Day 27: Sat 5 Aug: Orebro to Eskilstuna

Cycle: 96 km - Total so far: 1,233 km

Start time: 8:15am
Stop time: 2:50pm
Weather: fine all day with patches of sunshine, but mostly cloudy and dull conditions. 14 to 20deg 

When we first looked out the window this morning we thought we were in for a very wet day as it was coming down pretty heavily. However, by the time we left the hotel on the bikes the sun was shining. Although the conditions were dull and cloudy most of the day it never rained till we were pulling into the hotel at Eskilstuna.  

The first 40 odd km was a real breeze, smooth roads or path, nice tailwind and no steep hills to speak of. The first stop was Arboga, (morning tea) an ancient little village that had hosted Sweden's first Parliament in the 15th century. The lovely old church was worth a look inside and the cobblestone streets had that old-world charm about them. For some reason MapMyRide then took us down this horrible loose gravel road which we ended up being trapped on for 8km. We were caught between a railway line and fields of wheat and apart from backtracking (which we don't like on 90km+ days) we were stuck with it. We were soon back on a nice smooth road and making good time again.

Lunch was at Kungsor, a busy little place with rail, road and boat junctions. We sat overlooking the canal with its two styles of raiseable bridges. After lunch we had 29 km to do but MMR led us astray again by taking us down a dead end road. To get out of that we had to weed-bash for about 50m. Again, better than turning back. While Sweden has some amazing cycling infrastructure, occasionally it just dries up completely and leaves you scratching your head. 

Despite the two little hiccups with MMR we made very good time and ended up pulling into the hotel before 3pm. A great day's cycling made so much more pleasant by a lovely tailwind. Dinner was at a packed Greek restaurant (with rain most of the time) about 400m from the hotel and was followed by a walk around the local fair/carnival.



Best Western Plaza Hotel Eskilstuna room 402


Our HUGE bathroom - we are so spoilt in Australia with decent hotel rooms

Beer with dinner - had to be Greek, of course

Town Hall Eskilstuna

Eskisltuna

Eskilstuna Obelisk

Eskilstuna 

Side-show alley at Eskilstuna 

Antique Shop in a lovely old building

Wendy playing sweep for a change

The medieval town of Arboga

Inside the church at Arboga

Outside the church at Arboga

Yummy stuff at our morning tea stop, no one was tempted

Having coffee

Church at Arboga

On the canal at Arboga

Arboga

The "rocket"

Ken and Maree, way out front in the breakaway group

Ken and Maree on that monster verge

Kungsor

Lunch stop at Kungsor

A lovely old farm house





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