Lapland

[GoldOxide_imp]

Nice share Olof. Keep 'em coming!

[Stichill_imp]

My goodness, such an exotic tray of meats!

Weather and scenery look perfect.

[Olof_imp]

D+2 continued. The scenery today was mostly this. Straight wide roads flanked by pine forests. Not much traffic, only he odd timber truck (always speeding but with millimeters precision), motorhome (most often at snail pace) and incredibly dirty 20-year old run Volvo with roof racks.



Occasionally we went through small groups of houses but very little industry. Made you wonder how these people made a living. Almost no shops Often however there was a small roadside cafe serving home made pastries. No franchises. We had lunch in Särna and chatted with the owner. He had moved from Malmö city to ger away from the stress: "Here it's more important how your chain saw is running than how much your wrist watch costs. This is heaven."

As we moved further west, towards the Norwegian border and even less populated areas, the roads became worse. Still tarmac, but uneven, bumpy and holed. Eva could still maintain a decent pace with her V-strom but the RS bounced all over the place. We reminded ourselves that we were on holiday and slowed down to 40-50 km/h.



We arrived at Hotell Kallgården https://www.hotelkallgarden.com/ in the village of Kall after a long climb from Järpen. Built in the 1920s by two widows, sold in the 1950s and then run unchanged by the same family for 40 years it had stood unused for years. Now bought and re-opened, still very much unchanged. This was our room view.

[Cormanus]

Great work, Olof (and Eva).

[GoldOxide_imp]

Cool Olof. About as close as "offroad riding" for the RS as you wish to be?

[Olof_imp]

D+2. P.S. I forgot to mention the dinner at Kallgården - smoked trout with herb sauce and new potatoes, worthy of a picture:



D+3. A big day, since we'd be crossing over Stekenjokk, Sweden's highest located permanent road, Vildmarksvägen ("The Wilderness Road", a somewhat naff name I must admit). Stekenjokk is one of the indigenous Sami people's places for reindeer to feed during the summer. In 2013 Stekenjokk recorded continuous wind speeds of 170 km/h (110 mph) during that year's major storm. The road is closed wintertime and opens on June 6 every year. Starting the day with some chain maintenance.



From Kall via Järpen we followed the main road, the E45, until Strömsund. Nothing special, just covering the distance and stopping for ice cream every now and the as the temperatures were creeping up. Strömsund is the southern entry point for Vildmarksvägen so efter topping up on petrol there we expected immediate and proper adventure stuff. But no. At first the only difference was the lack of houses. Just endless forests. After an hour or so the roads started to deteriorate. Then we were increasingly attacked by gnats when we stopped. Progress was now slower than planned and we were a few hours behind schedule. At Gäddede, the last outpost before the climb to Stekenjokk we called it a day. By chance we found a pair of beds at the Pilgrim Hotel, a spiritual non-profit place dedicated to bringing people closer to nature. The view across the lake:

[GoldOxide_imp]

Nice snack Olof.

[pdedse]

D+2. P.S. I forgot to mention the dinner at Kallgården - smoked trout with herb sauce and new potatoes, worthy of a picture:



D+3. A big day, since we'd be crossing over Stekenjokk, Sweden's highest located permanent road, Vildmarksvägen ("The Wilderness Road", a somewhat naff name I must admit). Stekenjokk is one of the indigenous Sami people's places for reindeer to feed during the summer. In 2013 Stekenjokk recorded continuous wind speeds of 170 km/h (110 mph) during that year's major storm. The road is closed wintertime and opens on June 6 every year. Starting the day with some chain maintenance.



From Kall via Järpen we followed the main road, the E45, until Strömsund. Nothing special, just covering the distance and stopping for ice cream every now and the as the temperatures were creeping up. Strömsund is the southern entry point for Vildmarksvägen so efter topping up on petrol there we expected immediate and proper adventure stuff. But no. At first the only difference was the lack of houses. Just endless forests. After an hour or so the roads started to deteriorate. Then we were increasingly attacked by gnats when we stopped. Progress was now slower than planned and we were a few hours behind schedule. At Gäddede, the last outpost before the climb to Stekenjokk we called it a day. By chance we found a pair of beds at the Pilgrim Hotel, a spiritual non-profit place dedicated to bringing people closer to nature. The view across the lake:

Ok, I'm curious...what are "new potatoes"?

[GoldOxide_imp]

D+2. P.S. I forgot to mention the dinner at Kallgården - smoked trout with herb sauce and new potatoes, worthy of a picture:



D+3. A big day, since we'd be crossing over Stekenjokk, Sweden's highest located permanent road, Vildmarksvägen ("The Wilderness Road", a somewhat naff name I must admit). Stekenjokk is one of the indigenous Sami people's places for reindeer to feed during the summer. In 2013 Stekenjokk recorded continuous wind speeds of 170 km/h (110 mph) during that year's major storm. The road is closed wintertime and opens on June 6 every year. Starting the day with some chain maintenance.



From Kall via Järpen we followed the main road, the E45, until Strömsund. Nothing special, just covering the distance and stopping for ice cream every now and the as the temperatures were creeping up. Strömsund is the southern entry point for Vildmarksvägen so efter topping up on petrol there we expected immediate and proper adventure stuff. But no. At first the only difference was the lack of houses. Just endless forests. After an hour or so the roads started to deteriorate. Then we were increasingly attacked by gnats when we stopped. Progress was now slower than planned and we were a few hours behind schedule. At Gäddede, the last outpost before the climb to Stekenjokk we called it a day. By chance we found a pair of beds at the Pilgrim Hotel, a spiritual non-profit place dedicated to bringing people closer to nature. The view across the lake:

Ok, I'm curious...what are "new potatoes"?

Ok, I'm curious...what are "new potatoes"?
They are generally small potatoes, harvested early, white, tender and sweet. Some have red skins.

You can get them locally.

[Olof_imp]

D+4. We took off in a very light morning drizzle, starting the climb towards Stekenjokk. Unexpectedly the roads were superb - smooth with long sweeping bends and zero traffic. A bit of irresponsible riding coupled with stops at the Brakkå and Gausta waterfalls made the morning perfect.



The falls took some walking to get to, and not that easy. There were trails to follow but little in terms of facilities. Which felt appropriate. The falls themselves were beautiful, roaring away as they'd done for thousands of years. We sat and contemplated this for a bit, feeling humbled and respectful.



We were beginning to see more bikes. The norm was BMW GS, Goretex gear and Touratech luggage, but we also saw a fait number of cruisers (which made me stop whining about poor roads - the RS must have been heaven compared to those bikes). A group of four guys in their 20's, coming down from Stekenjokk, however stood out in racing leathers complete with sliders, on sports bikes and nakeds with makeshift luggage. The bikes were covered in mud, so they'd clearly not stayed on the tarmac either. Refreshing.