Aug 2018

A long day’s drive today to get to the Rostock to Trelleborg ferry. This covered the ground that we had originally anticipated would take three leisurely weeks or so, calling in to see relatives and friends in the Netherlands and Germany. But we hadn’t planned for the extra time it took to electrify the bikes, fix the tandem frame and sort out the fridge problem in the van. Not complaining though, it’s easy to take a rest break when you travel with your bedroom and kitchen all set up in the vehicle!

14 Aug 2018

Nice to be under decks, out of the salt spray. The orange sign on the windscreen says “Take care. Your vehicle is large and could hit something so please do not start moving until instructed by our crew.”

They were clearly a bit worried we’d head straight forward to hit the black and yellow striped beam. As it turned out, by the time we reversed around, we were the last vehicle off.

Another nice crossing, comfortable cabin, and although inside, nice to see the sunrise from the bow camera as we approached the Hook of Holland.

13 Aug 2018

Queuing at Harwich to board Stena Line Hollandica for Hook of Holland, departing at 11pm.

It's a pleasant eight hour crossing that we've done before. Looking forward to a good night's sleep in our cabin...

The plan is to head for Rostock and catch the ferry to Trelleborg in southern Sweden, maybe even tomorrow (Tuesday) evening. We’ll see...

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