Blue, Green and Fifty Shades of Grey

That pretty much sums up today’s ride, but as usual with me, things aren’t quite as interesting as first appearances suggest. To be more accurate it should be 50 shades of green, but that title wouldn’t have been quite so enticing.

The blue was the sky, the green the trees and the grey the road, that’s pretty much all I saw today.

Riding through Sweden is really strange, big blue skies and a feeling that an expansive view (beyond the trees) will open up as the next crest is reached, but no, hardly ever. Although it seems like the top of a mountain, today I rarely climbed much above sea level. The most expansive view will be the rare occasion when a lake, or the Baltic Sea appears. It didn’t detract from the enjoyment, it’s just different and unexpected, and that’s a reason to travel, the unexpected.

Easy Rider

Today the motorcycle gods were smiling on me!

450 miles of wide open smooth roads, a cloudless blue sky, 25c and no traffic! The only mosquito in the ointment is the oppressive speed limits the Swedes have, but hey, it helps me chill, reduces the impact with a moose (sorry Sven) and gives us a few extra miles from a tank.

I drank in the experience, it was everything I’d hoped for and more! I certainly wasn’t expecting this weather, and so, living a motorcyclist’s dream I’m glad I came, no doubts, not this time.

In the words of Freddie “It’s a tricky situation and I only have myself to blame”

Not quite as ‘sticky a situation as Sticky the stick insect getting stuck on a sticky bun’, but things looked to be going decidedly pear shaped when I was meandering around the previously unheard of town of Alvsbyn in northern Sweden. I’m a novice at ‘winging it’, but was happy to give it a go, to add a bit of spice if nowt else. I’m not used to rolling up at a hotel reception and saying “Do you have a room for the night”? The buzz from “Yes” (without delving into Pamela Stephenson’s American Express sketch) makes me smile inwardly. But not only did I not get a “Yes” in Alvsbyn, I couldn’t even find any accommodation open! Booking.com and Airbnb had nowt in the area. This was the moment it dawned on me that riding through the forested wilderness of northern Sweden Premier Inns do not lie around the every corner! Unlike McDonalds, it seems that Sweden has sold its soul to that food chain giant, and personally I think it flies in the face of much of what the country represents.

The next place any app could guide me to was a further one hour twenty minutes ride north, not a big problem, we already had about 400 miles under the wheels and I was feeling fine. The unusually named town of Jokkmokk, where booking.com reliably informed me of two establishments charging about £80 a night and one £450, was programmed into the satnav. Going by ‘Booking’s’ previous attempt in Alvsbyn I was pondering a night under the stars, but this far north they aren’t visible. So it was looking like no sleep or lying by the bike swatting mozzies off. Undeterred I ventured in the direction of the Scottish named town, whereupon I spied a stunning waterfall! I’m stopping to take a photo of that, and as I got closer I saw a campsite…… then hotel! OMG, the hotel gods are now smiling on me! I didn’t have American Express, but that will do nicely!