Day 18: To Fårös – alls well that ends well.

Today was going to be just a mean pedal to Fårös – its only 75km and if I am strong and keep to the main road and with this strong wind blowing from behind, it should be no hassle.  Tad concerned because of lack of wifi haven’t check accom… but Here Maps show a hotel in Fårösund – the main town where the ferry to Fårös leaves, so should be all good.

It was one of those boring rides – just a main road winding along through pine forest.  The pines are quite small and gnarled looking – so don’t think they’re much good for timber industry, tho am sure they would make good loo paper with a little softening!! 

Went to Gothem tho – it’s got the biggest church bell on the island – apparently the bell was made for the church in Visby, but it was too big so Gothem scored it as their church is bigger – and it is!!  It felt really old with huge pillars of stone in the aisle supporting the arched ceiling.  It’s got hand-painted pictures on the wall, quite faded now – but one particularly interesting one with Christophos in the middle, Pappa on one side and Mohamet on the other!!!!  No…  it’s not a recent addition.  There were some bizarre paintings on some wooden panels too – and then hanging from a hole in the ceiling was the bell rope….  Are you one of those people that can almost not control themselves when they see a red button that says don’t push?  Or a rope that needs pulling?  I hung onto my camera and kept well away, but the urge was very strong.

But apparently – the lady in the coffee shop told me a little while later – that the bell is rung every day at 8am and 4pm.  Her husband is learning the tricks as there is never enough people to put their names on the roster….  None of this electric bell chimes here.  Would have been good to hear it, but it was only 2pm….

So things got a bit pear-shaped as I got into Fårösund.  First I thought I would just catch the ferry and find some accom on the other side – could see some house, so surely there’s a town there.  But no!  once off the ferry (it’s about a 5 min ride and it leaves every ½ hour and its free!!) its immediately out into the country.  So I asked a lady cycling ahead of me and she shook her head and said nothing is open yet, it’s too early in the season, I think….

So a quick uey and back onto to the ferry before it left – the boom gate was down, but the captain saw me coming and opened the gate for me!  So – find that hotel.  No signs, but eventually tracked it down – very quiet and when I called the number, it kept coming up with “this number is not connected”…  so I went off to a coffee shop which was just closing and asked the young girl.  Oh no, that’s closed, they’ve sold it.  Wot about the hostel?  Oh no…  that’s a refugee centre – but she tried to call the owner there, but got no answer…  there might be something on the island – about 10km along the road, she thought…  Fåröshus perhaps…  dang – it was already 6pm and starting to get chilly tho the sun was still brightly shining…  so back onto the ferry (the captain was scratching his head I think!) and off along the only road on the island…  I think…  saw a camping sign, but the gate was shut – but not locked so I went in…  the cabins were all locked, but the community rooms were open and had nice comfy looking sofas…  but no loos…  well, it’s an option…  but thought I should ride on a little further…  Oh there’s Fåröshus – but no-one is around and another place close by had “Stängt” in the window, so do I go back to the sofas?  Saw a group of guys discussing something outside the church, looked like locals so asked them…  The boss gave the Fåröshus guy a call, but he was in Helsingbo (southern Sweden near Malmö) so the boss told me of this Slow Train – its where that crazy guy has all that American junk and cars….  Music place…  ah yes, I had read about that…  so I thought if I can’t find that I am going back to the sofa.

So…  to cut an already long story a tad shorter, I tracked down the slightly bemused looking owner, but they were having dinner, so if I didn’t mind waiting in Elsie’s café for about 45mins, they would then show me to the room.  Elsie’s café was kinda cute place, but was feeling a tad pooped by then, so dozed on their sofa until he came back to show me my cottage…  suddenly all the negative feelings I was feeling about this f….. Fårös vanished and I was in love with my cottage…  as you will see from the photos down below….  So maybe I will stay 2 nights here!  Think there is internet, but might need a code…  all’s well that ends well!!!