Day 8: Töre to Luleå | 75km
After a deep sleep, I woke up at 9:30 am. When I unzipped my tent, I found myself completely alone. The campsite had been quiet the evening before, but now there was no sign of the caravans or campervans that had shared the space with me. I must have slept through their departures, a sign of just how deeply I had rested. I knew today would be a shorter ride, just a few hours to Luleå, which is not a big town, but it felt bustling compared to the villages I had passed through so far.
The morning air was crisp and pleasant, so I took my time packing up, shaking the dew from my tent. A routine that usually takes 30 minutes stretched to nearly an hour. With my stomach growling, I finally made my way to the nearest supermarket for breakfast. Finding a routine in eating and getting enough nutrients to keep going has been a challenge, but I’m grateful for my strong stomach, which has handled the irregularity and odd diet of this journey without complaint.
Breakfast was half a kilo of cottage cheese, granola, and cheese sandwiches with no butter. Not a strange meal in itself, but my eating schedule has been anything but routine. Normally, I’m not even a fan of cottage cheese (blame the summers I spent working in a cottage cheese factory), but my relationship with food has evolved to fuel by now. Almost anything goes. A ride of only 75 km would have seemed long before this trip, but my perspective on distance has shifted too.
However, the ride turned out to be tougher than I expected, and I didn’t roll into Luleå, a coastal city in Swedish Lapland with around 50,000 inhabitants, until late afternoon. There, I eagerly checked into a comfortable hotel. My excitement grew when I spotted the bathtub in my room. I turned on the taps, filling it to the brim with scalding hot water. I’ve never hidden my dislike for the cold. Being outside all the time is freeing, but in this northern stretch of the journey, I’ve been almost constantly chilled. Any chance to warm up is one I’ll gladly take.
After cleaning up and doing laundry in the sink of my hotel room (a humble but effective setup), I found the nearest burger restaurant and ordered six burgers with fries. Even I doubted my ability to finish this meal, but 15-minutes later, it was all gone. I’ll never second guess what a calorie-deprived Adam (yes, I’m referring to myself in third person) can eat again.