Kristianstad

This Saturday was born grey, wet and windy. Therefore, breakfast was followed by a rather lazy morning relax and a slow packing. By elevenish the forecast promised sunny and dry weather at noontime, so we departed the fairly derelict old villa Humbla and turned our front wheels towards southwest along the Baltic Sea.

We biked through Valje Nature Reserve and gave the cargo train its well deserved right-of-way.

Soon after, we passed the county border and headed from Blekinge into Skåne, the southernmost county in Sweden.

Farther along the trail we biked by this huge plant where untold mega-tons of timber from Sweden's forests are transformed into 340,000 tons chemical pulp and 485,000 tons wood-free uncoated paper annually.

The 900-years-old church in Gualöv was on our bucket list to visit to check out its medieval murals, but unfortunately that church was locked up and bolted.

Instead, we stopped for a tea-and-biscuit break out the village of Fjälkinge ...

... back-to-back with a harvest-ripe wheat field ...

... and front-to-front with fields of tobacco plants! A local man told us that there was a continued tradition in this very region to grow tobacco for the local production of a brand of "Göteborg" snuff.

Eight kilometers farther to the west we entered the old Danish citadel "Kristianstad" concieved by King Christian IV and built entirely in the early 1600s during his reign. Almost 200 years ago the function as fortress was given up and now Kristianstad is a sprawling city in the middle of a prospering Skåne.

King Christian's big and beautiful "Holy Trinity" church remains the most significant building in Kristianstad.

One is easily impressed by the grandeur of the architecture. The church is a real masterpiece and it seats 1400 people.

The magnificent organ is still used and tonight at 6 p.m. we will be attending a concert in the church to enjoy organ pieces by Liszt, Bossi, Britten and Pärt.

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After the cultural event we will find a restaurant and then, well-stuffed, waddle home to our "Christian 4. B&B" in downtown.

Sölvesborg

Today has been a sunny and warm Friday right from the beginning. We continued our fossil-free bicycle life on the trail and headed along the Baltic coast.

In the village of Mörrum we once again met the mighty river Mörrum now a roaring monster as it cascaded its waters down over the rapids adjacent to a world-famous salmon fishing location.

We enjoyed a tea break in the shade amongst the rapids ...

... and took some time to explore the favourite fishing pools and the fishing gear shop close-by.

Lures and flies of ALL sorts were available; hopefully irresistible to any trophy-sized salmonid.

One of the biggest salmons landed here by means of a fish fly was this whopper ...

... weighing impressive 22.9 kg and 121 cm long.

Lunch was enjoyed with this view right on the shore of Pukavik bay. It is hard to imagine any place more beautiful.

The sub-surface view was rather more limited.

After another 10 km we reached the extensive reed-covered wetlands in the eastern outskirts of Sölvesborg ...

... and proceeded towards town on the longest pedestrian-bicycle bridge in Europe.

We took a leisurely stroll in downtown which was OK but not spectacular.

However, we noted this stone commemorating that Christoffer I, king of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Wends and Goths, in 1445 allocated city privileges to Sölvesborg. This part of Sweden was indeed very Danish – once upon a time !

Well, back to the Swedish present. At the harbour front we encountered this rocky installation with DIY poetry.

We are spending the night in an old villa called Hotel Humbla ...

... that has this interior look as seen from the door to our room #7.

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Tomorrow, the old fortified city of Christianstad will be our destination.

Karlshamn

The evening and night turned out to become overcast so I cancelled the photo shoot of the river under the milky way.

Instead, we got an early breakfast under a hungry Bear ... 

Bjørn

... and a sleepy Moose (named Svend).

Today, the bike trail has followed the banks of the river Mörrum as it rushes towards the Baltic Sea.

Just south of the village of  Fridafors we crossed the border between Småland and Blekinge.

Until 26th February 1658, this used to be the border between the Kingdom of Denmark and the Kingdom of Sweden.

Therefore, we are entering old Danish territory and, accordingly, the landscape began looking sort of Danish: More beech forests, more open fields and much fewer rocks and stonewalls.

Even the Mörrum river lost most of its energy and moved lazily towards its final destination.

We continued on the trail that used to be a railway line.

A few remaining hardware artifacts are still to be seen.

But, nowadays, the main focus is on the salmon fishing in the Mörrum that runs along the railway traché. 

Apparently, Mörrum offers the very best salmon fishing opportunities in all of Sweden.

In the town of Svängsta we tried to visit the local ABU museum (Since 1921, ABU has been the world's leading manufacturer of fishing tackle and lures). However, it was closed. Instead, we spotted two vintage examples of Swedens's industrial heritage: 4/5 of a Volvo 544 and a complete SAAB 96. (Those of you who've read "A man called Ove" will know which of the above vehicles Ove would never touch).

South of Svängsta we came across this huge wild bore that poked its ugly front out of the woods.

By early afternoon we biked through the old part of Karlshamn ...

... and soon reached the shoreline of the Baltic Sea.

We stopped by the monument commemorating the massive exodus from Karlshamn harbour of Swedes from Småland and Blekinge towards Minnesota and other places in America 100+ years ago. Here are Karl Oskar and his wife Kristina, the main characters in the famous novel by Vilhelm Moberg, getting ready to embark of the voyage of their lives. A copy of the monument stands also in the town Lindstrom in Minnesota, USA.

Before heading towards our hotel for a well-deserved break we noticed this public bicycle pump with free air. What a splendid service!

No visit to Sweden is complete without some Astrid Lindgren. Therefore, "Pippi Longstocking in the South Seas" is the main show in town.

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Tomorrow will see us on the trail again, heading west and south with Sölvesborg as our next destination.

Blidingsholm

This sunny and warm Wednesday got off to a pleasant start at 9 a.m. when we left Ulrika's B&B in Tingsryd and headed westwards.

Overnight the tiny "Circus Bambino" had entered town and was getting ready for a show later today.

We said Hello and Goodbye and were soon immersed in the lovely landscape.

We took a detour to a nature reserve ...

... where we stopped and enjoyed ourselves botanizing for plants and insects.

Wild and delicious raspberries.

The huge and voracious Yellow Assassin Fly (Laphria flava).

The butterfly Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae).

In late morning we reached the south end of the enormous Lake Åsnen and the village of Urshult. 

We replenished our dwindling pastry stock at Urshult's famous baker shop; – and with diligence, the acquired software was duly consumed at the lake shore.

The trail onwards led us through even more stretches of mossy blueberry spruce forests ...

... until we arrived at the river Mörrum that flows under this magnificent 8-arches bridge. "Holmabron" is 200 years old and the longest stone bridge of this kind in Sweden.

We knew that we had booked a room at the adjacent Blidingsholm in a facility on the river bank close to the bridge ...

... and we were pleased to find that our GPS took us right up to this splendid building.

However, nobody was around and apart from a constantly mewing old cat, the house was locked and not accommodating. After an afternoon snooze on the lawn and some reconnoitering in the neighbourhood we realized that our home for tonight was not the big villa but a rather humble hostel 1 km away.

We are surrounded by really beautiful landscape and if the weather will cooperate tonight I shall attempt to do some night photography. Let's see how that will turn out.

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Tomorrow, we will leave Småland and bike southwards into Blekinge and end the stage in the town of Karlshamn on the coast of the Baltic Sea.