GoldOxide_imp
Road warrior
Nice share Olof. Keep 'em coming!
Lapland
- Thread starter Olof_imp
- Start date
Stichill
Road warrior
My goodness, such an exotic tray of meats! 
Weather and scenery look perfect.
Weather and scenery look perfect.
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 Hotell Kallgården Since 1929 | Norra sidan om Åre, Jämtland 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.
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 Hotell Kallgården Since 1929 | Norra sidan om Åre, Jämtland 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.
Great work, Olof (and Eva).
GoldOxide_imp
Road warrior
Cool Olof. About as close as "offroad riding" for the RS as you wish to be?
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:
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
Road warrior
Nice snack Olof.
Ok, I'm curious...what are "new potatoes"?Olof_imp said:
GoldOxide_imp
Road warrior
Ok, I'm curious...what are "new potatoes"?pdedse_imp said:
They are generally small potatoes, harvested early, white, tender and sweet. Some have red skins.
You can get them locally.
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.
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.
D+4 continued. Having walked/climbed back from the falls we checked the map and realized that we had less than 90 km to our destination, Saxnäs. These kilometers would however be some of the most interesting on our trip. A string of bends had us climb to the plateau, above the tree level and onto the road which was open only summertime (the red section on the map).
Once there we just stopped. We were completely alone. The first impression was of an almost lunar landscape, but when we looked closely and just stood and listened we realized it was buzzing with life - small hardy flowers, birds, butterflies and reindeer in the distance. Stunning.
There was a some patches of snow in the ditches, but nothing like normal at this time of the year we were later told. Usually there is snow on the ground and some years you'd be riding between walls of snow, the road having been carved out by giant snow mowers.
Photo: Felix Fjällström, Land
We however had none of this drama but only experienced a warm, sunny summer day. There is a strict rule not to leave the road in june and july, to not disturb the wildlife. The county administrative board has found it appropriate to put up signs on this every 50 meters, so it's not taken lightly. We had brought coffee and pastries and simply stopped by the roadside for half an hour. One car passed, that was all. Otherwise all was still.
We continued. Soon the road started to descent into the valley towards Fatmomakke, a sacred Sami.place which we would visit later, and further east the small village of Saxnäs. The trees returned, the wind became warmer and we started to.se some houses and lakes. An hour later we parked in front of the log cabin, our home for the coming days.
Once there we just stopped. We were completely alone. The first impression was of an almost lunar landscape, but when we looked closely and just stood and listened we realized it was buzzing with life - small hardy flowers, birds, butterflies and reindeer in the distance. Stunning.
There was a some patches of snow in the ditches, but nothing like normal at this time of the year we were later told. Usually there is snow on the ground and some years you'd be riding between walls of snow, the road having been carved out by giant snow mowers.
Photo: Felix Fjällström, Land
We however had none of this drama but only experienced a warm, sunny summer day. There is a strict rule not to leave the road in june and july, to not disturb the wildlife. The county administrative board has found it appropriate to put up signs on this every 50 meters, so it's not taken lightly. We had brought coffee and pastries and simply stopped by the roadside for half an hour. One car passed, that was all. Otherwise all was still.
We continued. Soon the road started to descent into the valley towards Fatmomakke, a sacred Sami.place which we would visit later, and further east the small village of Saxnäs. The trees returned, the wind became warmer and we started to.se some houses and lakes. An hour later we parked in front of the log cabin, our home for the coming days.
GoldOxide_imp
Road warrior
I feel the decompression Olof. Feels wonderful.
Stichill
Road warrior
The smoked trout plate looks wonderful! I always enjoy the food preparation and presentation in Europe...hard for us to find in the US outside the major cities.
I love the emptiness and desolation...and the silence. That's the way to have a relaxing vacation.
I love the emptiness and desolation...and the silence. That's the way to have a relaxing vacation.
GoldOxide_imp
Road warrior
I feel that way in the southwest U.S. desert regions - and there is an abundance of sweet choice.Stichill_imp said:
Stichill
Road warrior
D+5. Insects. They rule Lapland. We learned the hard way that gnats and deer flies come in three sizes - small, barely visible and invisible.
They compensate size with numbers and nets only work against the small ones. They seem to alert their pals too, so numbers keep increasing. Easily drives you mad. We asked the locals what to get and ended up with three kinds.
Interestingly, the eco version (the bottle in the middle) seemed to work best and is based on lemon and eucalyptus oil.
The standard procedure at stop evolved into a) open tank bag and grab spray bottle; b) take off gloves and spray plenty on hands; c) in one fluid sequence whip off helmet and stroke cheeks, neck, ears, forehead and hair; d) try in vain to relax and chat to partner while swarms start to form; d) give up, rub scalp vigorously to crush as many of the front line attackers as possible; e) get back on bike, speed off muttering words not suitable for print.
I found this, pretty spot on.
Admittedly, some up there are things of beauty. In most cases we were either too distracted, or too slow to target, track and shoot,but we got a few.
They compensate size with numbers and nets only work against the small ones. They seem to alert their pals too, so numbers keep increasing. Easily drives you mad. We asked the locals what to get and ended up with three kinds.
Interestingly, the eco version (the bottle in the middle) seemed to work best and is based on lemon and eucalyptus oil.
The standard procedure at stop evolved into a) open tank bag and grab spray bottle; b) take off gloves and spray plenty on hands; c) in one fluid sequence whip off helmet and stroke cheeks, neck, ears, forehead and hair; d) try in vain to relax and chat to partner while swarms start to form; d) give up, rub scalp vigorously to crush as many of the front line attackers as possible; e) get back on bike, speed off muttering words not suitable for print.
I found this, pretty spot on.
Admittedly, some up there are things of beauty. In most cases we were either too distracted, or too slow to target, track and shoot,but we got a few.
D+5 continued. Off bike day spent checking out Saxnäs, such a small village that it's easily done on foot.
This was and is, one of the southern outposts of the indigenous people, the Sami who calls the village Saadteskenjuana. It' been a state village since 1824. Farming is not easy up here and back then hunting provided most of the supplies. To avoid depleting game hen the law dictated a minimum distance of 10 km between settlers. Today the village officially consists of 134 souls. Naturally tourism is an economical backbone here and last year, likely due to Corona, the number of visitors sky rocketed. We saw a steady stream of motorhome, caravans and bikes from early mornings to late evenings.
The hub of Saxnäs is the small grocery store along the main road. For many years on the edge of bankruptcy it's now run by a young energetic team an seems to be thriving. It doubles as gas station, post office, pharmacy, liquor store, fishing store and cafe. Most of the time there was a happy queue outside, waiting for their turn to get in.
Behind the grocery store we found this. A book exchange booth. You simply bring your finished book, put it in the booth and picked another and brought home. Seemed to work well.
This was and is, one of the southern outposts of the indigenous people, the Sami who calls the village Saadteskenjuana. It' been a state village since 1824. Farming is not easy up here and back then hunting provided most of the supplies. To avoid depleting game hen the law dictated a minimum distance of 10 km between settlers. Today the village officially consists of 134 souls. Naturally tourism is an economical backbone here and last year, likely due to Corona, the number of visitors sky rocketed. We saw a steady stream of motorhome, caravans and bikes from early mornings to late evenings.
The hub of Saxnäs is the small grocery store along the main road. For many years on the edge of bankruptcy it's now run by a young energetic team an seems to be thriving. It doubles as gas station, post office, pharmacy, liquor store, fishing store and cafe. Most of the time there was a happy queue outside, waiting for their turn to get in.
Behind the grocery store we found this. A book exchange booth. You simply bring your finished book, put it in the booth and picked another and brought home. Seemed to work well.
Saxnäs and surrounds look stunning.
GoldOxide_imp
Road warrior
Excellent local stories Olof.
