We finished the last part of the Ätradalsleden today. It started somewhere in Falköping, in the middle of day 65, and ended here in Falkenberg on day 72. And another magical thing happened today, but first, breakfast.
Breakfast at the hostel was nice. It had everything a good breakfast needs: different types of bread, boiled eggs, cheese, ham, marmalade, yogurt, and cornflakes. And of course, coffee and tea.
At first, we were alone in the big room, but slowly the other guests dropped in.
Upon our departure, with all preparations complete, we proceeded to settle our account at the shop located across the lake. It was there that we encountered one of the new proprietors, who had recently acquired both the hostel and the shop.
Fegen’s hostel has its origins in 1905, when the building was first constructed as a luxurious residence for a local industrial manager. Over the decades, it changed function several times. It became a pension, later a holiday home, and eventually a school camp, serving visitors and local families in different ways as tourism and community life evolved.
So, back on our bike. We need to finish the last 60 kilometers of the Ätradalsleden. It was excellent biking weather today, but we moved on slowly. A lot of uphill and downhill although not the nasty type where we should step off our bike and push it further.
The landscape was beautiful and very varied, going from rough rocks to pastoral fields.
Between Krogsered and Gällared, Leen saw something dark moving in the forest: ”En älg” (moose)! And it didn’t run away immediately for a change. Upon closer inspection it was a mother with a child.
So finally we got our moose shot, and we were eligible to return home (remember the banner at the beginning of our journey?). Leen said. «It was a magical moment». And then she could not stop talking about it for the coming hour or so. 😁
After many more climbs, we finally reached the end of the Ätradalsleden. A small milestone in our total journey, but we took a few minutes to celebrate anyway.
At the same time, we had arrived in Falkenberg, so we only needed to do a few kilometers to our Airbnb in Ringsegård. But first? Yes, you guessed it right. Time to resupply. It was a big and busy ICA at the outskirts of the town, but we were fairly fast in deciding what to buy and eat later that evening.
We got to our spot around six, and Asbjörn and Marika greeted us at their awesome place. They were super curious about our trip, so we told them all about it.
And then the usual: unpack, make dinner, shower, and fall asleep on the bed. We were really tired after three days of biking. Tomorrow is luckily a resting day, so hopefully our muscles will recover enough to do the final three days to Tyringe.
Extra
I admit, the full song for the short movie was made with AI, but you can listen to it completely here:
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