On the road in Gotland

Prior to leaving for the trip we had a rough plan of what we wanted to see and based on some test rides we figured that 50km/day would be achievable while still allowing plenty of time to check out things along the way and set up camp before dinner time. Since we had four full days on the island we mapped out a tentative route that would take us north from Visby along the coast to the island of Fårö and then back to Visby through the interior of the island. We more or less were able to stick to the plan even with some chaffing issues and big headwinds on the way back south.

Here’s a short summary:

• Day 1: As previously detailed, Tullinge to Nynäshamn. 50km
• Day 2: Visby to Häftings Fiskeläge via Själsö and Lickershamn. About 52km. Mostly paved, some protected paths out of Visby. Last 2km or so down to the beach on partially-maintained dirt/gravel path.
• Day 3: Hiked the bikes the 2km back to the “main” gravel road due to steep hills and bumps. Then about 10km of gravel to Hall and the rest paved to Bunge on main/secondary roads. Ferry over to FÃ¥rö from Färösund and then short ride to Ryssnäs Naturereservat. About 50km.
• Day 4: We decided to cut out a circumnavigation of FÃ¥rö to get closer to Visby due to some fatigue and an incoming rain storm. So we went 10km north on FÃ¥rö for lunch on back roads and then headed south on the main highway until we got tired for the day. We were fighting a big headwind so progress was quite slow. We felt done when we got to Othem and luckily a bare-bones nature reserve was close by that we could camp at. About 49km.
• Day 5: With the incoming storm we wanted to get on the road early. We lucked out and packed up just in time with a heavy rain hitting us within the first minute of riding. Keen to avoid the main roads we let Google guide us along a collection of old farm tracks, dykes, and gravel roads most of the way back to Visby. We were fighting a huge cross/head wind the entire way with on/off rain, but it was nice to be away from cars. Shortest day at 34km, but with the wind and road surface it felt like a lot more.
• Day 6: We had already decided to take the train from the ferry to Tullinge, and waking up to a flat tire made the decision seem even wiser. 0km of biking, about 5km of walking with the bikes.

For the extra curious, here’s a map with most of the route from my GPS (I missed a few small sections).

The following is a series of random unordered shots from along the route.