After crossing over to Stromstad , Sweden from Sandjeford, our big bicycle traverse of this enormous country began. Possibly the hardest bit was avoiding the mosquitoes! Our initial destination was Trollhättan. Famed as the ex-home of Saab, some canals and a hydro scheme but more importantly the rendezvous point agreed with Sascha who will meet us there, making his own way from Oslo.

Avoiding a rushed start, we took the afternoon ferry from Sandjeford, giving us time to renew our shoes and other shopping before departure. The ferry is amazingly cheap, only 100nok for 4 of us plus 160 for the bikes for a two and a half hour crossing. I think they make all of their money with the duty-free shop on board. We arrived in Stromstad after the camping site’s reception was closed and it was quite the unnecessary palava with no reservation.

Day 1

From the lovely campsite atop a rocky outcrop we cycled 47km (500m of ascent) to Knaverstad, with a stop to checkout some of the bronze age stone etchings. The exit from Stromstad followed some fairly hairy and busy roads but eventually we were able to turn east, picking up more rural and gravel tracks.

We wild camped at the local lake beach following advice from the local shop owner who was very kind. Stocked up on victuals we headed with light hearts to our first wild camp.

There were a number of families with young kids on the beach, it was very pleasant and the water was just lovely. People were super friendly and we had a good chat with one guy in particular.

Day 2

From Knaverstad, we continue east. It is a lot of forest, many lakes, modest hills, gravel roads. There are many country cottages along the way, usually around the lakes, but they appear to be uninhabited at the moment. With cottages everywhere, I guess that every Swede must have a holiday home.

Besides the need to be heading in the right general direction, we choose our route to avoid large roads, avoid large hills, but also to hit a grocery store at least once a day (they are few and far between in these rural areas). On top of that it needs to have a high probability of finding a place to camp. Any deviation from these criteria brings grumbles.

Given the forested nature of this region, there aren’t any official campsites here and we rely on “wild” camping. You are allowed to camp (overnight) pretty much anywhere in Sweden provided that you don’t disturb the natives. That said, the terrain is not conducive to placing a tent in the wild and we target swimming points, boat ramps, and churchyards. These have the benefit of water nearby and usually a grassy area. If we’re lucky, there is also a picnic bench. Sometimes toilets.

Today’s route takes us a total of 56km, first to Färgelanda for supplies and then a little south, checking out the local church yard (not bad) and then finally on to Ellenö Badplats which is perfect. There are some grumbles that we will need to backtrack 4km up hill in the morning but c’est la vie. And it’s not bad. We have been blessed with exceptionally warm sunny weather, we are all getting a good touch of the sun and the water is swimmable.

Day 3

Our aim is to make it to Trollhattan (or nearby) to rendezvous with Sascha who is arriving at 5pm by train from Oslo. From Ellenö, we backtrack 4km up hill to pickup our route. The up hill that looked daunting with tired the previous evening legs is nothing for our fresh morning legs and there is no grumbling.

As we will be descending out of the foresty hills, the map promises some good downhills. Not all promises are fulfilled.

It’s pretty smooth and we sail into Vargön Hostel and Camping (highly recommended) in good time and Sascha rocks up very shortly afterwards. He has been surviving on BaconOst in a tube for several days and practically no sleep (the end of school celebrations, Norwegian national day celebrations, and school reunion after one day celebrations have taken their toll), so we cook up a salmon poki feast and all is well.

Day 4

This hostel was so pleasant we decided to stay an extra night and explore the Hunneberg area by foot. An area of extraordinary geographical features, a volcanic cap of rock which has resulted in a hilly landscape interspersed with impressive water falls amongst the lakes and forests.