Category Archives: travelogue

The joys of travelling

Solo cycling is a lone affair. I’ve been on my own most of the time. Most of the covesrations I’ve had have been with cashiers in supermarkets.
“Hello! How are you?”
“I’m fine, thank you”
“Is there anything to do/see here?”
“Not really. It is a very small place”

Not much of a profound conversation really.

When I left home, it was sunny and hot. In Sweden I expected even warmer weather and beautiful blonde bikini girls, but found neither. Cold and windy. I had hesitated to bring a fleece pullover with me, but luckily I did. I ended up using it along with woollen socks almost all the time. Space blanket was intended for emergencies, but I’ve been using it every night. Two first nights spent in the forest with extremely early wake ups due the coldness and was almost ready to go back home.

So this is how I felt, when I arrived to LyckebygÃ¥rden for vipassana: cold, aloof and sleep deprived. Ironically all this misery prepared myself for what was about to come. At least for the time being I had a warm bed and a hot shower and I didn’t have to cycle anywhere. Suddenly the prospect of ten days sitting did not seem so bad.

Initial impressions: Stockholm – Ödeshög

Stockholm is a majestic city. Some day I should spend more time there. This time though I felt out of place among fashion-conscious middle-class with my bike, all the gear and the back-pack attached to the carrier. Turkish lembas (falafel with hummus) for breakfast and I was on the road.

“It is not the distance, but the journey” said an Asics ad spotted in Stockholm, but I had to make it to Ödeshög in three days. Distance mattered. 330km in total, spread over three days. Could have done it in about 280km, but the path is not always straight. Initially I religiously tried following marked cycling paths, but after going in circles and getting lost, I realised that a bold red line on the map does not necessarily exist in the wild. Sometimes paths are clearly marked and separated from the traffic, sometimes they are not. Having said that generally cycling infrastructure in Sweden is superb, especially in cities. Puts Helsinki to shame really. Overall infrastructure is also better, clearly 200 Years of Peace doing its magic. There’s a sense of aesthetics in the air – everything is nice, tidy and neat. Every house looks like a real estate commercial. Reminded me of Switzerland very much. Countryside is mostly farms, picturesque churches, crop and golf fields, as if Swedes en masse do not do anything else than growing food, praing and playing golf.

The first place I properly visited (read, went to a supermarket there) was Trosa, dubbed by the locals as the “the world’s end”. Quite a big word for such a small place, the supermarket is the only attraction there. Nyköping is a nice little town with a touch of urbanisation. There is the main walking street with some boutiques and cafes, which make you almost forget that you are in the midst of the countryside. Nörrköping was next on the agenda. Bigger and somewhat exciting. It even has trams and the brutalist city library. Probably a nice place to live in, but not something you go to on a weekend. Linköping was more of the same. Neat and nice. Nothing to see here, move along.

Gear

Some words about gear. Key words are lightweight, minimal and digital. And more specifically:

  • Nishiki Bushwacker XC mountain bike modded to be a more paved road friendly. Continental tyres, cleat pedals, full-length mudguards, a helmet (my first one ever!), head and rear lights and a cheapo bike computer
  • A bicycle tool set, a can of chain oil, a pump, a spare inner tube and a saddle tool bag, which broke even before starting the journey. Plus assorted stuff like superglue, duct tape etc.
  • Chrome Kursk Pro cleat shoes and a pair of hiking sandals.
  • Deuter Speedlight 30L backpack. Granted all my stuff does not fit there with e.g. a clothes bag attached to the top of the backpack. Plus a shoulder bag for valuable stuff and immediate food
  • An ethanol burner, half a liter of fuel, a MSR titanium 0,75l pot, an Orikaso plastic bowl, a titanium fork and a spoon
  • Kuksa
  • Leatherman Skeletool and a cheap Chinese folding knife
  • A Ticket To The Moon double hammock, a 3x3m tarp (never tested before!), an old sleeping bag (comfy temperature +12), a silk inner bag. Thermal clothes and a space blanket in case it gets chilly.
  • My trusty Haglöfs Oz outer jacket and some crappy cycling rain pants, which never managed to stop the rain. No shoes rain protection, I will improvise with plastic bags.
  • Padded cycling underwear. One pair of woollen socks. A bunch of regular socks and underwear. Sarong as a multifunctional towel.
  • All things hygiene.
  • Moleskine notebook for the hipster cred.
  • Two t-shirts, one shirt, a long-sleeved shirt, a fleece, proper trousers for special occassions, fisherman pants, soft shell shirts (for cycling), a scarf and a pair of leather gloves.
  • IPad 2, Nexus One (calling is broken on this one, good for Google Maps and music) and even older Ericsson phone (for emergency calling).
  • Galileo iOS app for offline cycling maps. Maps are courtesy of OpenCycleMaps. Google Maps for support. No dead trees maps.
  • Sony NEX-C3 camera with a pancake lens. A camera connection kit for unloading pictures to iPad. Two 4gb memory cards.
  • The camera connection kit doubles as a device for loading/unloading contraband from/to iPad. A bunch of movies on an USB stick and all my music on an external hard drive.
  • Sennheiser HD212 pro headphones. Very old and battered, a cord has been replaced several times, but they still work.
  • A pair of X-Mini Max portable speakers.
  • 1kg of buckwheat, plus some oatmeal.

A hippy way

Last weekend me and a couple of friends went to Adams to see Legowelt. The only problem was Legowelt had played the day before, something we had not realised until asking the bouncer about the lineup change. “It was an awesome party” was the comment of the bouncer.

I approached the organisation of this trip in a more or less same fashion. Moved out of and cleaned the apartment, signed a new apartment contract, took care of the bureaucratic necessary evils, went to a party and an urban festival, packed for the journey, serviced the bicycle, took care of bicycle maps and organised digital entertainment, all in the matter of one week-end. Today I went to a wrong terminal and was almost late for the boat too. Why bother taking a look at the ticket indeed? Very stressful, but survived from it with minimal casualties so far.

The next stop is Stockholm, from where I will cycle to Ödeshög for ten days of meditation, silence and early wake ups. The longest I’ve ever cycled was from Helsinki to Porvoo and back. Roughly 100km in total, after which I felt very sorry for myself. Now I have 280km to pedal in the span of two and half days. Hammock for sleeping, buckwheat for energy, iPad for entertainment.

Epic Journey 3 starts here. The future is so bright that you have to wear shades.

Over and out.

Beach mode

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No shoes, no underwear, minimum amount of clothes, no shampoo, salt and sand in the hair, coconut oil on the skin. That’s how I spent my holiday. By the end of the first week I got evicted from my bungalow (due a reservation by people more important than myself), so I ended up sleeping in a hammock on the beach. Dormitory was one option, but where is fun in that? After a second night, I scored myself a bungalow (not a trivial task on Haad Yuan around NYE). But at this point I got accustomed to the life of a beach bum, so I continued maintaining status quo. A hammock, a sarong, swimming pants, some reading, a camera, a torch and a knife, a toothbrush with toothpaste, a comb, water and some money. That’s all I needed to get by. The rest was tugged away in friends’ bungalow and I hardly touched during my bungalowless phase. Simple, yet effective.

– Where do you stay?
– On the beach. I am homeless.
– Oh noes!

It was a good story to tell. Reactions were interesting. It seemed that most people were stressed by my situation and tried to help me by giving advice, while I tried to explain them that I did not mind being homeless. After all I had to have my adventure during this journey. If not for climbing a mountain or exploring yet another cave, then at least spending a few nights on the beach.