The Swedish River Crossing

About 40km into the day we reached this wide fairly fast flowing river. The route description had said there was a free ferry crossing. We could see the ferry sitting alone on the opposite bank and it certainly wasn't going anywhere soon.

There was nothing we could do but wait. So we sat in the sun and made some lunch, until a while later when we saw a person on a bike over the other side. We waved and shouted until we had their attention. She shouted back in Swedish but switched to perfect English when we unfortunately couldn't understand.

We should knock on the door of the red house and there is someone there who can help, she told us.

Confusingly all houses in Sweden seem to be red but eventually Max found the right one. He bound back excitedly that we finally had a way to cross the river with an old local man following a few minutes behind.

At this point we thought he would take the small boat across to fetch the ferry and take us across on that. But instead he gestures for two of us to get in the small boat.

So Max and I timidly got aboard and before we knew it he pushed the boat out into the river with the big wooden pole. Then over a few tense moments as we floated increasingly quickly down the river he tries and fails three times to start the engine before it finally spluttered into motion and took us across the river.

He brought Anna and Steve across to join us before leaving with a wave and heading back to finish the nap Max had accidentally woken him from.

Jacob.

This was one of my favourite moments from bikepacking the European Divide Trail over the summer. See more stories from me by joining my monthly(ish) newsletter.

See more from me by joining my monthly(ish) newsletter.