Rest day in Västervik

Ah..... This is the perfect day for a break, since we can feel yesterday's stage in our legs and can finally get some clean clothes. Västervik is picturesque and quite happening since this is a long weekend in Sweden for some reason.

So we spent the day strolling through the town, buying maps for the rest of the journey and reading Ben Elton in the hotel sauna. It's a great one with a huge barrel of cold water to jump into and windows in the actual sauna, all decorated like a fishing port - nice touch. Ben Elton's The First Casualty, which I picked up in the local bookstore, is very readable too. Neil bought another book by him. The only problem is they are cheaply produced and all but fell apart in the sauna.

In the bookstore, a little old lady came up to us and said, "We have big strike in this country too. Many people die in war." It took me a while to guess that she was alluding to the Iraq war. I wish I could have said, "I'm against the war too, and I live in Berlin!"

Tomorrow, we are heading on to Valdemarsvik along the coastal cycle path:




Valdemarsvik is so small, it only has one B+B and I guess Neil will have to polish off the rest of his vodka bottle. But apparently the journey there is beautiful, so I'll take some photos if I can.