From Östersund to Tärnaby
A long way on lovely roads
At the moment I leave Östersund I fall into the old habits: I spend two nights
in my tent and one night in a hostel to have a shower and the opportunity to cook
or to bake my own bread. When the weather is fine, I go about 80 to 90 miles a day,
otherwise about half the distance. Most of the time, however, the weather is
much better than the picture makes me believe. So I have no problems in keeping
up with the necessary average of a hundred kilometers a day.
From Östersund I choose a minor road that leads me to names as mysterious as
Munkflohögen and Strömsund. The problem is, that those untared
roads are covered with smaller stones, potholes and bumps. So the surface
requires so much attention that I decide to return to the bigger roads as
soon as possible. If your eyes are bound by the surface of the road you loose all
the advantages of the minor roads: scenery and quietness. And road works are
something special up here. You may face 10 miles of torn open lanes - and
nobody working on them.
The 17th day is a rather messy one. The weather is poor and I can't find a convenient spot for camping, so I end up late in the evening on a river bank among a lot of camping cars, most of them from Sweden. However, before getting to the spot I pass by a beaver dam and take a photo.
The next morning I reach Storuman on the E 79 and turn towards
Norway. Today I don't get very far. In the early morning I check into the
youth hostel of Tärnaby, the hometown of Ingmar Stenmark, one
of the most successful ski racers ever. On my way I meet the first heard of reindeers,
slowly passing what the americans call a highway.
I go straight to downtown Tärnaby to buy some material to bake my own bread. I don't
like the swedish bread because it is sweet. And while cycling there is no
better food than bread or cereals (Müsli, not what the british take that for).
The day towards Tärnaby has ruined my moral by strong head winds. And the next day is said to be 120 km long...
