Major Bumsore

The twins slept in the tent again last night, not for any particular reason but just because they wanted to. Funny twins. Our plan for today was a bike ride, but before that we had a morning to crack on with some work and for the twins to sleep. This was all good and when it was around 11.30 we thought we should wake up the twins so we could get moving. One of the sad things about it just being the four of us is that it has meant the demise of RuPaul’s bakery, without the chief of marketing the business just didn’t stand a chance. On the plus side, this means that Jess made the sandwiches today and no word of a lie, she makes the absolute best sandwiches. I don’t know how she does it, as far as I can tell the ingredients are the same but there is something about them that just makes them taste good. But I am getting ahead of myself.
We were hiring bikes from the campsite and unfortunately they didn’t seem to have any men’s bikes so it was ladies bikes all round. But we all got set up and we had all our food with us so we were good to go. We had an ambitious plan for the day which involved a lot of riding but we figured it wouldn’t be a problem. To start off with, finding our route was a bit of a challenge, it’s not easy to follow Google maps while riding. Also there was quite a stench of farm muck so that wasn’t pleasant but it didn’t last long and soon enough we were whizzing along lanes and paths through countryside and woods under a clear blue sky. It was actually warm-ish today, nowhere near what we are used to but nice for Sweden. After about 10kms we reached the coast and the mainland side of the island and found a place to sit for lunch. As i mentioned, Jess had made us delicious sandwiches and we had some customary Swedish pastries, a new one for today was Weinerkamm, I could not tell you what it was apart from very tasty. We also had some crisps, dill flavour which I bought in an impulse, I can be very suggestible. After lazing about for a while it was time to hop back on the bikes and head down the coast. It was some easy riding, a gentle breeze blowing and no real traffic to worry about, but every time we rode over a cattle grid I did think of my Lily and her terror of these when we first did family bike rides. After a bit we stopped for a short break and I had a little paddle, the water was actually not too bad, although not quite the clear blue of the Greek islands.
The next section of our ride had a destination as our goal, an ice cream farm. Not sure how they grow it, but I was keen to find out. We were getting a little sore from the ride but just about managing, although a stretch on a bumpy, pebbled track was not particularly helpful. After about 25kms we reached the farm and joined the queue for a table. It had been quite warm and sunny so we all needed a break and were looking forward to a nice ice cream. When we sat and looked through the menu, it was almost impossible to choose as there were so many options. And looking around we could see children with ice creams bigger than their heads so we weren’t going to miss out, although I made va an executive decision that Jess and I should share, the twins had no such thought. When they arrived they were huge, definitely the largest I have ever had, not sure it needed the addition of a donut to round it off. It was all Jess and I could do to finish and I certainly wasn’t feeling very comfortable, the twins couldn’t manage to finish theirs, we should have taken before and after pictures.
One last stretch was needed and since this was our first bike ride for I don’t know how long, and our bums were already in pain, none of us was very keen, but we didn’t have much choice. So off we went, luckily most of it was on some flat, paved paths and so it was easy going but we were all doing that little bum dance you do on a bike trying to find a way to sit that wasn’t painful. I think it is fair to say that none of us found it. We had one little break where Allegra started to get cramp in both her thighs and wasn’t sure she was going to be able to make it but she is a trooper so she eventually got back on and we headed to the campsite. After 36.75kms and about 5 hours including breaks we made it back. We are all in a bit of pain, we’ll be sleeping on our front tonight, and I would like to smugly announce that three of us got sunburnt due to lack of suncream and one of us didn’t, although I won’t go so far as to name names.
Poor Jess had to deliver a live class by video tonight, no way could I have mentally focussed on that, so fair play to her. I just packed up the tent and got some things organised as tomorrow we are moving on.Read more