Day 44 – Wednesday 7^th of August – Umeå to Tronboholmen (370km)

I have come to the conclusion that it only rains when I decide to camp. Today I just rode until I got tired and the looked for a campsite; I would have free camped, but I had not had time to look at my stove and I wanted to have something hot for dinner, so after less than 400km I stopped. It seems that I am getting tired faster after so long on the road.

I followed indications to a campsite by a lake, the place looked quite nice, the price was reasonable and they had wifi in the bar, so I decided to spend the night there. I set up the tent and then went for swim in the lake, as the afternoon was warm and sunny, and sure enough, after spending ten minutes in the water, black clouds came out of nowhere, there  was lightning and rolling thunder and started to pour down. I retreated into my tent and spent about an hour reading, waiting for the storm to pass. Once it was over, I had a shower and then, fancying a cold beer while I updated the blog, went to the bar.

When I got there I saw that they were setting up a small stage for a concert and the entrance to the bar from the campsite was blocked by a metal fence. I walked around to the main entrance and when I tried to get into the bar, they told me I had to pay 100 kr for the entrance. Well, that was wonderful, I was not going to spend that money, and that meant that I was not getting part of the services I had paid for, which was annoying. I cooked dinner and then sat down to write for a while before getting into the tent early, I did not want to get up late the following day as I would try to find a place to service the bike before going to the hostel I had booked.

I was in the tent, watching a film when I heard some noise outside. I was alone in the tent area, far from the cabins and the campervans, so I was expecting to be able to get some good sleep. I peered outside the tent and saw, to my horror, a coach unloading teenagers carrying tents and guitars. By the time I had finished watching the film, they had a fire going and where singing, so there was no sleeping for me… Fortunately, I had brought some earplugs, I put them on and they made a world of difference.