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August 14 Monday sunny Bicycle touring Sweden Sharon had wanted to camp by the roadside, beside another fire pit, as it afforded a better view of the lake and mountain. We compromised by having breakfast there this morning. I tried to filter lake water for tea and was rewarded by clogging the filter -- twice. We bicycled into town and bought two litres of Neapolitan ice cream (called Tri Smak in Sweden) and had lunch by a beach. Topless bathing abounded. I soon saw why most women should leave their tops on. One old woman in a bikini had a beer gut sticking out way past its prime as she stumbled barefoot amongst the rocks. Obviously topless is common here: it hardly causes a glance from the teenage boys going past. We had a choice of catching a ferry acoss a narrow stretch of water or we could bicycle 20 kilometres around to the bridge. We wanted to check how much the ferry cost. But I couldn't find any signs with prices. Even on the ferry, I couldn't see a ticket taker. We hesitated long enough that the ferry pulled away without us and our fully loaded touring bikes. I knocked on the office door, but there was no one there. A car arrived. I asked the woman driver how much the ferry cost, but she didn't speak English and I couldn't understand her reply. I'm not entirely sure she understood my question. She acted as though I had asked her for money. She went and sat in her car after saying "Nay. Nay." I suppose it is possible to think I was asking her for money when I came up to her and pointing at a departed ferry saying "krones" and rubbing my fingers together. Oh, well. That's the trouble with sign language. Fortunately the next fellow to arrive at the ferry crossing spoke English. I fared much better with my questioning. It turns out that the yellow ferries in Sweden are free. The Swedes pay for them in their yearly taxes, so we get a free ride. The fellow is an elementary teacher for Grades 4, 5, and 6. He told me he makes 70,000 ($15,000) krones a month. Just before I said sign me up, he added that 60,000 krones went to tax each month. He is left with 10,000 krones a month or about $2,000. The main things left to pay for are food, clothing, housing, car, and gas. Most other things are covered in their taxes. After taking our bicycles on the free ferry crossing we cycled off and found a rest stop with picnic tables. There was even running water in the washrooms. We had our first barbecue in over a year. I even splurged and bought a tiny steak and some hamburger. To start the coals on fire in the barbecue we lit our Whisperlite stove and placed the barbecue on top of the stove, upside down. After a few minutes the coals began to glow nicely. It also did a grand job of cleaning the barbecue grill. We made potato and egg salad to accompany the steak and burgers. Talk about bicycle touring in style! As it got dark, camper vans and motorhomes pulled into the rest stop for the night. We dragged our fully loaded touring bicycles back into the trees and set up our Kelty two-man bicycle touring tent. |
