Join us on a Swedish adventure where a sleepless night, kept awake by a “roaring deer” (my snoring husband), leads to an early morning encounter with a real deer and the magical short summer nights of Sweden. We cross picturesque bridges, cycle through naturally regenerating forests, and enjoy stunning views.
Our journey takes an unexpected turn with a heartfelt moment trying to save a small bird and ends with us seeking shelter from a sudden downpour in Kalmar. Despite the rain and a series of misleading addresses, we finally find our charming red and white “stuga” and are welcomed by a curious pony.
Experience the beauty of Sweden, the joys and challenges of bikepacking, and the unforgettable moments that make this trip so special.
[Music] I didn’t sleep well because I was kept awake all night by a roaring deer beside me for clarity this is a euphemism for a snoring husband the upside of such a short night is that I got to experience firsthand that the knes in Sweden are indeed particularly short by halfast 2 in the morning it was already lied out around the same time I was able to spot a deer near the Hut and what was as essentially broad daylight though I desperately wanted to fall asleep I somehow prefer to stay awake how wonderful it is to sleep under the open stars and become a part of the nocturnal animal life in Sweden that you would otherwise never see if I were wearing a yellow dress a blue blues and a red hair ribbon instead of my sexy thermal underwear I could almost believe I was Snow White but by halfast 7 one of my seven dwarves is also awake coincidentally it’s my favorite dwarf as always he immediately prepares to boil water for our coffee I forgive him for his snoring in an instant we crossed the river where we camped via a picturesque Bridge we skip a Viewpoint just past our campsite convinced it couldn’t be more beautiful than the spot where we enjoyed the sunset the evening before [Music] [Music] B [Music] [Music] after a little less than 2 hours of cycling we take our first break at a spot where young trees are regrowing after relatively recent logging it seems that in Sweden they don’t always replant trees manually after logging as is often the case in Belgium to result in our Belgian ardans are forests with trees standing in straight lines behind and next to each other and and although I am fond of our a Dan this is something that sometimes bothers me it feels somewhat artificial and unnatural but here in Sweden they use a different technique in technical jargon this is called natural regeneration where nature is left with its own devices to recover and as far as I can see here it’s working quite well [Music] the low trees cast only small Shadows which is ideal since the temperatures barely climb above 15° celus but where the trees don’t cast Shadows the clouds do so our Goosebump covered bodies are quickly forced back onto our [Music] bikes suddenly it seems as if someone has thrown a stone with brw Force against the GoPro on my handlebars but I quickly realized it must have been something else I search the roadside for the stone that was deflected but I find a small bird lying on its back I pick it up carefully but fear that all help is too late my heart breaks I try to listen for its heartbeat but hear nothing gently I press my fingers on its chest hoping the bird will come back to life but nothing happens with a happy heart I place the bird in a nice spot under a tree still quietly hoping that it will miraculously come back to life when we leave [Music] [Music] look all [Music] [Music] in the city of yungi home we cycle through the village for a while and there’s a reason for that we saw on our route that will soon reach the east coast of Sweden in kalmar about 20 km away after that we’ll turn back to complete our Loop and on that U-turn we’ll pass through the same Village again distance-wise it would be ideal to spend the night here later so we take a moment to inspect the bivwak options along a stream near the village we have to cross a meadow with a few cows and then find the perfect spot for later we take the opportunity to have our lunch here as well yesterday’s freshly baked bread is sliced and immediately awarded five Michelin [Music] stars via a straight paved bike path that used to be a railway track we smoothly reached the easternmost point of our route GMA at first glance the city doesn’t appeal to us much until we reach the Old Town a beautiful imposing castle by the Sea surprises us with its [Music] beauty we are also surprised by the heavens opening up all of a sudden completely soaked we run to the covered Terrace of a cafe where two peso heaters are promptly turned on for us by the owner we drink something warm and then indulge in a beer and a glass of wine or maybe two because the rain clouds don’t seem to be leaving anytime soon camping outside no longer seems an option in this weather so we book a super last minute Airbnb about 15 km from kalmar when the rain lands up a bit we start our final kilomet once we arrive at the address we found in the airbn there is notification cage to be found upon closer inspection Google Maps suddenly shows a different address 5 km further we cycle that way but are left empty-handed again it turns out that the app had a wrong address and we have to bike another 20 minutes the rainclouds laugh at our Misfortune their tears falling on us like a deluge completely soaked with 100 kilm on the odometer we finally find the right vacation [Music] Cottage we sleep in a typical Swedish tuba a super small Vacation House in red and white colors despite the rain it looks particularly idelic especially with the sweet bony peeking its head through the fence to see who its new neighbors are [Music]
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Mooi 🤩