Day 9 Thurs 19th July..CONTINUED
Somewhere in North of Sweden to Somewhere South!
So Claus and I chatted about our speeding experiences with the Norwegian police. He was on one of the remote islands off Lofoten only reached by ferry; overtook a truck in a 50kph limit. They said his crime was so bad he should leave his bike (also a GS like mine) and find his own way home to Denmark.. really bad news from there! He pleaded with the cop and in the end they said he must leave Norway and could ride home via Sweden like me. What a way to treat visitors to their country! And that’s how he ended up at this petrol station.
He was a really nice guy, well travelled on his bike and we chatted for ages swapping stories and bonded due to our respective misfortune.The rain had stopped and we discussed routes; we both had to go south and then he would branch off to the east and pick up the motorway via Stockholm to Denmark, this was the quickest route. I now had 2 days to kill so my plan was to ride down the middle of Sweden to Malmo and then across the bridge to Denmark and then pick up my original route through Germany and Netherlands to Calais..its 1000 miles from here to Malmo!
We decided to ride together until it was time for him to branch off, several hundred miles in fact. Where we might stay that night was anyone’s guess; he had a tent but I didn’t. He hadn’t slept much the night before worrying if he might lose his licence in Denmark if they had an agreement with Norway.
We set off on the road south, ever watchful of the speed limit, even though we were in the middle of nowhere 🏍😎. Northern Sweden is very remote, all forests and lakes; very few houses and no towns.. and no hotels, only camping sites with little huts you could rent. I had visions of ending up in one of those for the night!
The roads were straight, through dense forests with reindeer just wandering in the road..why, when they’ve got all that forest to play in ? 🤣
We rode for a few hours and then came to a small town. I pulled over and suggested we got something to eat; it was 7.30 pm by now. We had pizza and asked the guy there if there was an hotel anywhere near. As it turned out there was one in the town. We went there and they had rooms; £95 for a single or £85 for a twin. So we went for the twin and shared the cost. I decided that sharing with a stranger was better than one of those little huts 👍
When I called home that night my dear wife was horrified; what if this guy murdered me in the night and took all my money ? 😱 I told her that he was a genuine guy, but she wasn’t convinced and told me to sleep with my wallet under my pillow 😊 We sat up chatting till late and then it was bedtime. Claus snores, so ear plugs in!