The end of a long journey - On the bicycle to Malmö

In bright sunshine, I started the next morning relaxed from the campsite. Soon on the second day on the bicycle I could feel the elevation meters, because cycling requires different muscles than hiking and so I now suddenly had sore muscles again.

After a short time I came into a cover of fog, which did not leave me for the whole day and so the visibility was quite bad. In the evening I found after a while then a river, at which I could fill up my water and a little later a beach with barbecue place, which was a wonderful camp site for the night.

With only little wind, the mosquitoes almost ate me the next morning and so I hurried to get going.

My route took me inland from the coast, as my parents had already sent a package with new hiking boots to a small town close to the border of Norway and I now wanted to pick them up before heading south.

While I cycled some sections on gravel roads for the first few days, I tried to avoid this afterwards as the bicycle didn't have trekking or mountain bike tires and I was a bit skeptical about whether the tires would hold up until the end.

Although I had to get used to biking and would have so much rather walked, I tried to focus on the benefits of cycling: I pass supermarkets much more often, I cover much longer distances during the day and thus reach my destination faster, and I can make detours of a few kilometers without it costing me much time or energy.

On the third day, I came in the afternoon to a junction where there was a small café and I treated myself to some sweet pastries and chatted with the wonderful owner, who had moved here from the Netherlands a few years ago.

That evening I found a fantastic campsite right on a lake with a small beach - and no mosquitoes! And when the sun came out again in the evening, I took the opportunity for a little swim before it got chilly.

A perfect spot for the night

The following day brought the first rain on the bike, although only in the evening and I got only some drizzle off. Quickly, however, I found out that the poncho on the bike was not so convenient, beacuse the wind was blowing it away mostly and I had to put in more energy to get forward. The sleeping place I found in the evening at a fishing spot was a little away from the next town. The next morning, however, at six o'clock quite a few cars drove up and some men talked for a good hour about five meters away from my tent until it became quiet again. But since it was raining and it was so cozy in the tent, I just stayed put until the rain became less two hours later.

Like the previous days, there was again some elevation gain that challenged me properly.

The next day I had a headwind - all day long. I was already frozen in the morning and had to warm up in a library for a few hours at midday because I was shivering so much. Afterwards it was a little better, but in the evening it got freezing again and the fact that I had to look for a place to sleep for another two hours or so didn't make it any better.

Seven days after I left the coast, I reached the town of Storlien, where I picked up the package with my boots. Since the place was directly at the border to Norway, the way to Trondheim was now not far and already after a few kilometers downhill in the direction of the coast, it was also much warmer and I could finally ride without a jacket and gloves again.

Towards Trondheim I drove along the coast for a while, which was beautiful. However, there were also a few times where I had to ride quite steep uphill and I had to get off the bike and walk.

I reached Trondheim at noon and spread out my gear on a bench in the sun while I ate wraps for lunch (for once with salad and fresh veggies and not just nuts like I had while hiking!).

I took a bit of a relaxing drive around town and checked out a few places before heading further to now the south. The traffic and noise in the city were always quickly exhausting after most of my time being only surrounded by birdsong.

Trondheim in bright sunshine

Towards the inland now came the rain - and not only a little of it. On the first day it drizzled, but all day long and so I froze again and was looking forward hours before to my warm sleeping bag and a restful night.

The next morning it was so cold that there was a layer of ice on the bike bag and on the tent and so it took some overcoming to get into the wet clothes from the day before and start cycling. I put on everything I had and so even the wet gloves were better than none at all. Luckily I had sun that day and was able to dry my clothes again and warm myself up.

The day started ice cold, but beautiful

After that I had five days where it rained - not always continuously and once only in the evening, but I was constantly wet. The sun did not come out once so strongly that I could dry something and so I had to stand it.

Then about 150 km before Gothenburg it happened: Suddenly it loudly banged and my rear tire was flat. So I stopped and found the rather large spot in the tube also very quickly to patch it. Meanwhile I hoped very much that it would not start to rain just now. But luckily it stayed dry! Just before I was about to leave, however, I saw that the tire itself had broken in a different place and the tube was no longer protected by it. Now I had to take my chances and just hope that the tube would last until the next town. There was a bike store where I could probably get the tube and tire replaced.

In the evening I drove until a few kilometers before the next town and set up my tent in the forest.

And indeed, the "ticking time bomb" called tube still held until shortly before the bike store. Emilia, as I named my bike, held out bravely and so I didn't have to walk quite so far.

The first store I found, unfortunately, could not help me, so I had to walk further, but finally I found one and the employee immediately exchanged tire and tube and not even half an hour later, I was back on the road.

It was a nice feeling to now be on the move again and with new energy I cycled to the coast to a campsite, before the following day I covered the last 50 km to Gothenburg.

Without rain I arrived there at noon and was very happy to see a friend again, whom I had met last year in Namibia.

We had a very relaxed day and strolled a bit through the city. And I bought a huge cinnamon bun, which I ate like a donut just as I walked.

The next day I set off relaxed in the late morning and first needed quite a while out of the city.

I was now also to get no more rain until the end! So on the last three days to Malmö I enjoyed the sunrises and sunsets, the small coastal roads through villages, cycled over country roads and had no longer to cope with many elevation meters.

One of the last evenings at a beach

It was a strange feeling to arrive in Malmö, I was on the one hand infinitely happy and proud and on the other hand it was weird to know that I would not get up the next morning and get on the bike. That I would no longer sleep in the tent and everything that just belonged to the last eight months. And all those things that I had missed over the whole time were suddenly so close that I no longer really understood why I had actually missed them.

In Malmö I parted then also again from my bicycle Emilia. She had served me well and would hopefully find a worthy new owner.

I saw the last beautiful sunset on the beach in Malmö and enjoyed the last moments to the fullest before I started my journey home after hiking more than 5,700 km and cycling 1,800 km.

Arrived at the destination

And because I have been asked so often about the "why am I doing this":

Now I was standing at the end of this long journey and with all the time I had to think, I didn't figure out the meaning of life, I don't have any solutions for the world's problems, I didn't become a new person and yet I changed, I grew with all the small and big challenges and I take with me the kindness I was allowed to experience. I met many different people, had so many beautiful conversations, got to know myself better, was impressed by others and inspired other people, was fascinated by all the facets of nature and how little you actually need to live or to be happy.

My route (blue: by foot, red: cycling)