Against all odds? (Mjölby)

If the two previous days had seemed effortless like a stroll in the park, today was anything but. Perhaps due to the relaxed morning in Zlata's garden, I was very slow to get going. In fact, I think it may have been well past noon when I finally rolled out of Norrköping.

The morning in Zlata's garden.

Actually, rolling was pretty far from it, as I had the most persistent, heavy headwind the whole day to stop me from enjoying even the steepest downhill. I had to use all my tested tricks to keem myself from getting angry at the frustratingly slow progress: singing out aloud (especially handy when going through scary bits like steep,bumpy downhills or narrow-laned highways with lots of overtaking traffic), listening to my favourite tangos by Sexteto Mayor and Adriana Varela (although i've listened to it a thousand times, I still cannot help crying when I hear her singing 'Volver'), even, as a last resort, thinking about sex that usually keeps me entertained in monotonous situations...nothing seemed to work. And when on top of the wind came the dreaded Swedish specialty: busy roads with no access to the shoulder or for passing traffic to overtake at a safe distance due to fences both between lanes and on the shoulder, I almost started to cry. This was not fun anymore.

But that was not all. The clouds that had been collecting the whole day finally decided to release their load on me when I was in the middle of plains,with no forest or other cover anywhere within at least 10km. Now, in addition to fighting my way through the ridiculously strong wind,my face was being hit with the needle-like raindrops,while my hands were freezing, squeezing the handlebar to keep the bike upright in the wind.

I decided to call it a day and head for the nearest Vandrarhem (hostel), marked on the map not far from where I was. This meant back-tracking about 10km, but hell, I did not care.

When I finally got to where the hostel was supposed to be, the rain had just ended and even the wind seemed to have calmed down. And it was just as well, as it turned out that there was NO VANDRARHEM in this village! Had i not been so tired,this is when i probably would have got mad. Now, I just got doggedly back in the saddle and pushed my way through the still-quite-powerful wind to the next village, 10km further down the road,where there was supposedly a campsite.

All the caravans at the campsite were deserted.

Am now at the deserted campsite,with nobody else around. The reception had closed 3hrs before I got here,but I just pitched my tent anyway. The toilets are locked and there is no running water,but I've had my familiar noodle-and-sardine meal and am now snugly tucked in my sleeping bag. Can only say that I hope tomorrow will be a bit easier!