Lapland

[pdedse]

That food plate is a work of art!

[Cormanus]

What pdedse said. The home made beer looks good too.

[Olof_imp]

Epilogue - day 2 of 3. Next morning by five o'clock the sun shone through the window and I could not sleep. I got up, sneaked out to let Eva sleep on and took some photos. The morning was completely still. No sound whatsoever.

The old alley leading up to the mansion
.

Wild red currant everywhere


No photo session is complete without bike pics


Running out of motives I figured I might as well lube the chain. However, that proved to be more complicated than usual as the fat stable cat decided I was his best friend (no doubt assuming I had food) and glued himself to my hands.

My very close friend this morning


By the time I'd managed to lube most of the chain and some of the cat, Eva was up. After breakfast and some route planning we enjoyed three hours of beautiful, empty twisting roads leading us to the Swedish east coast.

By chance we passed by the factory of the leading Swedish cheesecake producer, in Frödinge. We discovered that they run a summer cafe just outside the factory gates, offering generous portions of their product served with whipped cream and a selection of jams. We of course had to try it and came up with the bright idea to bring a package of cheesecake to our hosts. Securing the package to the bike turned out to be a bit tricky and Eva and I debated how to best do this - alarmingly wiggly but with the right side up, or just very wiggly but upside down. I advocated the latter and since it's my bike that's how it went. Of course Eva was right. On arrival the package had leaked all over the bike which then vaguely smelled of cheesecake for the rest of the trip (not bad really). The content was however possible to salvage and we had excellent if somewhat dry cheesecake for dessert later that evening.

Leaking, unknown to me

[Cormanus]

They’re great photos, Olof.

[GoldOxide_imp]

Very nice photos Olof.

[pdedse]

Epilogue - day 2 of 3. Next morning by five o'clock the sun shone through the window and I could not sleep. I got up, sneaked out to let Eva sleep on and took some photos. The morning was completely still. No sound whatsoever.

The old alley leading up to the mansion
.

Wild red currant everywhere


No photo session is complete without bike pics


Running out of motives I figured I might as well lube the chain. However, that proved to be more complicated than usual as the fat stable cat decided I was his best friend (no doubt assuming I had food) and glued himself to my hands.

My very close friend this morning


By the time I'd managed to lube most of the chain and some of the cat, Eva was up. After breakfast and some route planning we enjoyed three hours of beautiful, empty twisting roads leading us to the Swedish east coast.

By chance we passed by the factory of the leading Swedish cheesecake producer, in Frödinge. We discovered that they run a summer cafe just outside the factory gates, offering generous portions of their product served with whipped cream and a selection of jams. We of course had to try it and came up with the bright idea to bring a package of cheesecake to our hosts. Securing the package to the bike turned out to be a bit tricky and Eva and I debated how to best do this - alarmingly wiggly but with the right side up, or just very wiggly but upside down. I advocated the latter and since it's my bike that's how it went. Of course Eva was right. On arrival the package had leaked all over the bike which then vaguely smelled of cheesecake for the rest of the trip (not bad really). The content was however possible to salvage and we had excellent if somewhat dry cheesecake for dessert later that evening.

Leaking, unknown to me

In the annals of motorcycle mucking about, this might be the first case of securing Swedish cheesecake to the back of one's bike; thus, some leakage is forgiven.

[MrBob_imp]

Of the roughly 1.25 million Swedish men, women, and children who came to the United States between 1845 and 1930, more settled in Minnesota than in any other state.
I grew up in Minnesota and Swedish culture was very much in evidence in my part of the state.
I really enjoyed your ride report and hope to someday visit your lovely country.

[Stichill_imp]

Must have been a sublime morning indeed. The world is perfect in those moments.

Also: "Kitty!"

And: "Cheesecake!"

[Henrik_imp]

I think it is important here to make a distinction between Swedish cheesecake and cheesecake in the US. These are two very different things, and the Swedish dish does not actually have any cheese in it. Both are delicious though.

[Olof_imp]

Thanks guys for your kind comments, much appreciated!

@pdede, on the food – yes, the kitchen really excelled, it was truly delicisous. Not bad for a B&B and they've built quite a reputation for themselves the last few years.

@Comanus, on the beer – you are right, their home made beer was in the same calibre as the food – really, really good. I’m no beer expert but I’d say that they could easily have sold it nationwide.

@MrBob – thank you, cool to hear that the Swedish culture lived/lives on. I’ve never been to Minnesota but would love to, thanks for the tip. And you must let me know should you ever head this way!

@Stichill – it was a sublime morning indeed, one of those rare to remember for a long time. Not a single sound. Still to the point that I ended up pushing my bike around rather than start it and rip apart the peace. Does not happen often, especially not uphill.

@Henrik, on the Swedish cheesecake being different from the American chesecake – I missed to mention it so thanks for pointing that out. The Swedish cheesecake (in Swedish “ostkaka”) is a speciality of the region of Småland (where we were) and has been around since the 1520’s (yes, more than 500 years). Traditionally it is based on milk converted to cheese through a special procedure, but today most use cottage cheese as its much easier. The base is mixed with eggs, cream, sugar, almonds and bitter almonds. This is baked in an oven and served warm but not hot.
Epilogue day 2 of 3 continued. The last stretch to our friends place led us as far into the archipelago you can go and still be on the mainland. Getting there took a while and involved a narrow proper road, then a gravel road , then an ancient gate that was made to look locked but wasn't, an finally an uneven and wildly twisting loose gravel track with a few surprise inclinations combined with hairpins. On arrival we, or at least I, could have done with some rest but instead we were handed life vests and ushered into a boat. It turned out that someone on a nearby island had begun to make really good ice cream and now we were to get some. When we reached the island there was drama - their cat had climbed onto the roof and into a swallow's nest, so most of the staff and some of the customers were busy saving swallows. This was eventually successful, everybody went back to what they were doing, we got our icecream and returned for a very nice dinner.

Directly from two wheels to keel


The ice cream offerings for the day


The scene of the cat-swallows-staff drama


Most have boat houses, originally meant for boat and fishing gear. Many are still used this way but but some are transformed for lodging and, if you're picky, perhaps not always with all the needed building permits. However, pragmatism is what makes life work here and the law seldom comes this way.