13 Aug 1999: Friday the 13^th. I went into town trying to buy the tires that were impossible to get hold of in Oslo. The mission was a success since I got what I needed already at the first bike store I visited! I got so excited by my luck that I forgot to buy a couple of inner tubes as well, something which would turn out to be a big mistake.

I had read in the papers about an outbreak of a salmonella epidemic south of Göteborg. I am not sure if this is what caused my stomach to get upset, but on my way out of Göteborg I got in desperate need for access to a toilet. I had to leave one piece of men's underwear in Sweden as a souvenir…

Coming into Alingsås I was treated with a Norwegian style bike lane. Suddenly it made a 90 degrees turn into the woods, with no possibility to return to the main road. The otherwise excellent signposting of the bicycle road network in Sweden ceased to excist. I had to make a qualified guess for something which looked like a major bicycle route running in what I guessed was the direction of the local camping site. After a while the seal ended, the road split and I had to make another qualified guess. A few minutes later I got to a car park with an information board including a map. Saved? No way, the map only showed the boundaries of a protected area and absolutely no roads! So I had to make yet another guess, and a few hundred meters later I came to an intersection where the only sign was pointing towards the camping site! I concluded that unlike in Norway, it is possible to find your way through a sign-free road network in Sweden!

Getting to the camping site was a bit disappointing though - their only link to high standard was their prices…

14 Aug 1999: Tried to follow up the successful guesses of the previous day. Chose the Old Vänersborg Road out of Alingsås. Since I was going to Vänersborg, and since old roads are normally nice alternatives for a cycling route, I decided to ride against the sign saying "no through road". This normally works out quite well, but a long uphill later I had to realise that THIS road was a TRUE no exit road! Oh well, I did go on this biking holiday to get exercise, so why complain about extra exercise?

My body responded that my stomach was now working well again. The bike, however, treated me with two broken spokes as I passed Väne-Åsaka for the second time.

I had more success playing hide and seek with the rain showers. An empty bus depot saved me from getting wet as the first one broke loose.

The second one seemed to change directions just as I was about to plunge right into it. And the third one didn't break out until 2 minutes after I had arrived at the camping site!

15 Aug 1999: The showers from the day before had now changed to steady rain. I spent the day replacing the broken spokes and trying to balance my wheel properly.

It was still raining after I had finished my repairs, so I went over to the reception and paid for another night. THEN it stopped raining….

16 Aug 1999: I was up early to check the weather, which was far better than predicted in the weather forecast. Hence I made an early start, trying to get to Ed before the rain set in once more.

After 1,5 km I realised that I had a flat tyre. Tried pumping and continued for another 1,5 km to a picnic area that would have offered good conditions for mending the hole. However, no air seemed to have leaked out of my tube in the meantime, so I decided to continue. That was another mistake…

My tire was flat again after 6 km, 10,5 km, 15,5 km and 17,5 km before I finally gave up and turned my bicycle upside down on the side of the road after 19 km. Discovered a hole which had opened up by itself in my "Made in Taiwan" tube. Then I discovered something else as well, air had started to leak out under an old patch. I had brought some new kind of patches - Made in USA - they did not require any glue, and now I took the chance to try them.

1,5 km later my tyre was flat again! I now started to get rather tired of loading and unloading the baggage on my bike! There was nothing wrong with the US patches though, the air had found yet another way out under the old patch.

Now there were no more problems for a while. I got to Färgelanda and had lunch. It is possible that this meal had made the cyclist too heavy for "Made in Taiwan" to support, anyway the tyre was flat once again when I tried to mount my bike after lunch. For some strange reason I left the open field in front of the church, pumped up and tried to ride on. Maybe I trusted Santa Claus more than the allmighty? Oh well, after pumping several times I had to set up my garage in the ditch 5 kms later.

Now I realised that the air had found a third way out under the old patch, and there was just one thing to do: Remove all old patches and try to mend all holes once more. 3 of the 4 old patches were relatively easy to remove, the 4^th one seemed impossible. I guess that I should never have touched it, since no air was coming out that way yet, but once I had started removing it, there was no turning back! It took hours and hours, but at long last I could return to the road on a bicycle with high tyre pressure.

Somehow I even managed to reach Ed before it got dark.

17 Aug 1999: From Ed I went north along the lake Stora Le, without seeing much water. I tried taking the back road to the border via Finnserud, but that road was recently upgraded. It felt like I was sinking through the surface of it, so I turned around after just 200 meters or so.

The road into Norway from the border at Alingmo is not very busy, but this day it was extreme. I rode 5,5 km into Norway before I could see the first car! At one stage I was getting concerned that there might have been a disaster somewhere that might have polluted the air so that people had been advised to stay indoors. Car traffic soon returned to normal, though.

I had planned to take the train from Halden to Oslo, but coming to the railway station I got to know that a train had derailed at Moss, and they did not know when the line could be repaired. Hence I went uphill to the camping site on the fortress. There I got a free shower because I came uphill on a bicycle!

18 Aug 1999: I still had no intention to go all the way back to Oslo by bike, so I decided to ride to Mysen which is on a different line and this way bypass the problems. I chose a few back roads that in their own way clearly pointed out to me why I should have stayed on the main road!

I will still remember this day for clearing skies for the first time on this trip.