The hotel in Pajela was rather odd in that the shower cubicle had wallpaper on the sides. I kid you not. It even had that border wallpaper you often see in people’s houses. I presume it was water proof.
The journey was not going to be that long, around four hours. The sky was again very grey with heavy clouds threatening to give me a soaking. So I set off with all my heavy duty gear on and rode to the petrol station just around the corner to fill Waspy up.
The landscape was similar to Finland. Trees everywhere, the odd river and the odd expanse of water. Once you’ve seen the majesty of Norway this is all a little tame. After a while I arrived at the Arctic Circle signpost and stopped to take some photos. I arrived at the Arctic Circle in Norway and left it in Sweden. I’m also leaving behind the midnight sun, the novelty of which has soon worn off.
Around lunchtime I stopped off the main road for something to eat and ended up with the most disgusting pizza I’ve had. The base was soggy and the topping tasteless. I should’ve left it all but after eating half of it I gave up.
Once on the move again, I regretted the lunch stop. I needed the loo so I had to stop but I should’ve just skipped lunch. Indigestion was setting in.
At around 2:30pm I arrived in Skellefteå. The hotel appeared to be in the middle of a shopping precinct. Also the town seemed to be gearing up for a town fest with a huge stage already setup and all the area around fenced off.
Mrs Garmin found the hotel but I couldn’t get close enough, so I did what I’ve done before and try to get closer by coming at it from a different direction. This seemed to work and I ended up parking Waspy amongst a load of bicycles. The hotel was curious in that it had the sixth (top) floor of a building. It had no other floors, the rest of the building is occupied by other businesses.
After a well deserved nap I ventured out to explore. The town is fairly modern, although the guy on reception told there is an old part which I’ll explore tomorrow before setting off.
That awful lunchtime pizza played havoc with my appetite and after my walkabout I just had a cider in the bar and retired to my shoe box size room. Incidentally I passed a restaurant called “Bastard Burgers”. I’m not sure if bastard means the same in Swedish or whether the place was named after a disgruntled customer who complained about the food. In any case I didn’t bother. Then there was a pub/restaurant called the Bishops Arms which seemed to have a lot of people sat outside. A couple got up to leave and I quickly jumped in their spot. Eventually the waitress appeared and when I asked for a menu was told you have to go order drinks and food inside. Brilliant. you find a nice spot and then lose it when you go to the bar. Again I didn’t bother.
The WiFi at this hotel is abysmal, the worst so far.
So this morning, as the weather looked bright and promising I took a nice long walk to the old part of the town. As I got closer I saw some old cars driving in the same direction. I’ve always liked old cars so was hoping to see what was going on.
I arrived at an open space on which were parked all manner of old vehicles. This was going to be interesting. There were naturally several ancient Volvo’s and Saab’s but other cars too made in the UK, Italy Japan, France and the US. One of the marshall’s told me this is a yearly event and that after everyone has gathered they take a slow ten mile drive in a convoy.
The old town consisted of two or three rows of wooden houses which looked very old indeed.
To The Arctic Circle and Beyond by Motorbike 