Day 19 - 'I thought you packed the snow chains' (Dumb & Dumber on tour in Sweden)

We'd decided yesterday that if the weather was good (not raining) today we'd better get moving. We would've loved to have stayed longer in Copenhagen but as we were both feeling fairly well rested (despite our mystery snoring roomie) there was no excuse - we had to hit the road again. OK, not the road at first but the tracks. This time, we were getting the train out of neccessity rather than desperation.

The sky was ble when we woke and stayed that way for a few hours. We'd stayed on the island of Amager in Copenhagen - a little  out of the city but on the main line for trains to Sweden. The tain crosses the amazing (I've seen the pictures) Oresund bridge but it was actually a pretty disappointing journey; tha train was uber crowded and at no point did we ctch a glimpse of the bridge - awwwwww! Oh well, I'm soooo grateful you're not allowed to cycle over it, Hana would've made me and I don't think I could've coped after the trauma of the Afsluitdijk in Holland!

Instead of the first Swedish stop Malmö, we got off at Lund, the next town. It was only another 15minutes on the train and without a detailed map of Malmö we didn't fance our chances trying to get out of the city. We stocked up on Swedish Krona and hit the road in search of Hörby. By this stage, the blue sky had long since disappeared and as the icy rain battered us we were heckled by Swedish workmen no doubt wondering what on earth we were doing...Despite the chill in the air we were feeling so excited to finally have got to Sweden our destination country as last. Already the landscape and surroundings felt different. The Swedish flags were flying outside all the country houses and suddenly there were trees - millions of them, in the most beautiful autumn shades.

Along the way people have been commenting on the weather and questioning our desire to camp and today we finally understood why. We'd got blasted earlier and on the train the conductor had explained they'd had snow 30kms away and here it was! We passed through a few small villages and by the side of the road and on the roofs of the houses was a thin yet very noticeable layer of snow - no way!!!! Joy of joys, at least we were on our way to hostel in Hörby - or so we thought.

                                                                   SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When we arrived in the town no one had heard of such hostel. It was after 5pm, getting darker and now utterly freezing. Hana asked as many people as possible but to no avail. So, our only option now in this tiny town was to head to the next village in search of the campsite. Whist Hana had been frantically trying to find the hostel I'd been waiting with the bikes in the square gradually gettting colder and colder - my own fault, I hadnt imagined she would be so long so didn't bother to put more clothes on . As we cycled out of town to what felt like a far away village in the pitch black my hands and feet felt like they were about to drop off. 5kms later we found the camspite which turned out to be a hotel as well. Oooooh, the dilema - camping, hotel room, camping, hotel room. So, we spent the evening wrapped up in bathrobes feeling very much like Lloyd and Harry from Dumb & Dumber (don't knock it 'til you've seen it (at least 40 times)).

                                                                   Check out the luxury!
This whole episode of not finding the hostel put us in to a bit of a panic so we also spent the evening questioning the map and devising an alternative route for Sweden based on places to stay that actually exist - thanks for assistance via telephone Dad! Tomorrow we would make it to the next big town and hit the tourist office.

Miles today - 35