07.06.25 Day 30 - Åland.

Short nigth on the ferry, arriving in Mariehamn 04:40. Hadn't thought to write a blog for today, but I did a small round trip on Åland, so for completeness. And I have some useful experience for the ferries, if that could help someone.

Yet another country, Finland, number 7 on this tour.

Ferry leaving Åland, 04:50

The terminal was open, so I sat there some time. Outside temperature around ten and a pretty strong wind, so not nice to wait outside. Went to my hotel Esplanad around seven, could buy breakfast, and even got my room shortly after eight. Quite uncommon and highly appreciated, so I could sleep a little more.

My idea was to take the Eckerö line to Grislehamn in Sweden. However, this goes, indeed, from Eckerö, which I did not realize is 35 km from Mariehamn. The 08:00 ferry was therefore out of the question for me, as I already had a hotel in Mariehamn. So if you want this option, you should take a hotel in Eckerö. There is another ferry at 14:30, which would be good for me. However, I was not able to select "bicycle" as vehicle, it just did not work. I called them, and it appeared that this was because they could not take more cars. But clearly, a bicycle takes less space! He said they might take it, but he could not guarantee. Dumb. Two pieces of advice to Eckerö line: 1) instead of making it impossible to select an option, give a message and 2) check how many bicycles you can take, count them and allow them as long as there is space, clear yes or no.

I ended up with taking the Viking line to Stockholm. Arrives at 18:55, but I found a reasonably priced hotel 30km away in the right direction, which makes my remaining distance to Ludvika acceptable for two days.

After some sleep I visited the Åland Cultural History Museum, quite interesting if you want to know more about the history of the island. In the afternoon, yes, a cycling tour. Abstinence? Maybe. But I wanted to see a bit more of the island in the short time I had available. Found a 49km ride on Bikemap that looked ok. Quite windy, but with a round trip you get it both ways at least. 

Around Mariehamn there are very good bike lanes. Further away the paved roads are also very good, but there are some unpaved roads also, of varying quality. 

What surprised me most was how similar Åland appeared to all the other places I have been. Relatively flat (though I still had 200m ascent), meadows and forests. I was slightly dissapointed. But maybe that is a little unfair to Åland. After 2900km, more is needed to impress me, especially on a grey and windy day. I deviated a bit from the planned route, but then made some mistakes so it became almost as long.

Here the road was really closed. I understand they may not want cars, but why make it hard for bicycles to pass? There are not that many. I carried it over anyway, but with the luggage I would have needed to take it of firstr.

I came to the airport in the end, then turned back to Mariehamn.

Windy

It could be nice to take 2-3 days to cycle around - provided you have sunshine, and not too much wind. Hard to guarantee when you book something.

Next day: I see now you can take ferries to other small islands, do island hopping a few days with bicycle. That could be really nice. I

Unfortunately I don't have time for that.

Today's ride

44km in 2:54.

Total 2926km. Only a short ride tomorrow, so I'll need another day to pass 3000.