It’s broad daylight by 4am so it’s easy to get ready and on the road by 6.00. I was up late last night trying to find accomodation near the coast and within biking range. Big fat zero I’m afraid so we are going to go on an inland route south towards Jönköping and then decide from there. Today we’re going as far as Linköping , nothing booked as booking .com had nothing available ,so we will go and have a look. It’s quite a big city.
The route we picked ( there’s lots of alternative ways to chose from) was mostly through dairy country. Great to see cows again and some farmers were still milking .
In the first 2 hrs we met 2 cars and a tractor. Great cycling!
We’re blown away by the size of the barns. The winters are long and harsh here so there’s a lot of winter feed needed
I always thought these were distance markers. Some are of course but this type is a message about the Guild , it’s function and any other important information. This one says ‘Rotary meets here Friday night . Ladies a plate please.
Linghem. At this church there are 4 more. Rune stones they’re called and date back to the Viking period about 550AD. Theres also Viking burial mounds out the back but they just look like a lumpy paddock.
As we ride into Linköping we have our own bike way again. Luckily, as the traffics getting heavier now 
Linköping . We soon found an hotel , nice big rooms owned by a lovely old couple. Christine wasn’t impressed with the old lady’s cleaning though so she gave the floor the once over . As you do !
It was only 55kms to here and we arrived at 10.30 so had all day to look around .(and sit around drinking beer in the shade). The cathedral was started in 1100ad and took 400 years to finish . But when Sweden changed its religion from Roman Catholic to Lutheran , all priceless relics were taken down or sold off. This masterpiece was bought by the then King of Sweden whose family later gave it back to the Catholic Church. The side panels are hinged ( about 5 metres high)
Linköping had less than 1000 people in the Middle Ages but there was a permanent settlement next to the church of more than 1000 workers for the duration of the build. What amused me though, if you look closely you can see some walls and pillars had started to tilt but they carried on building , just making a few adjustments. . I mentioned it to the attendant and he pointed out that the floor sloped 400mm over its length also.
The old couple have made us a hamper for breakfast so we can get going early ( old couple? They’re probably about our age ! )
Paris to Paris 