So with midsummer over the days start to draw shorter but yesterdays Norwegian celebrations were extraordinary – beach bonfires and party’s despite the lack of electricity and driving rain – there was no way the party was going to be spoiled. Personally I think Gudbrandsdalen is an acquired taste but when sitting on the beach eating it with some haddock crisps and nuts its a taste which perhaps is growing on me.
Elks on the road
I learnt two valuable lessons today, the first is native Swedish deer are as stubborn as welsh mountain sheep and can appear from nowhere at the road edge – another reason for keeping the speed down, the second is elk are huge and very shy, I was able to spot at around 300m a couple of adult elk by the side of a track just south of Sorsele, coming to a stop they watched me with interest before gently ambling in front of me and disappearing into the forest – a truly magical experience.
Truckers know best
On any long distance ride when I need a place to rest or eat I just follow the truckers, most of the best truck stops I have seen are hidden from view or behind trailer parking but the opportunity to take a rest break, shower and get some hot food is never to be passed up.
Dals Långed Revisited
From Filipstad south west around 150km is Dals Långed within the Bengtsfors kommun – a district blessed with acres and acres of clean fresh water lakes and crossed by the Dalslands kanal. The riding here is exceptional as are the lakes – shame I left my fly rod behind as stopping for Fika at the lake edge the fish were clearly rising, might of actually stood a chance of catching something.
Surströmming and Västerbotten
Taking the opportunity for a few days R&R I am about 15 miles north east of Filipstad in Värmland County – surrounded by hundreds of thousands of acres of forest. I stumbled upon Västerbotten cheese (Västerbottensost) which is aged for 14 months and is absolutely stunning and in limited supply outside the region – its a softer Parmesan style salty, sweet and bitter – a really complex set of flavours, now all I need is some Surströmming.
