Today’s ride ended in a Swedish village called Falkenberg. How appropriate! The 195km from Uddevalle to our overnight stop rolled by quite pleasantly. Except to the hour in the downpour. Probably the heaviest we’ve had this far. But one can only get so wet I guess, after which it doesn’t seem to matter anymore.

Passing through the city of Goteberg was not much fun. The route was torturous to avoid the main streets but still had a million crossing. Give or take a few. And the inevitable of course – Jan had a puncture from a piece of broken glass. And then his spare tube was riddled with patches and one strategically placed non-patched hole. Good grief. Of course we had another between us but the wasted time was frustrating.

On the bright side most of the city route was on cycle paths. Even the broken glass bit!

The last 20km Into Falkenberg were perhaps some of the best riding conditions I have experienced. Basically flat, no wind. Good tar. Rolling along at 30 to 35kph was joyous. Of course the lack of rain could have had something to do with it!

A birds eye view of our route from Oslo.

And to our overnight spot. Kavernas pension B&B. Set out in the country it is charming in the rustic sense. The rooms are sort of cabin-ish which makes me wonder if Kavernas means cabin? Will have to ask. It is also on the site of a rather magnificent windmill. Which may or may not be operational. Will have to ask. I’m not quite sure what main clientele would be for this place. Certainly not business folk. Perhaps backpackers or campers on the upgrade plan? Will have to ask! Certainly camping seems a big activity herein Sweden as we passed many camp site signs. Better ask that too.

Keeping to the tradition we have established, we managed to lose another team member. Marcel, who does seem to struggle on the hills more that the other seems to have done his knee. So he bailed after about 150km and took a lift through to the end. A 20min conversation with the Tour Office to request assistance got us nothing but a huge roaming call bill. Luckily a camper came passed driven by a chap supporting another chap who is riding. We were able to flag him down using the blunt object of a viscous spring combined with flappy arms. Luckily he saw the crazed loon in the review mirror and pulled over.

So our little leaderless group was down to only 4. We hope Marcel can start out tomorrow on the 180km to Malmo where we catch and overnight on the ferry across to Germany. The organization sound dodgy and if the track record is maintained, we could end up in Germany without our bikes wrapped in a Finnline sheet having to get to Hamburg by manufacturing a vehicle out of quayside bric-a-brac. Bring it on!

But for now we are clean, bikes are cleaner (shower less clean), well fed (had two main courses from the set menu!) and warm in bed. And we could be asleep by 11. Just after it gets dark. Of course the dawn at a bout 3.45 spoils an otherwise good night!

Albert is showing signs of distress though:

Extreme! As you can imagine, these would not be on his plate usually. I sense the ghost of Edvard Munch circling! Whaaaaa!

The GBI supplied tracks do not go to the correct endpoints. Hence out little disenchanted extra 2km yesterday. What we have found though is that we can use the Garmins to get close. And the Google Maps on the iPhone for the precision work. How can that service be basically free?? It is simply ridiculously functional. If you haven’t checked into google maps yet on your iPhone, do it right now. If you don’t have an iPhone, what are you thinking!? No really now….

The last meters today