Rain, uphill, mud roads…..and some sunshine

Yesterday I reached Gävle where I had a bed and food waiting for me. the day started near Hudiksvall with mostly gravel roads before Söderhamn. But after lunch the roads was flatter and asphalt all the way to Gävle. I will be staying here for another day to charge my batteries and use the internet which I have been without for a week now. Hopefully I will update the blog more often from now on. Now this is what have happened during my first week on the road:

On Tuesday morning a left Umeå even though the rain was pouring down outside. But I can’t let a little rain stop me from cycling. That day the rain newer stopped and I had to set up my tent for my first night camping in the wild in wet conditions. The worst thing about that isn’t setting up the tent, it’s packing it in the morning after and having a wet tent.

On top of the rain my bicycle computer stopped working when I was leaving Umeå, I got it working a couple of days later though. It’s a great thing to have so that I know how long I have cycled and how long I got left. The next night I had my mind set on Ullånger and a relative where I could spend the night. But the road there was long and hard. The weather was clear that morning all the way to Örnsköldsvik, but after lunch everything turned for the worse. Since the only proper road down the coast is a motorway I had to find smaller roads where I could cycle. But a few times I had to get on the motorway to be able to continue down the coast, hopefully I won’t have to do that again because the cars and trucks was driving really fast and I only had a small space to stay on. And since I was entering “Höga kusten”(High coast) the uphill’s where getting longer and steeper. And when it started raining again the gravel roads that I was on became more and more like mud roads. After a long day I finally reached Ullånger and some well-deserved rest. After a hard day like that I decided to stay there for another day to rest up. On Friday and Saturday I continued down the high coast with more struggling uphill. One of the nights I stayed by a lake and the other was in a real bed on a farm. I was lucky to find that place when I started looking for a camp site. For only 100 sek a got my own little apartment with kitchen, living room and a big bed. On top of that I was invited to dinner by the family that runs the place. And after a great meal and a good night sleep I got ready for the road again. But not before taking a look at the lamas they had at the farm. Sunday was a god day in the saddle as the hills got smaller and there was no rain in sight.