Day 05: From Copenhagen to Stockholm, Sweden

Morning stop before leaving Copenhagen

After a fabulous breakfast, I packed my things and drove to Copenhagen to join the local church congregation. I met Markus and his wife again and the Lindorfs, another American couple who served on their mission in Slovenia about 15 years ago.

Then I drove on. I took the ferry to Sweden. My destination for the day was a hotel north of Stockholm. The total distance today was over 600 kilometers. The weather was good at first, but it was windy. But then the familiar dark gray clouds rolled in and I knew it was time to put on my rain gear. Another shower and then the weather cleared up again. The temperature was between 16 and 20 degrees. Just right, not cold, not hot. Two more thunderstorms came by but moved on before I hit them, so I only had a wet road but no more rain.

I drove past Jönköping and the big lake there. I also drove through Huskvarna, the home of the Husqvarna factory. Husquarna was founded in 1757 and production was moved to the town of Huskvarna in 1850. Initially, rifles were manufactured there. The era of Husqvarna motorcycles began in 1903. Today, the company belongs to Pierer AG in Austria, which also owns the KTM brand.

Southern Sweden is home to two other well-known brands: Scania (trucks and busses) and SAAB. I drove through Linköping, where SAAB has its production facilities. SAAB is a Swedish aerospace and defense company.

The sky was clearing, but it was windy, which helped me to stay focused and correct the bike when gusts of wind tried to push it off course. Otherwise the ride would have been very boring. The area in southern Sweden is mostly forested, with some agricultural land and the typical red wooden houses. A lot of grain is grown here.

I reached my destination at around 9 pm. The sun was still on the horizon and even at 11 pm it wasn't very dark.

Cherries, anyone?

As I was walking in a park near my hotel, I saw a cherry tree with ripe cherries. Unfortunately, they were out of reach from the ground. But it was interesting to see ripe cherries a month later than we are used to.

I travelled 691 km today and the trip counter was showing 2 160 km.