Final days in Sweden

I was slowly getting used to the camping experience and the freedom of setting up a tent for the night almost anywhere! We packed up quickly and considered jumping into the lake for a quick wash. However, the water was pretty cold, so we settled for a quick refresher, splashing some water on our upper bodies. It worked well enough! 😄

If we continued following the TET any further, we would’ve ended up in Norway! Unfortunately, we didn’t have many days left—Mike had to be back at work on the 17th, and it was already July 8th! 😅 We decided to follow the route for a few more kilometers before turning east toward Norrköping. We didn’t want to rush back home, especially since we were both feeling the fatigue from the past weeks. A relaxing, scenic journey through Sweden sounded perfect.

But, as always, things didn’t go as planned! 😄 Mike had noticed some occasional engine stuttering earlier in the trip, but it wasn’t serious enough to be a concern—until now. By the end of the day, the stuttering had worsened, particularly when we were riding at a slower pace. To lift our spirits, we treated ourselves to a nice dinner and a proper bed at a hotel.

Even though the scenery remained beautiful, it started to feel repetitive, so I stopped taking as many videos and focused on snapping a few photos instead.

The next morning, we continued riding south, aiming to cover more distance as Mike’s bike issues worsened. The stuttering became more frequent whenever he had to stop, and a few times, the bike even stalled when coming to a halt. We didn’t want to risk the engine completely giving out while we were deep in the woods, so we decided to stick to the highway to get closer to Germany.

Our plan was to take a ferry, either from Sweden to Germany or Denmark to Germany, to cut down the distance we’d need to ride to get back home. Still, we couldn’t resist veering off the highway every now and then, taking unpaved side roads to enjoy the scenery and break the monotony. Those little detours were the highlight of the day! 😄

That evening, we set up our tents one more time in Sweden at a Naturcamping ground. Mike even tried his luck fishing for a Swedish catch, but no luck this time—the fish just nibbled on the bait and swam away!

I didn’t wake up until around 9 AM—I hadn’t slept well, and it took me a while to get ready. I could still feel the ride from the day before in my bones. By the time we left the campsite, it was almost noon 😅. We didn’t cover as much distance as we’d planned but figured we could make up for it since we were still on track to get back home in time. We decided to set up camp one last time and took the opportunity to wash some of our clothes.

The next day, we crossed the incredibly long bridge connecting Sweden and Denmark. What a bridge! I recorded the entire ride because I love bridges—it took us about five minutes to cross. But, watching the video now, it doesn’t feel as spectacular as it did in the moment! 😅

That evening, we took a ferry back to Germany and stopped at a hotel near the ferry harbor for the night. Luckily, we found a workshop nearby where we planned to take Mike’s bike the next day to hopefully fix the issue!