SWEDEN
Endless nature by bike, cano & truck, 2023
ON OUR WAY
The best way to travel to Sweden is by boat. From Germany it's only one night sleep to end up in a total different world. And by lunch you hike and bike through one of the best nature parks of Europe.
No need to put a lot of effort in preparing your route. Just choose the gravel roads, pack your bags with foor for a couple of days and off you go.
From the South of Sweden we drove our expedition truck through the province of Dalsland and Farmland. We love to use rough off the beaten tracks but we choose not to do so. The reason is very simple. If you drive with a big overland truck over small tracks you make sure nobody in Scandinavia is going to welcome any overland vehicles anymore. So we leave the small tracks for our bikes. That doesn't mean we did not have a great time. The landscape is beautiful and we can camp almost everywhere.
WET GRASS AND MUD
We are experts in off roading. We can take any road, any surface, nothing can stop us!
But that's on a bicycle.
With an expedition truck the situation is totally different. Wet grass combined with mud is not a very good combination. Within seconds we got stuck and our first experience how to dig out a 12 ton truck has started. Great fun! In 6 hours we learned a lot!
1. Champagne at 10:00 o'clock in the morning is delicious.
2. If you get stuk you make friends.
So not a bad experience.
OUTDOORS
We leave the 12 ton truck and change it for a 14 kilo bike and 10 kilo luggage. So much freedom. We can go everywhere we want. There are no obstacles. Great to have a moving house and a real off road vehicle, the bicycle. Few days cycling and camping. Love that freedom.
SLOW DRIVING
We are a little bit disappointed. Traveling with an expedition truck off road takes almost the same time as cycling. So after the experience with the wet, muddy grass we learn another lesson. Off road Truck driving takes time and to be honest, we don't mind to get used to the slow rhythm.