I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill...

Hills and headwinds make you feel
Like you're cycling through porridge,
But tiny, tasty, wild berries
Are super things to forage!

Days 43 - 49   Distance 435 km

Kalmar - Copenhagen

Unlike their oversized and somewhat tasteless GM cousins we are so used to buying nowadays, the wild blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and cherry's we have been picking throughout Sweden may be small, but they are bursting with flavour and goodness!

And they kept our spirits up during a too-long week of wild camping. As always, if the weather had been on our side it would have been glorious - but the rain brings mozzies and confinement, the sun brings sweat and sunburn, and the cold winds and waters bring no joy to washing.

Also needing a mention - Steve snapped his chain! Luckily though we carry spares, and Mr Fixit can fix anything, anywhere...

Eventually, fully refreshed after a couple of nights in campsites where we managed to wash our entire wardrobe, we finally had "A Perfect Day!"

The wind was behind us, the roller coaster hills had flattened out, wild berries were abundant and we passed through unexpected scenery and castles...

We even had a mid-afternoon refreshing dip in the sea, and found a great spot to camp!

The tail-wind and the flat lands stayed with us all the way to Malmo, although we were on the edge of the Swedish heatwave and at times the sun was relentless. However, there was a festival going on just outside the campsite where we enjoyed beer and live music, and a great view of the bridge that connects Sweden and Denmark. This is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe.

Pedestrians and cyclists are not allowed across, so you have to take the train, and arriving in the middle of Copenhagen on a busy Saturday afternoon was somewhat of a culture shock for us!

Finding it impossible to navigate through the crowds and heat with the bikes loaded up, we decided to abort this city cycle tour and head out. We found a campsite about 20 km south of the city, where we are now sheltering from thunderstorms!

A good ticking off

Steve here...
I must reveal that this week's humorous little anecdote lies solely at my own expense. Whilst enjoying a glorious free campsite near the sea, with plenty of trees and general foliage, there lying in wait amongst the long grass...ticks!
Plenty of them seemed to be making their way up my legs, but, on bare legs they were easy to spot so I could brush the pesky things off. It wasn't until the next day camping, whilst undressing, I noticed some had made it all the way up attaching to leg, arm, armpit and yes, even two on me cojones!
(It's Spanish - look it up.)
Needless to say Rodney, aka Julia, got the job of removal. Her technique, whilst unorthodox, was effective...

So, to Spot the Dog. For sale in a pet emporium, this robot dog will answer to "fetch" in 27 different languages, is gender neutral so won't try and hump anything, and can be left at home when you are working without the worry of it chewing the furniture or barking all day. At least there is some good use for AI.

Moose or Elk?

I did a bit of research and now it's crystal clear;
A moose, an elk and a wapiti are all a type of deer.
Now, a wapiti's an elk if you're an Ameri-Indian,
But a moose is called an elk if you are northern European.
A moose and elk are different if you don't already know,
A moose is bull or cow, and an elk is buck or doe. 
The moose is huge with bulbous nose, an elk is far more slender,
And a moose has big flat antlers (if you spot a male gender). 

Days 35 - 42     Stockholm - Kalmar

Distance - 489 km   Total - 2256 km!!

So, it was a 25 km ride from Stockholm to the nearest Decathlon store as we had decided to finally replace the inner tubes Steve had destroyed way back in Poland. Just 200 meters from the store Steve got his next puncture! Well, he was way overdue and I consider ourselves very lucky!

Since then, there's been a lot of riding. Sweden is far bigger and more remote than it looks on the map, and we are becoming quite feral living in the wilds. We have found perfect places to camp...

And not so perfect ones...

Generally the weather has been better, although now I am sheltering in the tent writing this!
We criss-crossed paths with Lara for the best part of a week, who is on her way to Germany, and has now gone to explore the island of Oland, so good luck Lara!

We have passed numerous idyllic Hansel-and-Gretel type houses tucked away in the middle of nowhere..

And castles...

And of course, the Giant Garpe, who tried to persuade us to climb his mountain and see the other 80 works of art integrated into the landscape, but it was too steep, too late and we were too hungry!

We did think we'd splash out and treat ourselves to a little fried fish in one very upmarket boat mooring/keyside walkway we cycled through. We chose the very cheapest thing on the menu... and ended up with a glorified fish finger in a hot dog roll! I haven't quite calculated the amount of fish fingers you can buy in Iceland for a fiver yet, but I must say, this one WAS particularly tasty. After showing our appreciation for said fish finger, the chef just laughed at us, shrugged his shoulders and said it was meant for kids!

There's more to Sweden than Ikea and Abba, you know...

Steve here... After settling down for a quick spot of lunch in a nice shady churchyard, we found ourselves amongst a wedding ceremony. Couldn't quite work out if the arriving guests were convicts on day release, a bunch of farmers without a decent Volvo between them, or just the bride's family trying to save a few pounds. Either way it was an interesting entrance...

This week's STD... Oh,  sorry, can't use that...this week's Spot the Dog reminded me of the "nodding head" dogs people used to put on the parcel shelves of cars in the '70's and '80's.
Well, in Sweden their cars no longer have such things so they put them on the top of the dashboard. I don't remember them being quite so big, maybe they've grown with the size of the cars...

Islands NOt of the Caribbean...

Chilli and liquorice ice-cream...
Don't knock it 'til you try it,
We had to eat a whole tub -
It's the cheapest way to buy it!

DAYS - 30 -34      Distance 182 km

Pargas - Stockholm

With a total of about 15 hours of ferry rides we island hopped our way across this amazingly huge archipelago to Stockholm, and of course our dear friend The Rain accompanied us most of the way! The ferry ports are quite small here...

In the small town of Nagu - after sheltering for 2 hours in the supermarket from an absolute deluge - we managed to find some slightly higher, soggy-mossy-spongy ground to pitch the tent.
We thought Nagu was a small town until we turned up on the island of Kokar...really not a lot here...

The main island is Arland, and the 'capital' Mariehamn is a proper sized town. Arland is a home-ruled, Swedish speaking territory belonging to Finland. It's had its own flag since 1954 and joined the EU in 1995 although it still remains outside the EU tax union.
Here we found shelter in a restaurant run by Iranians, and wasted a few hours eating falafels before we could pitch the tent.

From here it's a 7 hour ferry ride to Stockholm, and quite mind-boggling how these numerous, huge ferries weave their way through this island labrynth.
We found a super spot to free camp in Stockholm, just a few kilometers from the city centre - with our very own tree protection!

We seem to have left the rain behind for now, and had a great bike city tour - especially as we hadn't realised the hour time difference so navigating the empty streets was easy!

Heading south now with more water-crossings zig zagging through the Swedish coastal countryside...

One Pot Wonders...

When Julia isn't riding her bike she loves to cook. Embracing local recipes, utensils, methods and costumes for each country. By necessity, one pot dishes have become her speciality. Although some of the equipment has proved challenging to carry on the bike, it's worth it!

Spot the Dog this week was discovered in an antique market in Finland, en-route to the amazing Arland archipelago.
This poor old boy was being sold on by it's owner. Obviously getting on a bit, this old timer is looking for a good home, apparently likes people and other dogs, and doesn't chase cats or bite postmen.
Especially if you are living in an apartment and work all day, he's the perfect choice!

Fairly Baltic on the Baltic...

The Baltic headwind is cold and fierce
You pedal as slow as a snail, 
And rain is bad...but NOT as bad
As marble-sized balls of HAIL!!

Days 26 - 29      Distance 263 km

Helsinki - Pargas

The further west we've pedalled the more beautiful the scenery. More and more lakes appear - as does something we haven't yet encountered...HILLS! 

It's been like a roller coaster ride, and I don't mean due to the weather. I mean it's been like a roller coaster ride - up and down and up and down - so add that to headwinds, rain, hail and exhaustion and you could say we haven't been able to enjoy the scenic beauty to it's full! I feel like we've climbed the combined heights of Latvia AND Estonia. Twice!

But we've had some special encounters. Jukka found us looking for a flat spot to pitch the tent one night and invited us to pitch up at his. A stunning place on the lake where he, his wife Rakel, and their four children live.

Three deer walked passed our tent in the morning.

We got talking to a local outside a supermarket and she directed us to a superb camp spot on a Lake where I even got a chance to swim!

We arrived in Turku, the oldest city in Finland and it's former capital, to a very party atmosphere. We then discovered there was a huge pop festival going on, so had to pedal on dreckly to the nearest available campsite and much needed hot shower - 25 km away!

It is a stunning spot, and en-route to catch ferries into the maze of islands that make up this incredible archipelago.

Hopefully the rain that is forecast will blow off to more needed parts of Europe!

Spot the bog...

Hello. Steve here...
I was grateful this week to the Estonians just before we left for Finland. This enlightening sign in a public lavatory was a big help towards my toilet etiquette.
Anyone out there now thinking they have been doing something wrong all their lives?

This week's easy winner in the Spot the Dog feature was this faithful guard dog spotted in a local department store near our hostel in Riga.
He sat there all night, unflinching and inscrutable. Not tempted with any tidbits offered, undeterred when I tapped on the glass. No wonder they never get broken into. Better than any alarm...and probably cheaper to install!

Tale of Two Cities...

Looking over at each other
Across the Baltic Sea,
One side sits enchanting Tallinn
The other - Helsinki!

Days 22 - 25     

Total Distance So Far - 1,253km

Tallinn and Helsinki

Tallinn truly is enchanting. A walled city with a very medieval feel, it is small enough to walk around and get lost in it's charms. Markets, food for every palate and stunning buildings - who wouldn't want to take a city break here?

A 3 hour ferry ride takes you across the Baltic Sea to Helsinki, which in comparison is very large and rather expensive! A lot of our city tour was spent sheltering from torrential rain, and looking at all the things we couldn't afford!

We are heading west tomorrow, and rain is forecast for the next 5 days, so wish us luck finding shelter - campsites are way out of our budget here!