Day 6: Norrtalje to Gisslaranden Shelter

July 7, 2024

Things come in threes

“Sunday is a good day to get out of city,” Lars says as he is guiding us on bike paths. “Even better when we have a guide,” adds Patrick. Lars returned from camping at 0730 as planned. We were already up and packed. While we eat breakfast, Lars fixes us some nice coffee. We shuttle gear and bikes downstairs load up and we are off. That third day…. Bjorn said it is about when you start thinking: “this was a bad idea….”

We weave out of the city on bike paths then into the forest needing to push the bikes for a while, then on some back roads until we get to a paved road at about 10km. We take a photo of the three of us and say our thanks and goodbye for now. “I’m sure we will see each other again,” Lars says. Lars has another adventure coming up this summer: he is going bikepacking in Mongolia.

Another nice church. Interesting that the church steeple is on the other side of the road. That seems typical in Sweden.

There are lots and lots of bus stops and many have the perfect place to take a break

We stop for a food break before heading back on an unsealed road

We follow the main road for a while.

Cutting through on a gravel road, there are a few short hills. Rachel sees Patrick up out of the seat and thinks he must be hearing Barb from spin class “get ready to jump.” Rachel hears: “pull back on the pedals.” As we continue through the forest, Rachel rides over the end of a stick pushing the other end of a bigger stick in a brush pile into Rachel’s front wheel. The bike stops instantly. She falls off sideways scraping her left knee and landing on left hip and shoulder. With Patrick falling by not being able to clip out on the first day, and now Rachel, we’ve both seemed to get that sort of thing out the way. But then things come in threes. When we stop in Haverodal for groceries, Rachel leans her bike against a picnic table. When a big gust of wind comes through, Rachel’s bike obliges of getting that third thing out of the way by falling over.

That nasty brush pile to right....with an aggressive stick that catches Rachel's front wheel

The wicked wind is both friend and foe today all depending on the direction of the road. With a tailwind the ride is sweet, and we are happy that the road mainly went our way. At a junction, we stop at a Gulf gas station and fill our bottles with water. We are now on a busier road but the traffic is respectful. It’s good the wind is coming from our left on parts of the road as we are getting blown around almost off the road. Other times we are sailing barely pedaling.

We turn onto the gravel backroad and Patrick checks GPS frequently. We are looking for the hiking trail that crosses the road. We reach it and now push our bikes a couple hundred meters on the almost overgrown trail. The shelter is a wonderful sight…next to a lake, a couple of picnic tables, firewood and a fire pit (with instructions on how to build a fire)…best of all, the shelter is big enough to pitch our tent in.

Bushwhacking through a ditch. There are yellow stripes on trees that show us the way to the shelter.

We settle in quickly. The mosquitos are swarming and Patrick sets up the Thermacel mosquito gizmo that Lars recommended. Wow, does this device work well! We brought stuff to cook dinner. After clean-up Rachel’s goes into the tent “to stretch out a bit” but soon falls asleep. Patrick picks some blue berries, finds the outhouse (not worth using) and discovers a much better “short-cut” trail back to the road. We ended up in a beautiful spot here.

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Today's ride: 77 km (48 miles)
Total: 172 km (107 miles)

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Rachael AndersonSorry you fell. I hope you aren’t injured. I had a fall going through a very narrow, wet trail we were riding on.
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