From Goteborg, we caught the X2000 train, across a very long bridge between Malmo, in the south west of Sweden and Copenhagen in Denmark. Along the way, we passed an elegant windfarm of slender white windmills standing in the water. We arrived sometime in the afternoon, quickly found a cheap campground on the outskirts of the city, pitched our tent and headed back into the city for a quick look around.
For a capital city, Copenhagen is pretty small but it is very dense and exciting. It has countless cafes and restaurants, nice museums, parks scattered around, public pools in the harbour, lots of shopping if you feel so inclined and lovely streets leading to lively squares. What makes Copenhagen so remarkable though is the incredible network of cycle paths on more or less every single road in and out of the city. I have never felt so safe on a bike as here and it has made our experience really enjoyable, easy and hassle-free. One thing is certain, Sydney has a long way to go before it can claim to be a bike-friendly city.
Our time in Copenhagen could have been peaceful and lovely but of course, we had other ideas for our time here. Indeed, since boredom can be the mother of strange ideas, our time on the Trans-Mongolian was put to good use. Sitting in our cabin, thinking about the rest of our trip, we thought that it would be a bit sad to just catch a plane from Sweden back to Nice. Not feeling quite ready to be done, we wanted to savour the last moments and make them last. At the same time, we were both getting a bit sick of catching trains and buses and the result is what happens when you put two good but unstimulated brains together. We decided we would finish by bike...
Turning this idea into a reality is how we spent the last week. Riding crappy old bikes hired from the campground, we cycled around every inch of the city, going into as many bike stores as possible trying to find what would carry us home. It was quite an ordeal which required some patience and dedication but, today, one day before our grand departure, we are just about ready to go. We got ourselves some beautiful matching "His and Hers" bikes with a couple sets of Ortlieb panniers. A few other bits and pieces like shorts, gloves, helmets etc... In some respect, we are quite well set up and in others, we are improvising a little bit thinking that we can add things as we go and spread the cost a little bit.
In terms of itinerary, we have options but the idea is to follow the EuroVelo network from here to Nice through Germany, Switzerland, maybe Italy and France. Our exact route will change according to the progress we make, how we are feeling, what we want to see and so on. We are hoping that it will take somewhere between 6 weeks and 2 months, reaching Nice towards the end of September. We are really excited about seeing these countries the other way, experiencing the countryside as well as the cities and not relying on public transport. This has been a pretty incredible trip so far and this next chapter seems to us like a great way to finish, making the most of the next few weeks which will slip through our fingers like fine sand.
Wish us luck, we're going to need it! (well especially me trying to keep up with Chris...)
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Goteborg : Last stop in Sweden
After the hike, we got back on the train in Kiruna and went back the way we came. Once again, we managed to sleep a little and we made it back to our campground in Stockholm, bleary-eyed for one more day which we put aside for relaxation time before getting back on the road. It was our day of indulgence so we went for a swim at our beach, lazed around all day and for dinner, we had a special Swedish feast of Kortbullar (little meatballs), Gravlax and Aussie Rose wine. It was nice after a week of dining in the wild. The next morning, we packed up in amazement at how much we had been lugging around this whole time since we only took the bare minimum for the hike and had forgotten about all the other things we had. We made it back to the station with a little while to spare before hopping onto the train, in first class, to Goteborg, Sweden's second city.
Goteborg, pronounced something like Yoteborye, was packed to the rafters when we got there. As the host of the "Gothia World Cup", the whole city was swarming with teenagers from all over the world competing for their own trophy. On the tram, I chatted for a while with a few French players. They were about 12 years old and therefore, treated us with respect, called me Madame and thought that we must be amazing adventurers zigzagging across the world unhindered by our impossibly large backpacks. We had to cross the city a couple times before we could find a spare spot to pitch our tiny little tent but eventually set up in the backyard of a hostel close to the city centre.
We then spent a couple days walking around the city which is very pleasant, pretty compact and full of picturesque old streets, delicious looking bakeries, canals, lots of nice shady parks and as always in these parts, bikes everywhere.
On the second day, we caught a ferry and went to an island called Vrango, pronounced nothing like it looks, which was really beautiful. Most of the island is a Nature reserve and the whole foreshore is covered in big rocks which lead to secluded swimming spots. The water is perfectly still and the sky was blue. The tiny little town at the centre of the island, consisted of small white weatherboard houses with bright red roofs and white picket fences. The small harbour was full of sparkling white and blue sailing boats. It was pretty idyllic.
So after a couple weeks in Sweden, a good chunk of it spent in the Arctic circle, it was time to move on. We would have both liked to see a bit more and spend a little bit longer here but we knew all along that we wouldn't really be able to get too carried away in Scandinavia. Nevertheless, it was a really fantastic place to get a taste of and hopefully, we will be back and add Norway and Iceland to the mix. Potatoes and rice for the next couple years should make it feasible....
Goteborg, pronounced something like Yoteborye, was packed to the rafters when we got there. As the host of the "Gothia World Cup", the whole city was swarming with teenagers from all over the world competing for their own trophy. On the tram, I chatted for a while with a few French players. They were about 12 years old and therefore, treated us with respect, called me Madame and thought that we must be amazing adventurers zigzagging across the world unhindered by our impossibly large backpacks. We had to cross the city a couple times before we could find a spare spot to pitch our tiny little tent but eventually set up in the backyard of a hostel close to the city centre.
We then spent a couple days walking around the city which is very pleasant, pretty compact and full of picturesque old streets, delicious looking bakeries, canals, lots of nice shady parks and as always in these parts, bikes everywhere.
On the second day, we caught a ferry and went to an island called Vrango, pronounced nothing like it looks, which was really beautiful. Most of the island is a Nature reserve and the whole foreshore is covered in big rocks which lead to secluded swimming spots. The water is perfectly still and the sky was blue. The tiny little town at the centre of the island, consisted of small white weatherboard houses with bright red roofs and white picket fences. The small harbour was full of sparkling white and blue sailing boats. It was pretty idyllic.
So after a couple weeks in Sweden, a good chunk of it spent in the Arctic circle, it was time to move on. We would have both liked to see a bit more and spend a little bit longer here but we knew all along that we wouldn't really be able to get too carried away in Scandinavia. Nevertheless, it was a really fantastic place to get a taste of and hopefully, we will be back and add Norway and Iceland to the mix. Potatoes and rice for the next couple years should make it feasible....
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Hiking the Kings trail
The Kungsleden is often referred to as a "classic" hike and although I haven't done many, I would think that it deserves it's title. In a very remote area of Sweden, well within the Arctic circle, the King's trail is a 450km hike in a pristine area of wide valleys surrounded by mountains. The track either follows large lakes and rivers or crosses between mountains into different valleys. Although there is no such thing as perfectly flat, this hike does not involve great amounts of climbing or descending. There are huts every 15 or 20 km allowing for a less self-sufficient experience than we had. The track is very well maintained and marked making it easy to follow in any season. On foot in summer and skis in winter. It is not technically difficult but it is long (by the way, we only did the first section which is about 100km) and we chose to carry as much as possible which included all sleeping gear, cooking equipment and food. We didn't need to carry water as it is abundant all along. The only downsides are that it can be quite difficult to spend time outside the tent when not walking because the weather is either too cold and wet or if mild, the millions of mosquitoes are out to devour you in minutes. But more importantly, it is incredibly beautiful, untouched and wild. As a first multi-day hike, I couldn't imagine anything more perfect.
Crossing the Arctic circle on the train
The start of the Kungsleden at Abisko Turist Station
Stopping for lunch on the first day. We didn't know it yet but that would be the best weather we would get all week.
Passing a Sami settlement in the background. It was remarkably similar to a Ger camp.
Our camping site the same night
This picture was taken quite late in the evening
Tea break along the way.
Crossing one of the few bridges along the way.
The trail is set up with many board walks like that making it easy to go through difficult terrain and very wet areas.
The weather looked like this most of the time with lots of fog, enourmous clouds and quite cold.
Another camping spot.
These are the kind of valleys we would follow. We crossed between mountains to change valleys along the way.
It doesn't look like it but the night before this photo, we had the coldest night of all and the only thing that made it bearable was setting up our tent in this little depression in the ground which gave us a bit of shelter from the bone-numbing wind.
Another chilly evening, cooking outside in the cold and mosquitoes and running inside the tent to eat.
Reaching the end at Nikkaluokta, 100km south east of Abisko, feeling happy and stinky in equal proportions!
Crossing the Arctic circle on the train
The start of the Kungsleden at Abisko Turist Station
Stopping for lunch on the first day. We didn't know it yet but that would be the best weather we would get all week.
Passing a Sami settlement in the background. It was remarkably similar to a Ger camp.
Our camping site the same night
This picture was taken quite late in the evening
Tea break along the way.
Crossing one of the few bridges along the way.
The trail is set up with many board walks like that making it easy to go through difficult terrain and very wet areas.
The weather looked like this most of the time with lots of fog, enourmous clouds and quite cold.
Another camping spot.
These are the kind of valleys we would follow. We crossed between mountains to change valleys along the way.
It doesn't look like it but the night before this photo, we had the coldest night of all and the only thing that made it bearable was setting up our tent in this little depression in the ground which gave us a bit of shelter from the bone-numbing wind.
Another chilly evening, cooking outside in the cold and mosquitoes and running inside the tent to eat.
Reaching the end at Nikkaluokta, 100km south east of Abisko, feeling happy and stinky in equal proportions!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Sweden : Into the Wild
Our time in Stockholm wasn't quite what we had hoped for but it wasn't this beautiful city's fault. The 3 days or so that we thought we would spend exploring each corner of the city quickly turned into a logistical operation to organise what we were really here for, hiking the Kungsleden in the Arctic circle.
First of all, we spent a whole day swirling around Central Station trying to find the cheapest possible way of travelling to and from the furthest possible point in a very longiline and famously expensive country. We explored bus and train options, as well as various rail passes versus standard tickets and so on. It took a while but, with the help and patience of the rail ticket counter staff, we managed to leave the station with all the train tickets for our whole time in Sweden and onto Copenhagen.
Once that was sorted out, we went on a wild goose chase trying to retrieve some packages we had foolishly got our mothers to send over as poste restante. Those packages contained things we would need for the hike like thermals and hiking boots. It should have all gone fine except that the address we had found was the site of where the general post office used to be but is now a government building. According to the beefhead security guy, our address might have worked 20 years ago. To make matters worse, Sweden doesn't really have post office anymore. They only have little counters here and there accross the city. Finally, we had only one tracking number which made the other package, well, untrackable. There was basically no hope for that one. The other one, the trackable one, we managed to run after blindly listening to the instructions of the post office hotline in real time. We would call and they would say where the package was last seen and we would run there only to be told it wasn't there yet or anymore or ever. Finally, we were told that they were being sent back to the sender. We would have to do with what we had with us. The only thing we bought was a pair of wet-weather pants for me and thank god we did!
With the small amount of free time we managed to scavenge out of this boring mission, we ran around a few must-see sites, only the free ones that is and although it felt messy and chaotic, we were still able to see that although we thought we were back in Europe when we reached Russia, Scandi countries are in a league of their own. I think that in Sweden, we basically reached the peak of civilisation (We decided to skip Norway as that would take our budget to new heights). In our daggy backpacker attire, all we could do was lurk around in the shadow of these tall and handsome people and watch them drink cold beers in garden cafes, eat scrumptious salads and awesome sandwiches, ride their funky bicycles looking like they live in the pages of the sartorialist (for those unfamiliar with it, the "Sartorialist" website is a fashion bible) and look happy doing it. Then, we would retreat to our campground on the outskirts of the city which, to be fair, had a few perks. We had access to a lovely little beach on a lake AND we were only a few stops away from the largest IKEA in the world...
In the evening of our third day, we boarded the weekly train which runs from Malmo, in the very south of Sweden) to Abisko TuristStation, in the very north. That was our destination. The trip took around 18 hours and thanks to the train being fairly empty, the only passengers being hikers, we were able to get 2 seats each and get a little bit of sleep. We crossed the Arctic circle line around mid-day and reached Abisko around 3pm. Once there, faced with never-ending daylight, litteraly, we decided to make hay while the sun shines, and walked the first 4 km of the Kungsleden hike before setting up camp for our first night in the wild. 4km down, 96 to go...
First of all, we spent a whole day swirling around Central Station trying to find the cheapest possible way of travelling to and from the furthest possible point in a very longiline and famously expensive country. We explored bus and train options, as well as various rail passes versus standard tickets and so on. It took a while but, with the help and patience of the rail ticket counter staff, we managed to leave the station with all the train tickets for our whole time in Sweden and onto Copenhagen.
Once that was sorted out, we went on a wild goose chase trying to retrieve some packages we had foolishly got our mothers to send over as poste restante. Those packages contained things we would need for the hike like thermals and hiking boots. It should have all gone fine except that the address we had found was the site of where the general post office used to be but is now a government building. According to the beefhead security guy, our address might have worked 20 years ago. To make matters worse, Sweden doesn't really have post office anymore. They only have little counters here and there accross the city. Finally, we had only one tracking number which made the other package, well, untrackable. There was basically no hope for that one. The other one, the trackable one, we managed to run after blindly listening to the instructions of the post office hotline in real time. We would call and they would say where the package was last seen and we would run there only to be told it wasn't there yet or anymore or ever. Finally, we were told that they were being sent back to the sender. We would have to do with what we had with us. The only thing we bought was a pair of wet-weather pants for me and thank god we did!
With the small amount of free time we managed to scavenge out of this boring mission, we ran around a few must-see sites, only the free ones that is and although it felt messy and chaotic, we were still able to see that although we thought we were back in Europe when we reached Russia, Scandi countries are in a league of their own. I think that in Sweden, we basically reached the peak of civilisation (We decided to skip Norway as that would take our budget to new heights). In our daggy backpacker attire, all we could do was lurk around in the shadow of these tall and handsome people and watch them drink cold beers in garden cafes, eat scrumptious salads and awesome sandwiches, ride their funky bicycles looking like they live in the pages of the sartorialist (for those unfamiliar with it, the "Sartorialist" website is a fashion bible) and look happy doing it. Then, we would retreat to our campground on the outskirts of the city which, to be fair, had a few perks. We had access to a lovely little beach on a lake AND we were only a few stops away from the largest IKEA in the world...
In the evening of our third day, we boarded the weekly train which runs from Malmo, in the very south of Sweden) to Abisko TuristStation, in the very north. That was our destination. The trip took around 18 hours and thanks to the train being fairly empty, the only passengers being hikers, we were able to get 2 seats each and get a little bit of sleep. We crossed the Arctic circle line around mid-day and reached Abisko around 3pm. Once there, faced with never-ending daylight, litteraly, we decided to make hay while the sun shines, and walked the first 4 km of the Kungsleden hike before setting up camp for our first night in the wild. 4km down, 96 to go...
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