Sorsele, Sweden 533 km

Yesterday we made a decision to head inland back into Sweden and bypass the rest of the central coast of Norway. We had two reasons for doing that, the speed limit is 60 on the windy coastal roads and the weather can be ominous. This morning the sky was clear blue with not a cloud to be seen. Just reinforced our decision. As expected we had a very quiet night, save for the goat bells in the distance. It was a cool morning so we dawdled a bit before leaving to let the temperature at least read double digits. It was 8 C. We should have left earlier as the temperature peaked at 27.5C today! The further north we get the warmer it is getting. Polar ice caps?

Here we are with another currency again. We are carrying 7 different currencies, each contained in their own sandwich bag, so having some difficulty figuring out the coins. We have just started holding out a hand full of coin and letting the clerk take what they want. Works for us!

We decided to try and have a longer distance day to give us a few more options for side trips. We saw lots of boreal forest today, some beautiful farmland as well as riding through Are, Sweden. Ski buffs will recognize this famous ski resort who hosted world championships but who has lost their bid for the Winter Olympics too many times to count. Looked to us like a beautiful, modern setting for the games. It was pretty interesting as the run up to the ski slope actually goes over the road – gondola chairs were the first thing we saw as we exited a tunnel. It is an active as mountain bike center in the summer.

Are, Sweden

We had just been talking about the lack of wildlife sightings. All we had seen was one big black rabbit and lots of bird life. Suddenly there was a herd of reindeer – at least 10 of them – crossing the road. Norma got to the camera button as quick as could be and was able to capture them on film. See attached result. They were a bit nervous as we rode by but quite exciting for us. Now to keep a look out for more creatures.

Again we are finding lots of rest stops along the way. Most of them are beside some body of water, be it a lake or stream and lots of people camping and fishing. We saw the biggest fishing rod in the world pulling a big fish at one of the stops. Also met huge horse flies and a few mosquitos. They are attracted to the heat from the bike which is good as their attention is diverted from us. 

Tomorrow we should be crossing the Arctic circle. . .