June 12: Day 42, Vänersborg-Åmål
The Hotell Hehrne only had two couples and me at breakfast, but they still prepared enough food for a platoon. I did my best to stop their efforts going to waste ... I had cereal, bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages. The pastries were mini-croissants but I put a clear dent in their numbers. So I was a bit late getting on the road, but it was for a good cause. But I suppose a certain amount of self-indulgence is also arguably a reason...
The route basically retraced the path I took into town last night, went through the center, then took the (busy and partly closed) bridge over the river, turned off the main road ... and suddenly I'm surrounded by trees, there's no sign that there's a town five minutes behind me. The route stayed on a nicely arranged cyclepath beside a nicely maintained road for a few kilometers... then went into a rather large summer resort complex guarded by a car-stopping barrier arm? I stopped to check the map, because this felt like trespassing; but the route clearly went this way so I found a way around the barrier and rolled in.
The route went past parked caravans, astroturf tennis courts, sandy playing fields, all the way to the lakeside, which was very picturesque; then it turned into a route called "Pilgrim's path" and headed into the forest. Pilgrims apparently don't need asphalt, they're happy with gravel singletrack. They don't mind hills either - and some of these hills were fierce; I had to get off and walk on some of them.
I'm always a bit nervous going off down singletrack into a forest, the map doesn't give hints about whether it'll be five minutes or half a day before the track rejoins civilization. And given that it's a pilgrim's path there's always the possiblity of meeting some pilgrims, and if their route is any guide, I don't think that would be fun!
From left to right: breakfast buffet for five people. Nicely painted. The lakeside, as the route turned into the Pilgrim’s path. An easy section of said path.
But as is the way of these things, the route is in forest with no sign of other people one minute, and among houses the next. The route switched up to a very well-kept gravel road (smooth surface, almost no potholes), asphalt, and then went on major road with no space for cyclists for a few kilometers. It wasn't quite lunchtime but since today's route didn't pass through many towns I went an extra kilometer to the nearby town to find something to take for lunch. Google Maps claimed there was even a supermarket; let's be generous and presume that word got lost in translation somehow - see the picture below! There was a convenience store, where I got a beetroot chicken curry baguette. More on that later.
From left to right: According to Google Maps, I’m looking at a supermarket. This is the view, and I’m not sure I agree. Packed lunch from another store, with baguette. The flat grassland that prompted thoughts of central Canada.
Before picking the European Divide I had looked briefly at cycling across Canada. One offputting thing I'd heard is that there's nothing but flat fields as far as the eye can see for week after week. This has come to mind a few times recently, as I've passed through some places that are flat fields for kilometers ... but there are with clumps of trees and wind turbines here. At times it looks like a sea of grass, with houses and trees on islands rising out of it. Probably more varied than it would have been in Canada!
Remember the baguette? At lunchtime I got it out of the bag and discovered the clingfilm had opened up slightly, leaking out some of the filling. But since the filling included beetroot this made the problem much more consequential! I carefully wiped up all the filling I could find, but if there's some rogue pink patches around, this will be why.
I had set up a route to visit the Håverud aqueduct, which is part of the connection between the Dalsland lake and the Vänern. This is worth a visit because connecting the waterways was difficult; there's quite a few meters of height difference. (I'm never again going to be impressed by a lock that only changes level by a few meters, I've been spoiled by all the epic locks here in Sweden.)
And there's the aqueduct: because in addition to the height difference there was also a river to cross. Canals going over bridges always impress me, and this one is especially big. 330,000 rivets used during construction, apparently. It was inaugurated in 1868, and is still in use today.
From left to right: selfie while on the road. The Håverud aqueduct has a road and rail bridge overhead. The aqueduct itself. Apple from the breakfast buffet. River view when walking home tonight.
Unfortunately when getting off the bike at the end, my shorts quietly ripped! Nothing R-rated, fortunately, but the seat padding is visible so I need to sew it up before tomorrow.
I'd exchanged several messages with the place I'm staying tonight - eg they wanted to know if I needed to rent sheets and towels, which doesn't bode well. It was very cheap, and even with the sheet rental included it’s still a pretty good price. It doesn't offer breakfast so I went to the supermarket: it may have been a hungry shop; I have fruit and yoghurt and juice. If there's leftovers after breakfast, we'll know...
What I’m listening to: Black Is The Color Of My True Love’s Hair / Meshell Ndegéocello: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUcbrtIM9yc
The full album is here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLf2L3W_ojt9z58o6LFqEVeylUOQCWG-4G
