Distance: 71.30km | Climbing: 307m – Click here for GPS Route
After a relaxed rest day in Halmstad, we were ready to hit the road again. Much like our previous day of cycling, we woke to rain and found ourselves soaked before even reaching the edge of the city.
Thankfully the weather soon cleared up, and we were able to enjoy some sunshine and a tailwind as we cruised along the cycle paths and backroads of the Kattegattleden to the town of Falkenberg, the town whose beer we had been enjoying so much in Halmstad.
From Falkenberg, we continued following the Kattegattleden along the coastline, making the most of the tailwind. We stopped briefly at the Digesgård Nature Reserve, which turned out to be a strip of grassy marshland where the only wildlife we saw were the local sheep who harassed us for food. When Elana wouldn’t give the first sheep any food, it decided to show its displeasure by moving close to her ear and let out and outrageously loud “Baaa” making Elana jump!
After the sheep had left us in peace, we met an elderly Swedish woman who was collecting berries. She was very friendly and happy to chat, something that wasn’t very common so far in Denmark and Sweden where we found people to be very reserved and unlikely to strike up conversations with strangers. She informed us about the different berries in the region, and offered us some to taste. It was nice to have a conversation like this considering how rarely it had happened during our first few days in Sweden.
After the elderly lady left, we had a look at the map and decided where we were going to spend the night. We were now passing through coastal farmland, and with most areas fenced off, there were no particularly good wild camping opportunities. There were no forests coming up either between us and the next big town of Varberg, and we couldn’t see any wooden shelters on the map either.
Instead of risking camping on farmland, we decided to book the cheapest hostel/hotel we could find (which was still a pretty hefty €52). This was fifteen kilometres away, so we hopped back on our bikes, and finished off the last stretch there in the beautiful evening light. By the time we had reached the hotel we had covered 71 kilometres, making this Elana’s furthest cycle ever, which was a great achievement especially considering we were loaded down with luggage.
We cooked a simple pasta dish in the hostel’s kitchen and went to bed early after a long 5 hours in the saddle. We were now 115 kilometres away from Gothenberg, the end of the Kattegattleden and the point where we hoped to take a ferry back to the north of Denmark. We aimed to split it up into two days, and were looking forward to more serene cycle paths and back roads as we made our way up Sweden’s west coast.
Irregular Adventures 