The World Cyclist

Keith went north almost to the Arctic Circle before heading south through Finland. He said he saw arctic hares and then a moose , which was terrified of him but not of cars. Helsinki in a day or 2, then ferry to Tallinn and south to Odessa to try and get the once a week [...]

I have been dreading coming to the north of Sweden due to fears of cold weather (my original route would have brought me here two or three weeks later). Faced with a delay of two days to get a ferry to Gdansk, I decided to bite the bullet and returned to my original route. I’ve [...]

The last tweet referred to ideas of quitting. I now realise that my physical condition was dur to over-exertion. I’d discovered a new (to me) technique for pedaling which gave a dramatic increase in speed. I happily used this to thrash my way up several hills and forgot about it. When I came to the [...]

Still cycling north, sunny and warm till the sun sets (Sweden time 9pm) then the thermometer drops and the excellent sleeping bag and kit worth its weight in gold!!!  Getting lots of buffet lunches, fantastic value and home cooked.
Hi to the boys in Vestra? s of Tomba….. great greenhouse.
 Also met a chap who gave Keith [...]

Cycling in Sweden is great. From Karlskrona to Kalmar, made mistake here of not bothering to cycle 3km into town to eat, the 3km back to campsite… so only had a kebab which didnt give anywhere near enough energy for the next day.
However yesterday in Monstelas (?) he had achoice of Thai restaurant or a [...]

Yes, 230km and well before dark….happy boy, in a bar for food then to a small campsite, shower and TV room for the night. Motala, Sweden.

Camped by a lake last night in Sweden, near a village called Habo. (Jonnkoping nearest city) woke up and cycled 50km before breakfast with the best view ever.
I’m looking at the map and its Lake Vattern, and about 130km long. Keith says Sweden has been great for cycling and hes met some great people here.
juli

Having studied the figures, even at this rate I’m (just) within world record schedule. I have decided to give it another go; I’m not convinced it will work, being so close to empty, but having got this far it seems a waste to let it go too easily…

I’ve always been aware that this venture was on a knife edge, with success or failure but a moment away. In retrospect, failure was a grinding inevitability, from the moment I thought “I’ll just eat when I feel I need to”. The end result of that strategy was an inability to turn the pedals enough [...]

Those pedals are flying round. Keith has done the rest of Germany and Denmark, got the ferry across to Larvik, found a track up a hill and went exploring before finding the right trail / road and made it to Oslo for a well earned rest. Now he has all the summer daylight of Scandinavia [...]