Lapland

[Olof_imp]

D+11. Nyköping to Borgholm. Nice, dry and reasonably cool weather and both bikes gleaming after yesterday's pampering. We were both looking forward to this day, both for the riding and for the accommodation in Borgholm - Queen Kristinas hotel and health resort, established in the 1920s and fairly unchanged since. Also this day was divided into two parts. From Nyköping to Valdermarsvik we followed the old coastal roads, connected by two ferries. In Sweden these are public and free of charge, running all year and most of the hours. The first was the largest, crossing the bay Bråviken at Skenäs. Here ferries have operated since 1900, the first years int the form of a barge. This barge was first towed by a sailboat with oars, later by a motor boat with a pretty weak engine. If the wind was to strong it happened that the boat and barge drifted helplessly away from the route, inding up in the mud neaby Norrköping. We were fine though.

The Skenäs ferry



The second ferry was much smaller, a cable ferry which crossed the 250 meter wide Stegeborg strait in three minutes. We spent these minutes admiring the Stegeborg Castle. The Castle, or its predecessors, has been around since at least 1310 when it first appears in documents. The ferry service was established sometime 1540-1560. We parked the bikes by the castle for today's first, and eagerly awaited, cup of coffe at the Stegeborg inn. We were today's first customers. A lone teenager behind the counter said that he was sorry but the coffe brewer was broken so no coffe. But we could have ice cream. We suspected that he simply did not know how to operate the brewer and considered doing it for him. Eventually we decided to go for the ice cream anyway (which admittedly was really good). And the morning view over the bay was spectacular.

The Stegeborg ferry and castle




The small roads to Valdermarsvik were great, which was good as we then had to go on the busy main road, the E22, down to Kalmar. After a couple of hours of that we could cross the bridge to the island Öland and landed in Borgholm just in time for afternoon tea.

The facade of Queen Kristinas hotel and health resort