Sunday, 8th July - Travel into Sweden

After breakfast we all brought our bags down into the hotel carpark, from where they were conveyed along the road to where the truck was parked on a local square. Once it was loaded we were ready to go! A quick group photo then we left the hotel and travelled the 500m to the Copenhagen Railway Station. Tickets for 1 person and 1 bike to Malmo were purchased, and we assembled on platform 5 for the train. We were all able to fit into the train at once - they go every 20 minutes - there is a special bike carriage which held most of the bikes, the rest were squashed in the entrance way of the carriage which meant that every stop they had to be shuffled to allow for other travelers to get on and off the train.

It was a 35 minute trip to Malmo, crossing the Oresund (between the Baltic and North Seas) on a new bridge which is the longest free-standing bridge in the world.

So we arrived in Sweden at Malmo Railway Station. After disembarking we cycled through to the centre of Malmo, then headed for Ystad. The route was mainly on cycle ways, once out of Malmo we were cycling alongside Route 101 through wheat fields and past other crops. The only livestock we saw were a couple of horses and a few sheep. It was a very pleasant ride, relatively rolling, and lovely and warm, through many little towns. The lunch stop was at a little town, where we purchased rolls and ham and cheese and some fruit.

As we neared the coast the fog was rolling in, so the last we kilometers to Ystad were in the mist, therefore we did not get a clear view of the sea. Many people had been to the beach for the day, and were leaving.

The camp is just past Ystad, and when we arrived the truck was there. We set up our tents and showered. The cooks started their dinner preparation while the campers wrote up the day's reports. Today we rode a modest 70km. We have 2 days here. The campsite is beside a busy road (we have ear plugs) but dinner is now cooking and we have all showered and washed our cycling clothes. Tents are all up and washing lines strung to dry our clothes.