I arrived in Stockholm this afternoon after a 200 mile ride. It was a good journey with some beautiful countryside along the way, but alas – I saw no moose… The V-strom, as usually, just chugged away relentlessly and never missed a beat.
It still amazes me to see so many houses and barns built of wood. I know it’s traditional in Sweden, but you get so used to seeing brick and concrete that you forget that in some parts of the world wood is still an important building material. It isn’t damp in Sweden like it is in the UK, so wooden structures here last for many, many years. It’s also a renewable commodity, which is why the Swedish are so good with the environment.
The temperature dropped a wee bit today, too. When I got half way and stopped for a break and found that I still had the vent-zips open on the back of my jacket from when it was hot in Germany. Fool…! No wonder I was cold…!! The temperature today varied from 17 to 19 degrees, but last night was a bit of a shocker – dropping down to about 5 degrees. I woke up about 3am and had to put another layer of clothes on…
I arrived at Stockholm in the late afternoon. Instead o heading to the campsite I went straight into the centre of the city to take a quick picture and say hello to the city. Big mistake as it was rush-hour and I got caught in the commuter traffic. Well that wasn’t too bad, it was the cyclists in the city center that are the worry. They come at you from every direction – and they do have the right of way…
After a quick picture and a moment of reflection while looking across the water from Galmastan to Skeppsholmen, I re-joined the calm madness of the evening crush and after a few near misses with cyclists I made it out of the city and finally got to the camp site at Flottsbro in the late afternoon. It’s a great site with everything I could ask for. They even have detergent, scrubbing sponges and a tea-towel at the washing-up sinks, and in the toilet/shower block there is local radio playing on a speaker system. For five nights it cost me 1050 SK, which is about £89 – and its only about 20 minutes into the city, which is pretty good value, really.
Anyway, I’m here for a week for a rest, catch up on some laundry, to see my Son and his partner and also to see a little more of Stockholm.
