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arrival

We (S and Chr) started our journey at the train station in Cottbus. We went by train to Sassnitz via Berlin. We had the first problems because we took a route which was a building lot at this time. So we had to take the bus for a certain distance with two fucking heavy bikes icluding baggage. Somewhere near neverland we came back to a train which took us to Sassnitz. 7 hours after our departure we arrived. Next problem was to find out where we had to go. We asked some (4 or 5) people who said all the same (stay left) so we decided to cycle in this direction which was a HUGE fault. Nevertheless, we arrived at a ferry but yeah it was the wrong station. Unfortunately there was a damn huge anniversary celebration or something like that. Of course, some camper wanna visit a bash. What else? Pissed off we started to go to the other ferry station some miles away. We had to hurry up to get the ferry at 22:30 pm because it was the last one this evening. After maybe an hour we arrived at the station and we needed an additional hour to find the right terminal (besides i had a déjà vu while talking with a belgian ferry's crew member). We checked in 5 minuted before departure. After calming down we played some bullshit games like 'Panzer' and Chr stupidly daubed his trousers. After 4 hours we arrived our sanctuary. In Trelleborg, the first thing we saw was a palm tree which was kind of scary and it was the first thing I photographed.

inhabitation

At two o'clock in the morning we pitched the tent at the ocean next to some warped trees outside of Trelleborg. Next day we spent all the time to arrive in Malmö to meet Kai (a nice american girl with a swedish boyfriend who i've met at myspace.com). We slept in her beautiful apartment to be rested for the next day. We got up at the crack of dawn and Kai and Marcus (pronunciation: [mahrcuss]) showed us some beautiful places of Malmö. It is a really amazing city. Very clean, calm, adorable. In the afternoons there was the shooting with Kai at the beach and in her apartment. Afterwards we met the beautiful model Caroline from Stockholm and I took millions of pictures near the train station and I was under a charm when she talked swedish. Anyway, we left Malmö at this evening and cycled till late at night until we found -fully exhausted- a place were we could pitch our tent. Next morning in the sunlight we discovered that we had slept afield next to the freeway which we hadn't noticed before.

The next days we just cycled near the cost to north being captured by the nature and the typical swedish houses and the blue trampolines everybody owns. Every night we had massive problems finding a place to sleep because everywhere are nature reserves in which it is not allowed to camp. Needless to say that we think it's a good thing but in our situation we had been shirty after hours of searching for some dumb ass place to fall asleep.

On the verge of Helsingborg Chr's wheel broke down and we had to walk to the next big city to repair it. Sod it! He got a new wheel in swedish style and you can't imagine how envious I am even if I tell Chr the opposite. But it wasn't the only problem with his bike. Additionally his goddamned saddle fell off every time we wanted to take something out of our baggage. Today, almost after a half year his saddle still falls off. Secret nature.

Helsingborg wasn't that exciting at all. That's why we planed to go to the rocky peninsula Kullaberg which lies next to the popular seaside resort of Mölle (Mölle, Mölle, Mölle! - insider). Kullaberg is a ridge, of a somewhat uphill and downhill surface, raised 70-180 metres above the sea level. This fact explains why it was a stupid idea to try to reach the top with two heavy bikes. After failing to find a way which wasn't that precipitous we discovered Mölle but it was a touristic place and that's why not qualified for us but they have a nice brandstation.

So we went back in the near of Helsingborg to take try to get the train back to Trelleborg. But this night became a nightmare. We bought some food in one of the million ICA-shops (market leader in Sweden), settled back in our tent, ate and kept an eye on a tempest at the coast of Denmark (which is quite close to Sweden). After a short shower we thought that we had overcome and tried to sleep. But soon we recognized that the wind became more and more strong leading to a really hard windstorm. The tent shook and my side was pressed into the inside and we had fear that the storm would tear the thin fabric apart. Then the rain came. Hard rain of course. Unfortunately the tent wasn't waterproofed. The water searched its way inside and soon there was a little lake at our feets. Thunderbolts supported that frightening situation. The problem was that we had been near the coast surrounded by low gras. The highest point was our tent. Splashy we waited at least 4 hours at night till the storm faded away and the sun arose. Everything we had taken with us was wet except my camera and laptop. Wet and with crazy clothes we cycled fast as possible back to Helsingborg, took a shower at the train station, bought tickets and in the afternoon we arrived in Malmö. Then we took the bus to Trelleborg (almost dry). We had to wait one more night for the ferry and stayed inside the station. We couldn't sleep this night again because a wierd man observed our baggage and we had to observe him. At 4 o'clock in the morning the security kicked us out of the station because they close every night from 4 till 6 o'clock. Don't ask why because I have no idea. So we stood in the dark at 4 o'clock. Wet and shivering. We tried to curl up inside a parking garage but it was too cold and after one hour we just cycled through Trelleborg staying here and there till the station opened again at 7 am.

The return journey wasn't that spectacular. Just full trains, escalators and elevators being out of order, 2 people carrying their bikes through the world. Damn!

But in the end it was the most funny, exciting and exhausting tour ever. The people are terribly nice and helpful. But if you ever wanna visit Sweden and you want to see mostly unaffected nature you have to go more northward. AND you have to buy a waterproofed tent. :)

Actually we think about touring through Iceland.