Day 4

Thursday 8th August.

Head chef at a local golf club, fed and watered both me and Barkley for free! Oh and of course recharged my battery.

Back on the road.

Disaster. The back brake disk came loose, the second one to do this, and sheared through the back wheel motors cable. Took me a good half hour to smash what was left of it off so I could move it again. Left I where it was and knocked on the doors of a few houses that were relatively close by, luckily one was occupied.

The couple that owned the house had just bought it, it was their dream home. Initially they were very helpful, the woman getting me tools while , when he arrived home, the man helping me fix the bike and seemingly quite chatty.  They told me the only person they knew was a farmer from next door, who was currently helping them widen their driveway with his digger. After a while a man pulled up on a motorbike and spoke briefly to the women then left, she didn't seem to know him. I struggled on with the wheel, the man spoke to his wife and asked if I needed anything from the store for my bike, and if I did would drive me there as he was going anyway. When we returned the man and wife spoke to each other and I carried on with the bike. It was at this point I noticed the man's attitude changed. It felt very much like he wanted me to hurry up and leave, and he wasn't exactly hiding it. This was stark contrast to how they had both been earlier. I got the hint and even though he knew there wasn't anywhere for miles, watched me push the bike out of his yard still broken. It was all very strange.

I managed to half push half cycle the behemoth of a tricycle to a cafe a few mile down the road where they let me store my bags while I set camp.

Day 3

Wednesday 7th August.

Nice restaurant food and owner let me charge the battery. Still in Stockholm.

Beautiful landscape

Massive house

Second stop to top up the battery, a road side burger store.

The man from Azerbaijani!

Some strange random sculpture

I was here!

I slept here. We both got bitten half to death.

Random videos of the day.

Struggling to keep up with the backlog, working on catching up

Travelling home day 11

Wednesday 15th August

Last night was a nightmare. Google maps decided to send me not a motorway. With no way to turnaround I had to quickly pull to the side and set up camp in small patch of trees.

Woke up this morning to this. It was a nightmare dragging the bike through the trees to avoid going back down the motorway the wrong way.

First stop breakfast and charge battery. Found a biltima which was lucky as I need to tighten the back wheel with a 21mm spanner.

Met a friendly chap in biltima cafe, bought Barkley a few hotdog sausage. We got talking about what I'm doin and then another man came in and joined in the conversation without being asked. Asked me where I'm going and that he knew an American who uses GPS inbox bike and chooses the bike route which plots him his course. I asked him why he was here and he told me he was just here to recharge his battery. He was bringing up strange conversation, saying if I was to do anything wrong on my bike that is be arrested immediately.  Why say that?

Eleanor help me charge my battery at biltima

8 euros for a coffee!!! But on the plus side you do get a free cinnamon bun.

Various photos along the way

best teabag and packet ever

Petter let me recharge the battery at Handelsträdgården Löfstad slott

Thanks!

Louis Brown from Max Linkoping

 

stuck under a bridge under heavy rainfall. 

Goodnight

Day 2

Tuesday 6th August.

Back at the ferry with ticket in hand. Parked the bike in the car section and headed up stairs to my cabin. After storing my bags and battery I headed up to the top deck. 

Wednesday 7th August
Arrived in Stockholm and headed for the train station but was told to return the next day to see if it would be possible to get my bike on the train to Malmö. Spoke with a very helpful worker who found me a hostel place, and met a Swedish women who randomly approached me and spoke at length about my dog and bike. She wanted me to stay a few days to show me the city but not having time I pressed on to the hostel. The hostel was closed when I arrived but I had the fortune t bump into a young man from London who helped me find alternative accommodation. Though he was super nice and helpful we were unable to find anywhere that didn't need a mortgage for a night's rest of one that would allow Barkley in the room.
We both ended up sleeping under a table with my emergency storm tent thrown ver the top, it fit perfectly to make a great temporary tent while it thundered and lightened.
Woke up the next day and was approached by a foreign Swedish guy wanting to borrow tools to fix his bike. I lent him some bits and after a while went over to see what the problem with his bike was. It was clear that he wasn't fixing the bike but hacking away at the lock. I asked him why he was stealing the bike and I wanted no part of it so he returned my tools, adamant he had lost the key.
I hung around as approached 3 different people to ask them to call the police. The first was a guy who just shrugged his shoulders and continued to walk past. The second was a women who said she didn't have time. I said , what if it was your bike, but she just replied that if she had time when she got home then she'd call them. The third was a big fat guy who pretended to call the police as he walked away, all the time the thief moping about in the background waiting for the coast to be clear so he could continue his illegal act. I hung around for another hour or so before giving up and leaving for the train station.

Travelling home day 1

I left England, home, 18 years or so years ago. This is a diary of my way back home.

Monday 5th August.

All packed. Travelled to the ferry first thing in the morning only to find it full. Stored bags in the Turku ports storage and returned home until the next day.

Crab

A crab will think nothing of being in a pot as the heat of the water slowly rises.
Dont be a crab. Or a lettuce. But definitely not a crab.

Lottery. The system is rigged.

Centralization of money is never a good thing, yet lottery payouts are doing just that. Better to have 1 Multi millionaire or a 100 millionaires?

Why are the payouts so uneven?

First prize on the Euro Jackpot with odds of millions upon millions to 1.  19 million euros

Second Prize on the Euro Jackpot, with odds of millions to 1, 700 Euros ( lowest recorded )

Doesn't add up to me, only winning the jackpot will change anyone's life, 2nd prize is a week in Marbaya.

Do not share wealth. Naughty.