Final day of riding - to Ludvika, Sweden

Stora Tuna Kyrka - can be seen for miles away - it is Large!

all the gravesites had a beautiful raked pattern in sand - apparently the church gardener does it

Ski fields - very quiet

Romme Alpinn lodge - purple gravel not flax fields!

beautiful lake (again) with maybe a slag heap dumped on the side ?

You tell me!  I can't even guess

maybe connected to slag heap - so for mining??

Again!  back on Route 66 - nice shoulder and not too much traffic this time!
To Ludvika

The first thing I did when I woke up in Borlange, was pull back the curtain and check the weather - same as every morning...  Perfect weather at this time of the morning - 6am...  not a blade of grass was moving, not a single birch leaf quivering - oh if only it would stay this way!

I opened up Google to check for plans of exit from Borlange - the hotel was on the southern edge of town, which was great because I didn't have to ride through town again...  yes - there was a secondary road leading to Smedgebacken, then there would be about 15km dash along Route 66 to Ludvika.

so everything must somehow get put back into the panniers, riding clothes on and down to breakfast.  I thought the young guy on reception said 6:30 start for breakfast, but there was nothing happening - yep, that is far too early....  but by 7:30 the door was unlocked and apart from me, there was only one other partaker of the ample spread - and they had porridge but I didn't see it until I had filled my bowl with muesli.

soon Maggie was released from the storage room, loaded with all the gear - gopro set up, gps switched on and tied on - helmet, gloves, sunglasses - a bit sunscreen slapped on as well and away we go.

I had soon left the town behind me and was pedalling through fields, but wait!  here I am already in a small town that's not on the map...  yes, am going in right direction - hmmmm.....  should I have turned right earlier?  but there had been no roads.  think think think - no I will ride on some more...  I think that the suburbs of Borlange may have slipped out into the countryside here and as such weren't really another town, but it had me worried for awhile.  Eventually I came to a T-junction and luckily there was a man walking his dog, so I politely enquired whether I was on the right road to Halvarsgardarna and he confirmed that I was!

so away we went, heading south again.  I had been seeing a church spire for quite a way and it wasn't long before I was riding up past it.  the Stora Tuna Kyrk is very stora - ie Large.  I spoke with a couple who had arrived about the same time as me (by car) and they said that when it was built, the people of the town wanted their town to be the main one around, so they thought by building the biggest church they would become the centre.  but it wasn't to be - for some reason Borlange became the main town in this region.  an extension was added to the spire, but Stora Tuna Kyrke never became the centre.  But what was interesting was the gravesites in the churchyard.  They all had a sandy gravel covering which was raked in beautiful Japanese style patterns.  each one appeared to different and they were so neat, one would have to think that they are done every day.  But it was only 9am!  anyways, it was a nice touch.

so onwards we rode and soon out into the countryside again.  at first through the fields of grain, already yellow and getting ready for reaping.  Rumour has it that the crops weren't so good.  The hot dry weather had dried out the grain before it was fully mature, so the farmers weren't so happy.  It had been a really cold start to the growing season in June, then July was one of the hottest on record...  everyone was scratching their heads about the weather - its never been so hot!

on the hills to the east, I could see ski fields - looking very empty.  The forest is cleared away in wide tracks and alongside these bare tracks you can see the ski lift standing rather motionless (I am guessing, as I was a long way away!)  but it was very green, not white at all.

as I approached Halvarsgardarna I could see a rather steep hill ahead.  Oh yes, this must be the bump in the contour map....  am I ready for this?  why not!  about 1/3 of the way up the hill I could see a bike path, on the other side of the road, so I guess I should take that.  But it looked much steeper than the road!  and yes it was.  I huffed and puffed, but did not make it to the top!  slowly I pushed Maggie up the last little bit, pausing to listen to the birds - and to catch my breath.  But then the path totally ended and I found myself on gravel streets winding between houses.  OK - lets get back onto the main road before I get totally lost again!

after the previous day of punching into a head wind, it was great to be riding freely along through the wonderful scenery of Sweden.  after the Big Hill, there were a few more, but I could feel that the downs were getting longer than the ups!  phew!!  there was some forest to ride through, then down to the lakes level.  I really love riding alongside the lakes - they glitter between the trees and there's often places to stop to stretch the old legs and munch on a handful of nuts and an apple or banana.  Most of these lakes look deserted, but sometimes there's a pontoon or a boat pulled up on the side, evidence that other people are sometimes here.  but often there's no sign of anyone and so its so peaceful.

eventually I rode down the hill into Smedgebacken - a small town with an interesting square.  I bought a coffee and a muffin, just to get me through the last 15km or so to Ludvika and to check the maps to see if there was an alternative to Route 66.  Karina and I rode along this highway back into 2012 and it was a tad scary with no shoulder and cars flashing past at 100km, but that was much further east - in fact at the moment there are forest fires near Sala, that are proving very hard to control....

But I couldn't see any easy options, so head down and away we go.  It was actually a nice ride as there was a wide shoulder - for slower cars to move onto when being overtaken - and generally I had this all to myself.  At one place a rather large tractor bounced up behind me, but was easily able to overtake me without upsetting any cars.

Eventually I arrived at the outskirts of Ludvika - so better stop and plan my journey to the Railway Station.  Well, it looks like straight ahead, so away we went and amazingly, it was basically that.  I found the railway line and the bus terminal and eventually the railway station building.  There was the little Dalahest, standing on the road divide, saying "Velkommen to Ludvika" - made it!  I leant Maggie up against the wall and looked around as I took off my helmet.  Just then a grey Suzuki 4WD turned into the car park!  Yes! it was A&A arrived just at the same time to collect me.  What good planning that was!

So the end of a wonderful adventure in the Northern Hemisphere!  It seems so long ago that I was arriving in Moscow, all excited about that tour - then off to beautiful Norway (and their hills!) and then crossing into the Swedish wilderness and down to Dalarna!  two days of head wind are easily forgotten!  the rest were wonderfully different and exciting in their own ways.  The satisfaction of making it to the top of some hills, the exhilaration of flying down the other side - seeing those reindeers and all the sights, sounds and smells of different countries all make up a wonderful holiday.  I felt I saw a glimpse of the strength of the Russian people - how they have managed to survive so many changes and hardships and be so resiliant.  Meeting wonderful people in Norway and Sweden and always being treated with respect by all the drivers that waited till it was safe to pass - even in Russia!!

so now a week with my Swedish family friends - and then crash!  back to reality - but that includes kisses and cuddles from my 2 wonderful grandchildren - (I hope that LBC remembers me!!)

Thanks for sharing my adventures with me - I hope you have been entertained for some of the time at least!