Day 3 

Sweden, up the E45 road

490 miles 

20160709_185229000_iOS




Today was a day of cruise control drudgery, 490 miles of pretty much solid forest with occasional towns.  Some of the towns were pretty big, and busy. But I reached them after riding 80 miles of almost empty roads, don't these people go out?  

The weather stayed dry during the day and was comfortably warm.
IG4A1890



This is what most of the day looked like....


Lots of classic American cars in Sweden,  more than I saw in the states 50s to 70s stuff mainly, a lot of big fin tailed caddies.  


I stopped at a campsite at 7pm after a solid 12 hours of mainly really boring riding, at one point I found myself changing gear so there would be a different noise for a while. I had been pushing on to get to Finland but when I saw a decent looking campsite about 20 miles from the border the urge to stop and rest was strong. 

There were heaps of insects on the road, I had to stop and clean the visor every half an hour as I would get to the point that I couldn't see. 
Then every time I stopped the bike would be swarmed by more insects because of the amount of insect death stuck to it! 

I saw quite a few reindeer on the road,  most of them just stand and watch you before ambling off into the trees eventually,  possibly a reason for the low speed limits.  

I got the tent up just in time for the sky to cloud over and a huge thunderstorm tested the waterproofing. Thankfully I stayed dry! The bike got slightly cleaner too. 
Each time I opened the tent then got back into it I would need to spend 5 minutes killing all of the biting insects that got in with me. I don't think it's fair to have midgies and mosquitos in the same country.

IG4A1895





IG4A1892




Sleep was disrupted by local kids making loads of noise in the river, and other ones making loads of noise on the road with cars racing and doing burnouts. I'm now at the point of 24 hour daylight, it was properly bright when I got up to check the bike and tell the remaining kids nicely to shut up. The police arrived at the same time. 

 Wrapped up in my sleeping bag with an eye cover on I slept until 6.10 when I woke up in a bright oven. Up and showered by 0700 with just the tent to pack away, then into Finland where there might be some scenery I could see...