Loitering
Arrivée153Autumn2021
Lake Vättern
40
With a surface area of 738 square miles, Lake Vättern is one of Europe’s largest bodies of water. The Swedish lake, which is more like an inland sea, is the venue for an annual event, the Vätternrundan, the world’s biggest recreational cycle ride. In 2010, County Durhambased Audaxer, Dave Sharp, joined thousands of others to tackle the 315km route around the lake in a glorious northern summer… but first he had to get there!
IT HAD LONG BEEN an ambition of mine to take part in the Vätternrundan. The first event took place in 1966 with around 300 riders. These days the ride attracts more than 20,000 cyclists worldwide, and the demand for entry is exceedingly high. My opportunity to ride the event finally occurred in 2010. It’s a shame I didn’t manage to do it earlier, as there used to be a direct ferry from North Shields to Gothenburg – the ferry terminal being just a short ride from my home in Seaham, County Durham. Instead, after putting in my online application in 2009, I spent much time trying to work out a route to the starting point in Motala, southern Sweden. This was considerably more testing, involving a train from Durham to Stevenage, from where I would have to cycle to Harwich on the east coast to catch the ferry to Esbjerg in Denmark. Then I’d have to cycle across Denmark to catch a ferry from Grenaa to Varberg in Sweden before cycling 180 miles to Motala on the shores of Lake Vättern. At least on the return journey I’d have the welcome sight of my family, waiting to drive me back home. I’d been using a Moulton for Audax rides for a while, the full suspension helping to reduce the various aches and
pains. The TSR model has good luggage capacity and as I would be camping, I used a trailer as well to make packing easier. So what were the good bits? I’ll always remember that stream of red bike lights stretching out as far the eye could see as we prepared to set off at 9.21pm in the dusk of the Saturday evening. Chatting to another participant, I asked about his different coloured number and found out that he was one of the riders who had taken part in every event since it started. Seeing another cyclist on a On the way through shopper bike, serenading with Sweden,uswith allmusic my gear
