EV7: Day 1: Holmsund to Gideå Bruk

We arrived in Holmsund late last night and had booked a hotel, as we didn’t want to bother with putting up a tent at 12:30 a.m. Finnish time. It was only a 20-minute ride from the ferry, but nonetheless we already had a near-death experience when one lorry driver, also departing from the ferry, passed us with maybe 20 cm to spare.

Anyway, the hotel was nice and after an early breakfast we started our trip. We had already ridden 68 km before we had lunch at a café in Nordmaling. We also bought some food for dinner at the supermarket and of course stopped at the Swedish state alcohol store.

Generally, the scenery with all the little Swedish villages, the red houses and the nice gardens is so beautiful. I think we might even like it more than what we saw on the coast south of Stockholm last year.

The EuroVelo 7 road conditions were also pretty great (mostly paved and almost no car traffic), except for one little stretch where we were forced to ride on a very narrow shoulder of the Swedish “Autobahn” E4. That was very scary, but there were also no alternatives we could have taken. We tried to find a better way, only to hit the railway tracks and a fence after a few hundred meters. It’s hard to fathom why they marked this as the official route of the Sverigeleden as well.

We found a very beautiful shelter at a waterfall / dam near Gideå Bruk. Highly recommended location. As we arrived it started to drizzle, which later turned into rain. We went for a swim anyway to wash ourselves in the river. Finally we could enjoy our well-deserved “Feierabendbier/-cider”.

All in all, a pretty great first day.

Photos

Route

Download GPX track