Day 38: Wed 16 Aug: Jonkoping

August 16, 2017

Cycle: 5 km - Total so far: 1,442 km

Start time: 8:50am
Stop time: 5:30pm

Drive: 55km
Weather: rain early followed by a cloudy but mostly fine afternoon

The pitter patter of rain on the window is not what you want to hear on the morning of a planned bike ride. Lucky we have a backup plan, the cars. After breakfast, we needed to get to the paid parking square before 9am, when the payment was required again after an overnight reprieve from 6pm to 9am. It's not that expensive to park but it's almost everywhere and a pain.

First stop for the day was an apple orchard area about 20km north. Nice area but much like every other apple-growing area in the world; minus any cute nearby villages. That done we headed for the Husqvarna Museum, strangely enough a museum for everything made by Husqvarna in the township of Husqvarna. We hadn’t realised that they were responsible for making such a diverse range of products and that they were first tied up in the weapons making business from the 17th century. A small hydropower plant on the factory grounds testified to their ingenuity and engineering skills.

A walk around the town of Husqvarna (or Huskvarna) and another on a nature walk up beside the hydro system filled the morning nicely. We ate our lunch beside a Scout Hut in the forest. Saw a lovely red deer on this walk, it didn't seem too concerned but moved away when it detected us.

The afternoon was spent doing admin; Wendy discovered a few odd transactions on our Mastercard (not the one we had been using though) and we decided to call the bank. That turned into an ultra-marathon and eventually got hold of them using Skype credits and had the card cancelled. We then visited The Match Museum and rode around Jonkoping. The safety match was invented and produced in huge numbers in Sweden in the early days.

Dinner was at a Thai restaurant a pleasant 20 minutes walk from the hotel. Very nice meal.