June 25: Day 55, Skellefteå-Piteå
Short ride today, 6 hours. I did all the routing yesterday when the weather was rainy and horrible and I was probably too conservative. I think I could have compressed the first three days down to two if I'd spent the time and effort on it; but deliberately choosing an 8+ hour ride when the weather outside is cold and miserable was beyond me.
Anyway. Breakfast came in a brown paper bag, it was a German-style bread and vegetable thing. I should have brought it along for lunch! But I didn't think of it ... I wasn't at my best this morning; I didn't sleep well - there was a Midsommar dance party nearby that went well past midnight, and I also may have had a bit too much coffee too late. I fixed that by having more coffee, and demolished half their museli plus the bananas and yoghurt I picked up last night.
The weather forecast from Komoot was "17% chance of light rain" which I'm not going to be fooled by again: on two memorable occasions I needed a raincoat and high-viz after that forecast. So this time I checked the local forecasts at both ends of the day's ride; both said the morning would be grey and the afternoon would be sunny which is probably trustworthy.
Grey it was. And wet. It wasn't that awful but I did weigh up the choices that led to me being out here on a Sunday morning needing to cycle 100km, instead of (say) being back home on the couch with a coffee. It's probably connected to choosing to have another coffee, late at night.
By this time I was already down the road, through the roadworks, and on the cyclepath. Past an ICA supermarket: I could get pastries! After all those recriminations about poor impulse control? Maybe not. I kept going.
The route started on the main road out of town, turned onto a minor road, then onto something that looked like a dead-end suburban street, zigzagged past some flower boxes in the street to block cars, and then on a rural road with farms on either side. After 45 minutes it goes through Kåge: maybe there's a cafe here? Google Maps says no and I’ve clearly had enough coffee already.
A bit after 11 it passes through Byske, and I pick up a big chocolate biscuit and a pastry. The chocolate definitely makes things better. The weather is still grey but the road is drying out.
From left to right: Starting out, so unwelcoming I got a picture to remember it. Overcast and foggy. Damp roads. Wet fields.
Then the route takes a gravel road through the woods. There's raised platforms for hunting every few minutes. The forest is not thick, the trees are thin and spaced so you can see a long way, but even so I do wonder how long you need to wait before a deer wanders close enough for a clean shot.
I pass a dog walker, which is surprising because I'm kilometers from town by now. A tandem bikepacker going the other way. Also a solo bikepacker, with front and back panniers. The road returns to asphalt, and there's some very long straight sections - which look great, you can see the shape of the hills all the way to the horizon. Not too steep, I’m happy to report.
I have a chat to a German bikepacking couple who are circumnavigating the Baltic sea. Like me, they're finding it difficult around here - accomodation is harder to find. And finding a good route close to the sea is a struggle.
From left to right: clouds starting to fade and the sun starting to appear. Lunchtime for me; also lunchtime for a lot of biting bugs. Long straight roads in the sun. And still a few lakes.
By now the sun is out and I'm most of the way to Piteå. I'm going to be close to Komoot's six hour estimate, which means an unusually early arrival. I definitely could cycle for another few hours if needed; but having some time off sounds better.
From left to right: A bridge just for bicycles - stylish, elegant, expensive, hopefully used. I was pretty keen to not carry the bike up to the room. Cloudberry lemonade! Path to the seaside. The view.
I'm staying in Skoggs B&B, which is actually a hotel. An unattended and locked hotel, which presumably has been taken over by a much classier hotel called Kust because that's where I need to go to check in. Breakfast is served there - this bodes well, having my cheap B&B hotel breakfast upgraded to a four-star buffet is a great way to start the day!
Back at Skoggs I squeeze the bike into the lift, I'd rather not carry everything up two floors. By the time I'm showered and presentable it's 4pm, time for a pre-dinner coffee. Short days are great!
Well… maybe it’s just the summer sunshine.
What I’m listening to: Batman: The musical / Jim Steinman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhRTFIzOwpA
Stage versions of Disney’s “Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast” did extremely well, and someone at Warner Bros. pitched the idea that they could do it too… with “Batman”. They hired Jim Steinman to compose the songs - he’s best known for writing for Meatloaf. Tim Burton was attached to direct the show. It all fell apart, sadly; Warner Bros. pivoted to “Lestat”, a musical version of “Interview with a Vampire” with songs by Elton John, which bombed, after which Warner Bros. gave up on musicals. This is the demo recordings; some of the songs got repurposed for Meatloaf’s album “Bat of Hell III”.
Also: How about “Dance of the Vampires”; a hit in Europe but a bomb in the US: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbanDp13B20
