Now that we both have some nice gravel bikes, a bike tour seemed necessary. Graham set them up nicely to carry what we needed (plus some extras!). There was a bit of refinement after our first bike test camp, and then we were ready to go. Thanks to super chill Swedish YouTuber Bike Touring Mike who posted lots of great videos on bike touring in Sweden.
Camping facilities in Sweden vary a lot, from electrified tenting spots with a shower and sauna to mountain huts with cots, to a 3-sided vindskydd, to allmänsrätt ‘freedom tromping’ through wilderness. A few times we were in walking distance to outhouses and a water pipe on Gotland, but mostly we ‘wild camped’. This means searching hard for a flat spot for the tent, pooping in a pit latrine, and keeping an eye out for water sources. We brought a water filtration system, which is popular in the Swedish mountains since there are streams everywhere and the water quality is high (most Swedes don’t even filter). However, Gotland is a very dry island with few streams, so we needed to find another strategy… more on that later.