68 km today to arrive in Oskarshamn (pronounced Oscar’s Ham). Many of the staff /service people in town wear t-shirts to that effect.
I’ve seen scenery from all over Europe, and I love the scenery in Sweden. Most of the trip has been through dark forests or fields. The huge rocks seemingly placed at random in the middle of fields contrast with the forests and growth within the rocks. It’s not the raw majesty of the Alps, but something different. The open wilderness readily lends itself to wild camping, which is legal in Sweden.
Certainly sections of the forest do show heavy deforestation, which makes sense given how many things in Sweden are made from wood instead of plastic. But those sections are fairly isolated.
And everywhere wild flowers. By the side of the road. Intermixed with the wheat in the fields.
We had lunch in a field overlooking a lake (and nearby cows). We rode under the threat of rain the second half of the day, always with blue sky and fluffy clouds in front of us, but dark clouds to either side. Despite a period of thunder, we had only a couple intervals of light rain (enough to make us nervous but never enough to get us wet).
I pulled out the upcoming ferry schedules only to realize I’d originally added all the dates to the calendar in Eastern Standard Time. Now that I’m not IN EST, everything on the calendar was off by 6 hours (which in at least one case made it on a different day). Hopefully fixed now.
The staff tonight have been amazing. The bathroom might be the smallest I’ve ever seen. In a cute way.