Day 4 in the motel. Phew!
I enjoyed staying at the Hotel Finn. Breakfast was fun – completely self-service, great coffee from a machine, croissants (no one knows how to make proper croissants apart from the French and those who copy them), muesli with yoghurt and orange juice. I paused a while in the room to get calm before I set off. The bike was still where I left it, entirely unmolested of course. I decided that today would be my non-motorway day and put in a direction of Vaxjo which I have no idea how I would pronounce if I had to ask someone the way to it. I was taken onto and across on the route 23. It was a beautiful ride, lovely calm scenery and on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning. Fields, dwellings, lakes and of course pine trees. The only downside was the incredibly low speed limits in this country that most people seem to stick to with only a few over-takers. Plus some agricultural vehicles but once the first 40 or so miles were done, things speeded up and I was going at not much less than I rode on some of the way over here through crowded motorways in Holland and Germany. The roads are mostly good though with those nasty dangerous wire barriers in the middle of some. The bike was running well, the hotel was good and I was pleased that I decided to avoid all motorways. Looking for what I thought was a picnic area I ended up in a small town that had yet another unattended machine in the town square – this time one that served petrol once you had worked out that you had to put in a credit card in a separate booth. Fuelled up I headed off again.
My next (unanticipated) stop was in a small layby by a wood. I also had some food while there and Mango flavoured Oatley! in its land of origin. Not much but enough to feel thoroughly sorted and ready for the rest of the trip. The map told me that after Vaxjo taking the 31 and 32 in a northerly direction would take me right here – another 200k.
I suppose the scenery got progressively less scenic and a little more industrial at the same time that the weather got worse. We were promised cloud but we got rain. So stop number three was at a rural bus stop to pull on the huge Mr Balloon Man rain suit. As fortune would have it someone had left a single kitchen chair just next to the bus stop making the ridiculous procedure of climbing into the suit very slightly less awkward. Why doesn't someone design rain suits that don't take your fee hostage every time you try to clim into it?
Eventually the GPS put me onto the E4 motorway which I had been avoiding all day but just for 5 miles before depositing me outside the hotel on a rather forlorn country road. I had to double check I really had booked this place and I had. The person at the desk who spoke impeccable English told me that the motel rooms were round the back and I should drive round there. I remembered then that this is what attracted me to the place and being able to park the bike under its own veranda out of the rain is perfect. The cabin is cute. I'm not sure when they were built but they have been renovated recently and have the same bathrooms as the Hotel Finn with great under floor heating. I had a meal of white fish at 4.30pm because the kitchen closes at 5 on Sundays. The restaurant reminded me of similar roadside places in Norway that seem to attract families out for a rather casual eat. Only if it were Norway the food would be covered in cling film. Here it wasn't - but was still slightly weird.
I have the radiator on in the room. It was 14 degrees outside earlier and the places are built of wood. Each cabin has an electric supply for electric vehicles. I wonder how much that is used. There seems to be only one other vehicle here. It is pretty bleak outside now in the wet.
Tomorrow my ferry for Helsinki leaves at 4.30 and so I have an easy journey from here to Stockholm. The forecast shows very dark clouds and rain so it will be a matter of wrapping up and keeping my head down – not even hoping to avoid it. But I hope there is somewhere under shelter to wait at the ferry terminal. And I wonder what time they board the ship. So far I think my planning has paid off well. The distances and routes have been fine and the hotels good. So, after tonight, one night on the Ferry and then I arrive in Helsinki that will be my home for nearly two weeks.
Today: 240 miles (again) taking 5 hours and 4 minutes. Here is the GPS track of the journey so far:
The video of today's ride
Click here to move on to tomorrow.