Back on the Road AGAIN!!

Wot a boring 12 weeks its been!
The optimism in previous post soon dimmed.  Crutches weren't laid down until about 5 weeks and then another 4 weeks before the moon-boot came off.  But then physios put me back on the crutches, so that I could re-learn the skill of walking and waking up muscles that haven't been used for all that time.
Frozen ankle needed to be stretched, calf muscles woken up and generally exercises, exercises and more exercises!!
But eventually it all starts to work again and although I am supposed to be using one crutch when walking long distances no, I felt it was time to take the bike off the trainer and get out on the open road.
The weather thought it might do some light rain, but I ignored that and it went away.  First I thought I would just ride down to Norman Creek at Stones Corner.  But felt pretty good, so thought I would ride into work to see if I was up to that.  All good as I rode over the Goodwill Bridge, so thought I would continue along Corro drive bike way - stopping to photo the ferris wheel.

Am looking worried - its just the phone tech that's bothering me!

 Once I got to the end of Corro Drive thought I might as well continue to UQ and cross back over the green bridge and head back to Stones Corner.

A carpet of jacaranda blossoms in West End Cemetery

Been missing out on proper haloumi - so dropped into Rock n Roll, got the cheese and a coupla other things, then headed over to Ridge St to check out a new little cute looking coffee shop.  The coffee was good as was the raisin toast.

I pondered about the strong wind that had sprung up while I'd been pedalling around, so headed back to Norman Cr and made sure I could ride all the way home along my usual commute.
So All Good!!  25km clocked up - no major aches and pains along the way - we shall see if I can get out of bed in the morning.
Life is looking good again - 3 months is far too long to be cranky and tied down to moon-boots and crutches!

Granny’s Got a Boot

My latest ‘adventure’ doesn’t have anything to do with bikes – but boots instead.  A ‘moon-boot’ actually.  And the adventure isn’t one I would suggest to anyone!

I thought I would be clever and take a rec. day from work on Monday – and use that time to catch up on some housework – there have been a lot more fun things to do for a long time.

I thought I would start in the bathroom and to try and get some of the mildew off the ceiling before the next humid summer arrives.  As I am a bit short, I used my 2-step stool to get up close to the ceiling and this worked well until – squip!!  - it shot out from under me and I just (I am sure gracefully) fell straight down onto my left foot. 

I was quite surprised as I looked down and watched my foot bend under me… yes, I should have lost a lot more weight!!  Mercifully I didn’t clout my head on anything, but I was a bit stunned at its suddenness, so I sat there for a little while, trying to work out what to do next. 

Day 2 - fat foot going slightly purple

Well, I knew that my ankle was severely sprained because it hurt a lot, so I crawled out to the kitchen, got a bag of frozen mixed veggies from the freezer and slapped it on my foot.  But I hate this ‘cold’ treatment!  I remembered that I had an ankle support bandage somewhere (from an earlier buster in 2008) so found that and pulled it on.

But the throb continued so I went and had a bit of a lie-down.  I realised that I needed to get it all checked, so hobbled out to the phone and made an appointment with a Dr.  Michael taxied me to this Dr, who decided I should have it x-rayed, so we took off to Logan road, where I was duly zapped and sent hopping back to the Dr with a bunch of black n white photos.

Hmm… Dr says – well you’ve broken your 5^th metatarsal – ie the bone that leads up to the little toe, so you need to have it either plastered or get a moon-boot.  You will need to keep this on for 6-8 weeks – no driving, no riding!!!  Gad!!  Just what I wanted to hear – NOT!!

So I hopped out to the pharmacy next door and paid up for a pair of crutches for a month and hobbled out to Michael’s taxi and went home.  6-8 weeks!  It began to sink in that I would have to change my life-style for the next coupla months and I was not happy, Jan!!

I had decided to go with the moon-boot as it can be removed for showering and sleeping – even resting and watching TV I found out – so rang up GB Orthopaedics and made an appointment for Thursday – closed on Wednesday due to Ekka Day in Brisbane.

I was rescued again by Michael, who came and collected me on Wednesday afternoon to spend some time with them.  It was great to get me away from the pit of despair and to watch Missy Moo tootling around, trying to work out why I was sitting down all the time.

On Thursday I got the Boot!  Emma & Erica drove me into the Mater precinct and a very nice guy fitted me with my own Moon-boot.  He checked the x-rays and confirmed the broken bone, plus a bit dislodged from the end of it near the ankle plus a sliver off both the tibia and fibula so I had done a 'good job' he said.  He assured me that after about a week I could probably be hobbling around without the crutches - Music to my ears.  

The Moon Boot - pretty flash and pretty good!

But the Boot is really good – it protects my foot and allows me to actually place my foot on the floor and helps me balance.  It is a bit warm by the afternoon, but if I am laying around (good excuse for a Granny nap!) I can take it off.

I can now tootle around my flat, even went down the stairs and up again on my own yesterday.  Today, I have even been getting around with only one crutch, which helps amazingly when trying to move around things like plates of food etc . 

So I do feel much better – I still hate the crutches and it is so tiring to move around – my arms ache, my right leg aches.  I am also sporting a large bruise on my left leg and I must have hit my ribs on the towel rack in my descent.    Wot a crock!! 

I wish that I had a much more interesting ‘adventure’ to get this injury – something like – attacked my mad dog whilst riding through the forest – or – falling off bike whilst trying to ride up steep cliff – or just about anything other than falling off a stool whilst doing housework – Boring!!!!

So its going to be 6-8 weeks before Maggie and me go purling again…  I can’t wait!

Last Day in Helsinki

When we opened the blinds in the morning, we were still gliding along a smooth blue sea, but with an empty horizon – where have all the islands gone?  There were soon some low rocky outcrops but we were more interested in checking out the breakfast buffet.  As always, this was very plentiful, with lots of choices from cereals to salads and heaps of bread choices.  

An old Fort at the harbour entrance

As we were drawing into the terminal, we zinked down to our bikes and eventually got a crew member to open the store room and loaded up.  We led the motor bikes out into the sunshine – in Helsinki!  Yes at last, the sun does shine in Helsinki.

We rode into the centre and found the old food hall, so screeched to a halt for a look in there.  Once we got past the fishy bits, it was full of very tasty looking food – but we were on our way home and you can’t bring food into Australia.  We bought some fruit tho’ to eat for lunch. 

Farewell MS Serenade

Vanha Kauppahalli - Old market hall

Yummy stuff in the food hall

The market was next – stalls along the harbour selling the usual market foods, but also local crafts of very tasteful souvenirs.  Dang it – I have already bought all the souvenirs I need, but maybe I could just find something else…..  

Contrasts in Helsinki

The Uspenski Cathedral (Russian Orthodox) loomed above the markets, its gold onion-domes glistening and contrasting beautifully with the deep blue sky.  We found a street around the back, instead of bumping bikes up a series of stairs, which took us to the back door.  We joined the crowds of other tourists to go into this rather extravagant cathedral.  Inside the hushed interior, gold was the flavour – gold icons, gold paint outlining geometric patterns all over the walls and ceiling, extensive gold painted alter pieces as well as the massive brass chandeliers adding to the golden flavour.  But it was also very commercial – priests were standing behind a counter selling trinkets and charms as well as candles.  But a fascinating place to visit.  

Uspenski cathedral

All gold and glitter

Massive chandeliers

Gold Icons

Getting Gary back on course

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

slurp!

The Coffee Shop

Karina set Gary Garmin running again, so that we could track back to the bike shop. But on our way down the hill and along the waterfront, we caught a whiff of real coffee, so we screeched to a halt and went in.  It all looked proper, smelt good and while we were waiting, I sat down and read the Visitors Book and apparently other people thought so too.  And when the order arrived it was all true!!!  The best coffee since we left Australia!!  Mmm mmmm…..

But back onto the cobblestones again.  We rode along a bike path, but that disappeared so we continued along the footpath.  A cranky old woman (again) told us something in firm Finnish – I think she was telling us to get off the footpath, but there’s no way we were going to get down on the cobblestones with cars and trams, so on we went.  

Helsinki Lutheran Cathedral

I love a seagull on top of a serious statue!

Gary took us right up to the bike shop – www.mountainbikeshop.fi – and we went in to see if there were boxes for us.  After a uneasy moment or two, the guy eventually found two that would be just right, so we made a time to come back to collect them in a couple of hours.  In the meantime, we went for a bit of pedal around, bought some tape to seal the boxes and found an amusement park, but didn’t go in.  

 

School Holidays!

Serious stuff now....

Can bag handlers read?

Facebooking again!

We decided to pack up in the park just up from the bike shop, so Karina went down to collect the boxes while I started unpacking panniers.  It took us a good 2 hours to get them all broken down and into the boxes, paying close attention to wiping all dirt off our bikes and shoes. The bike shop boys called a taxi for us and soon we were zooming out to the airport with plenty of time to spare. 

We were ‘assisted’ with our check-in and advised that our bike boxes are classed as ‘sports equipment’ and thus would cost us $100 each.   Well, what can you do, but pay up… 

We then had a few hours to wait, so we plugged in and did some blogging.

Farewell Scandinavia – it’s been a wonderful trip, lots of beautiful scenery, plenty of fun times on our bikes and great catching up with family.

Thanks for following along with us on our tour through Finland and Sweden.  We have had a fabulous time and have enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Day 25: Catching the ferry to Helsinki

follow the pink line

We had to get everything else back into our panniers and to load our bikes onto the back of the Suzi.  No worries there, we have done that several times now! The weather wasn’t very good riding weather – cool and wet again – so we were thankful to be sitting inside the Suzuki, zipping along the E18.  It’s around to 200km to Stockholm and we did take one detour into a service station to top up our sugar levels.

Soon we were unloaded in the car park near the ferry terminal.  This is where Matias and I launched our adventures to the Baltic Sea in 2010, so it was quite familiar.  We hugged Agnete & Anders goodbye and waved them off on their way back to normality.

waiting for the ferry in Stockholm

Karina and I then lined up with the bikies waiting to be loaded onto the Silja line ferry – ie cruise ship – MS Serenade.  Soon we were riding into the bowels of the ferry and this time we were allowed to store our bikes in a locked store room.  So we only took up to our cabin the things we needed overnight.

waiting to board

Our cabin was very comfortable – twin beds, tiny en suite – and a large square window, not the usual port hole. 

Tenth Level - Cabin 1012

 We went up to the upper deck and strolled around nursing a plastic cup of cider.  We stayed up there as the ferry left the terminal at 5pm, gliding thru the still waters of the Stockholm Archipelago. There is hardly any feeling of motion, except things slide past quickly.  There's no feeling of being on the water. The very large black-backed gulls flew past at eye level, tempting me to take their photos, but its always the same – so hard to focus on such a contrasting moving target!

black backed sea gull cruising by!

After we got fully chilled we went down into the duty free shops to have a look at what was on offer – yep!  Toblerone and lots of booze.  I bought Michael a set of Swedish snaps – flavoured aquavit that has to be skåll-ed at midsummer, xmas or whenever there are hardy guests. 

So back to our cabins to catch some shut eye so that we are bright-eyed for our arrival in Helsinki at 9am.  I managed to take some photos of the sun going down into the sea  at 9:43pm, but we still continued to glide past outlying islands.

Lighthouse

Viking ferry ahead

Skol!

sunset soon

9:43pm

Day 24: Tidying up

Örebro Slott with Cycle de Vie

Today was our last full day in Örebro, so Karina and I went for a pedal out to Karlslund.  We rode into the centre to take some photos of Karina in front of the Slott (castle) in her Cycle de Vie t-shirt for the shop in Townsville.  

Svartan

 We then followed Svartan (The Black river) out of town – riding against the flow so to speak – and also following the signposts, so we couldn’t go wrong.

Karlslund Manor

Karlslund is a lovely manor house on the outskirts of Örebro with extensive gardens, especially an kitchen garden, plus a range of artist’s studios.  But we were there too early for anything to be open.   The manor house is a restaurant and conference centre and a popular venue for weddings.  There is also a horse riding school and stables, so there is very much a horsey, British feel about the place.  I didn't get a very good photo there so check out - http://www.orebro.se/5997.html - if you would like to know more. 

One of the small cottages within the grounds

On our way home, we diverted into the bakery I couldn’t find before.  This bakery specialises in sourdough breads of all different flavours, plus a wide range of yummy pastries, so we spent some money there!

Karina with Zingo

We went out to say goodbye to Ciri & Kalle and were treated again – this time with the yummiest gingerbread-spiced cake! 

Ciri's Gingerbread-spiced cake

Karina is planning on baking cup cakes with this recipe – wish I was in Townsville.  Marianne & Elin brought little Zingo over to say goodbye also.  Yes, there’s no getting away from it, our holiday is drawing to an end.

Flying banner

The Queen looking for the cook's boy!

 Agnete dropped us off at the Slott at 2pm so that we could go on the English tour of the castle.  This tour was decidedly shorter than the Swedish tour I did last time, but was enlivened by a couple of drama students, one acting as the queen and the other one as the Chancellor.  The queen was pretty believable – ditzy and concerned with how much food to get for the banquet!!  The Slott is the home of the region’s governor and is not open for general roaming around.  However it is used by the locals as a conference venue and also for weddings – they were preparing things for the one that day.  The guide did give a good account of some of the history, but I was a bit was disappointed about the brevity of it.  

This castle is quite different the the fortress at Savonlinna, Finland.  Although originally built in a strategic position to keep those Danes out of Sweden, it was more a castle for royalty to stay when visiting this region, whilst in Savonlinna one could almost hear swords clashing and see Russian or Swedish bodies being tossed from the parapets (whilst the Finns watched on in the neighbouring villages!)

within the courtyard of the Slott

thick walls

boosting your Vitamin D

Karina and I then strolled back through Stadsparken, Wådköping and back past the gorilla to the apartment. 

Reflections in Svartan

Towards Stadsparken

sculpture

Daisy Daisy give me your answer do!

There's a gorilla in there!

Later we loaded the bikes onto Suzi and drove over to the garage to give them a thorough clean, so there would be no hold up going through Australian customs.  After blasting them with a high pressure hose, soaping and scrubbing and rinsing and drying with the air compressor they looked like totally new bikes ready for another adventure.

So back to the apartment to pack and cram our extra things into postal boxes to send back the easy way.   Anna and Curtis came over for a quick goodbye also.  It’s always a bit sad and depressing at this end of a holiday…