Two Days in Falkenberg, Sweden (July 17, 18, 2023)

July 17, 2023 to July 18, 2023

And an Awesome Tub

Oh joy, oh joy, you can imagine my delight when we walked into our hotel room at the Ocean Hotel in Falkenberg, Sweden and there was a bathtub— and not just any bathtub, but an awesome, perfectly formed one with great hot water, a ledge to put my tablet on, and soap in a dispenser! Never mind that the room was sitting directly on the Kattegatt sea with a wonderful view, or the place had a full minibar so Dave could immediately break into a post-ride beer, it was the tub, the tub….

So, to back up a bit from the tub excitement, we had a rocky start to our day beginning from Halmstad. Due to the weather report the night before (which predicted rain on and off throughout the day), we had determined there was no need for an early start. However, when I woke that morning at 7:30 am and squinted at my phone, I saw it was relatively clear until 11 am. Therefore, we determined to immediately spring out of bed and be on the road as soon as we could. For us,“springing out of bed”means leaving around 9 am, which is about the earliest we ever manage. The ride from Halmstad was windy, cool and pleasant until 10:59 am, when, sure enough, only one minute early the skies opened up and we got drenched. There was even a bit of hail. We happened to be going through a no-name village and we dashed over to what we thought was a restaurant. It turned out to be a closed rock shop but it had some eves to shelter under for the 10 minutes it took for the storm to pass and the sun to come back out. We took off, now thoroughly soaked, and 10 minutes later we got another downpour. This time we trespassed on someone’s property and sheltered against a garage with a bunny who also needed rain protection!

Rain clouds loom. Could we possibly outrun them to our final destination?

Intruding humans or no, this bunny wasn't budging from its shelter.

Unfortunately the rain didn’t stop as quickly this time and in fact intensified long enough that we both started to contemplate the fun of riding another 20 km in a torrential downpour. Although it hadn't stopped after 15 minutes it did lessen to a moderate rain so that we could emerge from our spot. The funny thing was that in the next 100 meters we saw a couple of cyclists emerge from a bus stop and a solo cyclist ride out of a barn. Afterwards Dave said we looked liked butterflies emerging from their cocoons, whereas I felt like we looked like rats coming out of the sewer! The rest of the ride to Falkenberg, a beach town, was wet, windy and fast and we arrived dripping wet and thoroughly soaked. So, you can imagine our delight when we opened the door to our room and it had the tub. Did I mention there was a tub?! Plus, it was a totally cool new hotel, the Ocean Hotel. We had a late lunch in the restaurant and used the rest of the afternoon enjoying that tub and attempting to dry out our clothes. Life is tough.

I had booked two nights here. We had been on the road five days in a row (a lot for us) so I thought we needed a change of pace, and that we should enjoy the beach. It was a beautiful beach and a very popular but pleasant beach town. Besides two nice big beach hotels there was a ton of these tiny cottages that the Swedes use as second homes (we think). They’re about the size of trailers and all crammed together, but there’s enough space for a little outside deck. Swedes are hardy and people were in the sea and kiteboarding and parasailing in very windy weather. We enjoyed the sea from our deck!

These small cabins are everywhere along the west coast.

Yes, the Swedes are a hearty lot. The temperature was 60° with winds of up to 20 mph when I took this shot.

On our free day we caught up on the journal, and rode into town to explore and find a place for dinner. While we were having coffee and a bun (to get out of the rain) we talked to a Swedish couple from Gothenburg who said it’s always windy; it seems to us that Swedes are just used to it and get on with it (while we’re whining).

We had an awesome meal the second night in Falkenberg at a place in town. We had mussels, which is a common item on Swedish menus in these parts.

Dave also got a bee in his bonnet to do laundry. When we checked in he did his research: the hotel would wash a load for the equivalent of $25.00 USD (which is more than he would pay in a laundromat but not outrageous) and it took a couple of hours. The following morning before breakfast he corralled the troops (me) to gather my kit that needed cleaning and duly took it down to the same hotel clerk that he talked to the day before. We hadn’t heard back late in the afternoon so he went down and inquired: the clerk expressed extreme amazement that we needed it back the same day and there was a bit of drama. We’re pretty sure that our clothes were still sitting in the laundry room (unwashed) and the regular staff had gone home. The poor dude who took over the late shift at the front desk wound up doing it himself and personally delivering it to Dave late that evening. Ahh, those pain in the neck American tourists……

Today's ride: 54 km (34 miles)
Total: 667 km (414 miles)

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