Sitting in the airport lounge waiting for flight to Norway. Long delays due to airline strike (no- these things don’t just happen in Oz) so have a bit of time to sum up up our last week.
WE LOVED STOCKHOLM!
Such a beautiful, lay back city- FABULOUS food, amazing history, friendly people, sooooo easy to get around – such a walkable city and endless daylight in which to do it.
Three days in inspiring conference for me since last post while David ‘did the town’ to its fullest.
Highlights:
Nobel museum
Day trip out in the archipelago to Sandhamn (David)
Abba museum (shamefacedly me)
Vasamusset
Gordana restaurant (David, me, work buddies and anyone who is anyone in Stockholm)
A city that should be on everyone’s bucket list….
A public holiday here in Sweden with loads of festivities. Stockholm turned on glorious weather for us again, allowing us to walk our legs off.
David and I set off early(ish) to Skansen – Stockholm’s open air museum. Historical Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian houses/cottages have been re-homed here as a living history with traditional trades (eg glass blowing, pottery) still operating. The most beautiful part however was walking through the lush wooded acreage and the views over Stockholm – very tranquil.
We caught the ferry back to old town – skirting islands lined with rows of beautiful old buildings
Old town was bustling with families and activity. We were drawn towards a lovely street choir of women in traditional dress when we found ourselves standing next to our very own family – Sarah and Ptolemy! Only in Sweden……
We spent the rest of the afternoon in the Nobel Museum. A couple of Australians featured prominently. There was a fabulous special exhibition of science laureates with life size photographs of them holding their own crayon drawings of their work, with audio recordings of them ‘walking you through’ their diagrams. A fabulous lesson in science communication.
Caught up with the team in Old Town for a hearty traditional dinner of Swedish meatballs. elk burgers and grilled salmon and mash. I drew the line at reindeer- somehow couldn’t bring myself to eat Rudolf!
After planning a flight-recovery sleep-in, the sunlight woke us up ridiculously early – there are only about 4 hours of darkness here, so doubt that we will get to see any of them.
The hotel has a fabulous breakfast spread including the BEST liverwurst which set us up for a day on our feet.
We had intended to catch the ferry to Djurgarden (island home to several of the museums), but the weather was superb so we continued walking and island hopped via the bridge. We were waylaid for a short time, caught up in the ‘practice’ parade of the king’s guard preparing for Swedish National Day tomorrow.
Saw some interesting things along the way…. Genuine Aussie BBQ including BBQ wombat??? Sold by an Aussie with strong Swedish accent! No thanks- I bought my own….. But good to know you can get one if needed
First sop was at the Vasamusset – home of the Vasa warship built in the early 1600s, which sank 20 minutes into its maiden voyage. It was pulled up from the sea bed in the 60s and has been restored- incredible structure, about 7 stores high and ornately carved – a work of art really.
From one extreme to another our next stop was the Abba Museum. Couldn’t resist having our photo taken with the team…. See anyone you know?
But DID resist the huge temptation to karaoke with video simulated Abba crew. Despite strong encouragement from David, watching some middle aged Swedish guy slaughtering Waterloo was a strong deterrent.
By the time we got home again we had been walking for 8 hours solid. Quick early dinner with newly arrived conference buddies & now hoping to beat the jet lag with an early night.
We arrived in Stockholm travel weary but with all bags in tact – although haven’t broken open the bike bags, so fingers crossed nothing has been damaged n transit. Very happy these babies arrived in one piece
Arrived in central Stockholm right in the middle of the Stockholm marathon so walked the last 200m (with our 64.5 kg of luggage ) as the road was closed to cars.
Funky little hotel right in the heart of Stockholm (thanks Olga if you’re reading this)- walking distance to everything.
Stashed our bike in the luggage store – room small so the bike or David had to go- dropped our bags off and headed off to explore.
Spent the afternoon and evening inOld Town – gorgeous cobblestoned original parts of the city. Mix of (slightly tacky) tourist shops and high class giftware/crafts. Reminded us of Salzburg only original rather than reconstructed post wW2.
Had dinner in a rustic pub style restaurant. Fabulous food and wine – only requiring a small extension to the mortgage.
Sitting here at 9pm in broad daylight- can’t believe we’ve been on the go for nearly 48 hours and still buzzing. Due to get dark here round 11 and light again at 3 – so let’s hope the curtains have good block out.
A much easier ride today. Cool breeze, totally flat and paved rail trail all the way. This is definitely the most beautiful section of the ride – long green canopies, rows of poplars and the trail following streams for most of the way.
Had lots of gourmet breaks – including the ‘must have’ sundaes from the Bright Berry farm, sampling oils and seeds at the Pumpkin Seed Factory, and the best Devonshire tea we’ve had in a long time at the Rail Trail Cafe. Best berry sundae ever!
Distance travelled 47km
Temperature 31 ( but felt like 41 at times)
Flies swallowed 5
Headed off early (well early somewhere in the world) to avoid the heat – which worked well for the first 10km. Then…… So glad we packed the spare
Back tracked to Everton, where we stopped at the general store for a Cool drink and to recover from roadside maintenance before rejoining the rail trail to Myrtleford.
Bus shelters in this neck of the woods sure have all the comforts of life!
Ride was Mostly flat except for a 7km uphill slog to Taylor’s Gap – made worth it by the sensational lunch at Gapstead Winery Wine, water and Gatoraid – the three biking essentials
The views were magical – we sat out on a deck overlooking the vineyard with the mountains in the distance. Our wine tasting was brought to us… Stayed for a couple of hours.
From there it was a long but downhill glide to Myrtleford. We were so delighted to find a pool in the front yard of our accommodation – suits on and in the water within minutes and wallowed there for the remainder of the afternoon – just what the tired old knees needed!
Distance travelled 37km
Wine tastings 2
Distance travelled riding under the influence……
After another hearty breakfast we set off round 10 with plenty of room in the panniers for prospective purchases. One hill climb and we were at our first cellar door – a small organic winery.
After a quick tasting we stowed our first bottle of red in our bike wine rack and headed off down the Murray to Mountains wine trail.
It was all down hill to Everton – we only pedalled twice in the first 8km!! – at Everton we left the trail and followed minor roads for the remainder of the trip to Milawa. A hot ride once out of the sheltered bike trail, but fortunately a bit of a breeze to cool us down.
Great produce along the way including olive groves (and tastings), mustard and cheese factories (more tastings). Mandatory purchases at each of course. Let’s just say you’ll be seeing a whole lot more of us when we get back.
Final stop for the day was at the beautiful Browns Brothers winery- where we tasted all things red – all tasted good by then, so hopefully they’ll be nice when we receive them back in Melb.
Tomorrow off to Myrtleford. Have been warned about magpies and slitherers on the Myrtleford trail, so will be riding head down and feet up.
The heavens descended today- thank goodness our ‘for real’ riding doesn’t start until tomorrow.
Started the day with a divine breakfast at our little B&B then umbrellas in hand we opted to explore shops rather than bike tracks. David managed to put a big dint in a legendary Bee Sting from the Beechworth Bakery – we have yet to find the perfect coffee to go with the yummy pastries, but that hasn’t stopped us trying.
Explored the local area by car and then later did a short ride to suss out our route for tomorrow.
I wonder if David has the feeling he is missing something?
“Oh bugger, I guess I’ll have to go back for her….”
Finished the day with pub dinner & long evening walk
Bike loaded up ready to go – fingers crossed that the rain has passed.
Thanks to all those who are interested (or polite) enough to re-visit our blog. We dusted off the green machine, broke her up into the largest possible bits to fit in the car & set off up the Hume……for an hour….until we realised we had left one of those essential bits on the garage floor!
So back to Balwyn and off again…….. I’m not saying anything ?
Lunch in Euroa then arrived in Beechworth late afternoon and found our beautiful little B&B – Barnsley House – a meticulously restored homestead built at the start of the gold rush- our room has French doors onto wide verandah & beautifully manicured garden…..will be hard to move on from here.
Our home for the next two days
Planning tomorrow”This is the heart of rail trail territory, so many choices for rides tomorrow. Only one caution – Beechworth sits on top of a (big) hill, so wherever we go will be a long haul back!……. Hmmm perhaps we should have done that training after all.
Ok, with the show well and truly over, and with time to kill in transit lounges- here are our reflections……
Would we do it again?: absolutely! Would we do it again together?: hmmmm…let us think…yes definitely. What (if anything) would we do differently?:
– no more than 4 days riding without a day offf (this seems to be the tiredness/grumpy threshold) – of course I never get grumpy…
– bring less stuff – yes, despite our lean hand luggage we still didn’t wear everything!
-learn key phrases in each language but also learn the possible responses- not much point in asking where the bike mechanic is if you can’t understand the answer!
– have more flexible accomodation – giving the option to stay longer in special spots.
– take waterproof stuff to wear over your waterproof stuff
What have we learned?
– we are more resilient than we thought
– we both kind of like rain and mud – weird I know!
– human nature is a wonderful thing – there are heaps of random souls just out there waiting to help you.
– take a BIG supply of clip-on Koalas to bestow on such souls.
