Dreaming in Gyllebo…

The two days I spent relaxing in Gyllebo were a tonic for both mind and body…

Old trading store on the outskirts of the village...

I spent many an hour out on the patio, staring off into the distance... Missing, wishing, and planning...

Pretty flowers on the roadside...

I spent the mornings writing and the afternoons riding… When it wasn’t raining…!! The weather would change from sunny and dry, to wet and windy in the space of half an hour…!!

On one occasion I rode down to the lake just a few kilometres away, with the intention of taking a dip in what I was told was relatively warm water…

Although the sun was shining when I left, a few minutes later, just as I pulled up to the swimming area, it started to drizzle, and then rained hard for the next hour… There was no need to swim in order for me to get wet… I was wet right through to my underwear by the time I got the bike back to the house…

Just up the road from the lake, is an extensive complex of stables and yards, filled with dozens of very well cared for horses… People taking out-rides, on beautiful big thoroughbreds along the country roads were a common sight.

The calm waters of Lake Gyllebo... Imagine living here...!!

No props allowed here... Boats or aircraft...!! And somewhere a dog is running around without it's collar...!!

Across the road from the stables was a large fenced off paddock, and the first time I rode past it, I nearly fell off the bike in surprise when I saw the herd of Alpacas that was contained inside it…!! For those of you wondering what an Alpaca is, it is a small version of  Llama…!! For those of you wandering what a Llama is…. Never mind…!!

This was as far from South America that these animals could ever get…!!  Apparently the very wealthy owner of the farm they are on has a penchant for the exotic…!! Remembering that the last Alpaca I had tried to pat had sneezed and spat a load of crud all over my white t-shirt, I stayed well away from the fence…

Very few people actually live in this remote area, but many holiday homes have been built on the shores of the lake, and in the nearby vicinity of it. Most of the houses have been boarded up for the coming winter, as the summer season drew to an close…

Hard to get your tongue around...

The boys at Expert got my phone sorted... Many of the streets are cobbled, dating back centuries...

I rode into the pretty little harbour town of Simrishamn, which is only about 15 kms away, and managed to get a Swedish Sim card with the help of the guys at “Expert”, a chain of stores here in Sweden specializing in electronic goods…

Even though I arrived there an hour earlier than the official opening time, they sneaked me into the shop and helped me out… Very friendly guys…!!

I bought some supplies, and then took a winding country road back home, reveling in the great conditions and the peace and quiet of this region…

Jens took me out to dinner one evening, and after a short tour of the town, which isn’t very big, we enjoyed a great meal on the central pedestrian walkway… The Swedish Krone is on an exact par with the South African Rand, so comparing prices was a no-brainer…!! Just for the record, the Schnitzel I ordered, cost a mere R189.00…!!

Better you have yours at your local Spur…!! Yeah, things are hellishly expensive here by our standards… And then some of you wonder why the heck I am whizzing through this part of the world at top speed…?? There’s your answer…!! It’s all in the Schnitzel…!!

Here are a few photos that I took while I rode around the town earlier that morning…

The little fishing harbour of Simrishamn... The industry has fallen on hard times, and only a few boats go out to fish these days...

Then Hyr deserves a tight slap of his own...!! Get in line boys...!!

The Blonde Brigade visit this old church in the town centre... Confession is never a bad thing, Girls...!!

Row of houses in the old section of town...

How old...?? Very...!!

When Jens dropped me off later that evening, we found a deer standing in the road right next to our parking area. It stood blinded by the lights for a minute, then daintily steeped into the shrubbery on the side of the road…

The next morning, I saw it again, up against the picket fence, only metres away from the patio… It was close enough for me to see light sparkling from its big, liquid brown eyes… We stood watching each other for a few minutes, and then with a flick of its tail, it bounded away, swallowed up by the thick bush… I stood taking in a few deep breaths, marveling at those few moments of interaction with this wild animal…

Soothing balm for the soul…that’s what it was…!!

There is plenty to see and do here. Thousands of tourists flock to this town in Southern Sweden every summer...

This old fishing boat has been converted into a floating restaurant... Beautiful...!! The scenery too...!!

And you thought we did not have any culture...!! Big Fella waits outside the library while I do some "work"...

Temporary office and HQ of the Gypsy Biker Road Show, inside the Simrishamn library...

With a few posts written up, I headed back into town the next day, to find an internet café, and stumbled across the public library, where a winning smile got me free Wi-Fi access for 8 hours…!!

I had opened negotiations by handing the three ladies behind the counter my card, and explaining a little about my journey… When I finally left the library later that afternoon, I was pleased to see that all three computer terminals on the main desk, were logged onto my website, and a small group of locals were gathered around the screens, ooh-ing and aah-ing over the photos…

With a quick wave, I left the building, hoping they would not get to the photo of the “arched bridge” in the Amsterdam story, before I had left the immediate vicinity…!!

A home in Gladsax... Idyllic...!!

The avenue of oaks on the road down to the cottage...

"Girls...!! Look at the horns on this one...!!" The Big Fella gets the glad-eye from Betsy...

The herd gets up close and personal...

On the way home, I stopped under a narrow avenue of oak trees to “listen to the silence” for a while… I hopped off the bike and sat down on a rock, drinking in the tranquility of the Swedish countryside…

The silence was disturbed by a large herd of cows, which came galloping over to the fence to see what I was about… With their udders swinging wildly from side to side, they pushed and shoved each other to get a closer look at this strange apparition parked on their boundary…

I was amazed at how curious they were, smelling my hands and allowing me to scratch the bridges of their wide noses, and tickle the inside of their ears… After nearly half an hour of this, I decided to move on a short distance to continue my “meditation”… I fired the bike up, scattering the cows in panic, and rode a few hundred metres to another shady spot, got off, and sat down again…

Bees and other insects buzzed around me…and in the distance a rumbling could be heard…

The Girls from Gyllebo...

We luuuuuuve the Gypsy Biker...!!

Was it thunder…? No…!! It was the rush of heavy, four legged bodies…!! Damn cows again…!! They had seen me stop, and had come dashing over to “chat” some more…!!

I tried to ignore them, but their heavy breathing and snorting only a few feet behind me, made me give up in exasperation…

These girls weren’t about to leave me alone…

More scratching and tickling… Me, smiling, laughing and talking to them, and they pushing and shoving each other (none too gently I might add…) to get up close and personal with me…

The Big Fella stood waiting in the shade of the oaks, probably thinking that these were the only chicks I was ever going to “pull” on this trip… Cheeky bugger…!!

Back at the cottage, I prepared for the next day’s ride to Stockholm, a 650 km dash along the coast and then onto the motorway, heading ever north to my next milestone…

The weather seemed to be holding up, but after chatting to a few local folk, I now had other things to worry about… Things like Bears….and Wolves…!!

“Don’t pitch your tent just anywhere…!” they had said… “There are Bears up there and they will come looking for food…!!”

“Lovely…!! Anything else I should be taking into consideration besides the rain, the cold, the long lonely miles, the bears and the wolves…?”

“Moose and wild pigs… They run across the road, especially far up in the North…”

“Moose and pigs, huh…!! Anything else…?”

“No… I think you have it all covered…!!” they said…

“Your lips to God’s ears, my friends…!!”

Many of these old windmills have been converted into country houses...

Gladsax, but no gladrags here...

Ver indeed...!!

The countryside of Southern Sweden... Flat, narrow roads... Just perfect for biking...!!

Occasionally you have to contend with the agricultural sector...

Whatever you say...!! We weren't buying anything we did not understand anyway...!!

It's all good in Gyllebo, Dudes...!! Photo by T.Ripod...

And Borge's beer went down a treat...!! Many thanks my friend...!! Photo by T. Ripod...

©GBWT 2010