Part 6 -Bicycle Tour Hobo Style - The Cove! En-route to Oslo, Norwa...

Introduction - For readers just joining!

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My 2 dogs and I went on an adventure because we hadn't for a while and the feet were itching! I decided to go see a friend who I met traveling and they live in Oslo. I left North Germany (Flensburg) with a bicycle and camping gear and a guitar to pay my way. I wrote a diary, and include diary entry's *Exactly How It Was Written* so don't get mad at punctuation etc - Original Content! I had no GPS, just a map and compass. I never travel like you would think. Most are taking trains or planes, or buses, and stay in hostels and buy food, and most are on a "limited period of time from work"- to squeeze in many places they want to see before returning to the shackles. I have been traveling for 8 years, the first 2 were in a van and the last 4 years I have slowed down pace even more than I already was. I travel slowly compared to others because I was always limited (financially)to the cash in my pocket and anyway was used to having no spare cash, even when I too lived in a box- which was definitely much worse by far!

The Previous Part's if you want to back track

Part 1- Entering Denmark
Part 2- Abandoned Hotel
Part 3- 420 Jam Session
Part 4- Nils' House & Christiania
Part 5- SWEDEN!

PART 6- Somewhere after Bastad

We had slept on a beach and packed up early to head of to the next stop which would be Halmstad. The weather had turned very hot and cloudless blue sky's and I started to get burnt hands form the sun. Worst thing was there was a constant northerly wind in my face slowing me down and the wind cools you so you don't realize that your burning.

1st May 2016 Diary Entry

Fresh clothes on, deodorant, contact lenses in,sun glasses, hat and suncream on my face and arms, just going to pack up and go to "halmstad". 15km away, I need to go bin diving desperately + will find a place tomorrow. Maybe I will get a camera tomorrow, definatly need also some tolls for the bike.

some hours later when setting up camp..

The power of my mind and will NEVER cease to amaze me. Yesterday or today whilst riding, I thought, "wow its so nice to have enough bakky and hash for the journey to Norway with. I wonder how id feel if I lost the hash or didn't have any in the first place."

NOW I SET UP CAMP AND ITS GONE!

Fuck No! Ill ride back in tomorrow and go search on the beach where we camped last night, leave everything here and go at first light in the morning. Im really sad. haha! Hope by writing this ill remember...
packed up put it in tent pocket inside. got paranoid that it wasn't there, then remembered it was in the electric bag? was this when?! anyway at 5 am i wake up and go look. So strange , my papers weren't in pocket when I left this morning, then randomly found them on the floor whilst leaving. It must be at the beach , it MUST!

2nd May 2016 Diary Entry

Woke up at 5am and rode back to the beach. Last night was in the minus celcius, i just got back and cant even hold the pen as my hands are so cold from ridin with no gloves and as I started riding I realized how cold it was. I cant find the gloves I think they are gone! But anyway it was worth getting cold hands because i found it chilling on the beach at sunrise covered in frost and ice.
WINNER! WINNER!

The sun is out again. I decided to go to Halmstad and hope for a bike shop and to post this part of the diary to my sister with the wooden spoon I carved as its her birthday tomorrow! Im a few kms away from the town. Then when the sun is not so hot I'll do the last part to the city then go to a cool place I see on the map for camping and a feast.. i have still a rack of ribs and 2 chicken breasts for a grill!

Dear lord I was gutted that I had lost the hash! I really do have to be careful as to what I think, it gets so bad that even in a recent part to this Journey, I wrote - "I lost my phone", and then I went to the city and hour in real life, and left my phone in a car that gave me a ride there!
It was so cold, there was thick frost on the coastline and my hands when I started riding , I realized it was ICE cold sea wind and made my hands frozen withing a few minutes. It was sunny weather and no clouds at night means its always colder. I headed off to Halmstad, you would not believe the change of weather! It was too hot to ride the bike. It wasn't just a bike though, it was a huge long and heavy setup and the trailer at the back was a 1 wheeled one, so just a wheel at the back. This actually started to break at some point and kept coming disconnected whilst going a lot, then it did break and luckily I found on the side of t)he rode some bendable metal wire to fix it. It wouldn't have been so bad if it was a just a bike, but me personally I cannot handle the sunshine at all.

2nd May 2016 - Halmstad

I was stood in the main street with the bike resting up and had set up in the shade just to relax, and leave the dogs to go find a post office and a piece of sanding paper, oh and a bike shop. I needed some tools to tighten up part's the bike I had, which by the way was built in 1992! The new stand I got for it was forever coming loose. It was nice to wonder around the town, looking like a dirty tourist with no dogs or rucksack or a bike. It was midday and scorching hot, and I was enjoying also the shaded streets with cool breezes flushing down them. Managed to find the sand paper in a shop and then went back to finish the spoon. Lovely job it was, and light in weight to send with the first part of the diary to my sis. I have 2 nephew's who I hardly ever seen since they were toddlers, and its also nice if my sister read then some things of what I'm doing, instead of looking at just pictures on facebook!

2nd May, The Evening - Diary Entry Continued

Wow, im sat eating a full rack of ribs with the chicken breasts and boiled potatoes. The sun just set and it will be a frosty night again. I think this is the most idilic cove I have ever seen, we are on the tip of the coast. Fuck me 17 euro for some contact lenses, but makes a much better experience! I spent the day in halmstad spending all the money i had left on a guitar tuner, although I did get money from the supermarket trash from the bottles you can return, and I then played 2 hours at the front of the supermarket. Ive decided to get to norway more quickly, and can just collect the bottles on the side of the road as I go in between supermarkets. Im 240km from Goteborg i think- then, i think? its 600 more to oslo.

Im so lucky to live like I do.

It was my sisters birthday the next day and I thought to send half the dairy so I wouldn't loose it and could keep it along with other traveling memory's and finish it that part on her birthday. I have a suitcase in my mum garage, just full of random diary's, and objects from wherever. I had made a second spoon. I have worked with wood for many years and it was awesome to pick up any thick dead stick in a forest and take the bark off to reveal a multi-coloured wood underneath. I carved the shape but then couldn't get the curve for the spoon part and realized that I could burn it out with pieces of embers from the fire. It worked well, after some time!

The next day I actually nearly forgot to post it until I rode past a single standing red post box on the side of the road, with no houses around whatsoever. The posty must have been surprised there was a small packet in there! We didn't go far before it was dark , but we got to the cycle route, one that went all the way up to Oslo but night time was approaching. I found this Cove above whilst looking for a place to sleep, there was a fire place there and i found just enough wood after a long and far search to make a fire to cook on. There was a nice place for the tent also. I cannot explain to anyone how much I live to be living like this. There is nothing else more real because its always now whilst living so! Someone came past and told me I couldn't stay there but anyway they were jogging, and so off they jogged.
I actually came back to this place a month later with a car share (but that's another story linked to this one!) but we came from the north instead of from the south.. It turns out just the other side of the ridge was a huuuuge sand beach and when I went there the 2nd time it was packed with tourist's. I never do the tourist things anyway, the cove I found was much cosier.