Our sleeping place in Göteborg was about 5 km outside the city limits on the shore of Lilla Desjön lake. It was the perfect mix of being close to the city but not having that many people around. There were picnic benches, a fireplace and a toilet. In the day, some people came around by bike, by walk or by boat, but at night we were alone. The only downside of the place was the long uphill to get there when returning from the city, but at least that kept us fit on the rest days.
We decided to have two rest days in Göteborg rather than just one as planned, as we had skipped the only planned rest day on the way from Borås to make the daily distances lower.
On Saturday, Ian from the local bike kitchen opened it for us to work on our bikes. He had also been our host 11 years ago and had even cycled with us for a bit afterwards, so he still remembered us. A lot has changed since then. The bike kitchen has moved out of the city centre into a residential complex in Gamlestaden (which means “old town”, but does not seem that old and is also not the centre). Back then we had slept in the garden of a workspace where someone was building bamboo bikes. The bikes are still being built, but in a different location now where there is no space to camp.
One of our participants lives in Göteborg and offered to wash laundry in the communal laundry room of their apartment complex. The opportunity was gratefully accepted, but it escalated in an unexpected way. Some neighbours were so suspicious and angry about people they had never seen before washing their laundry there that they actually called the police and the police actually came. The ID of one Biketour participant was checked. Fortunately this did not lead to any trouble.
Some people used the opportunity to go sightseeing or use the amenities of the city, such as free shops and the library for charging phones.
The famous public free sauna and swimming pool at Jubileumsparken
In the evening we met for a circle (meeting). A big topic was the needs of the parents during the Childish Weeks. Because we had failed to open the space for these during the first week, a lot came up, which was hard to hear for some. But the group was very interested and a lot of ideas and initiatives came out of the meeting. A working group formed to think about improvements for the next week. One of them was to have a circle every day so that needs can be communicated in a timely manner, and to plan common rather than individual activities, especially on rest days. We started with that right away and planned activities for the next day. Another idea was to have fixed arrival times for the equipment, food and cooking team to be able to have dinner earlier. Also, the route for the whole next week was prepared, with the needs of the parents in mind.
The evening ended with a beautiful sunset over the lake.
Sunday was a beautiful sunny and warm day. It was the 5th birthday of one of the children on tour, and the whole day was planned and everyone was involved. In the morning, there was birthday decoration and cake, face painting equipment and face masks for everyone. We sang Happy Birthday in all kinds of languages.
In the afternoon, some of us visited the zoo together with all the children. The zoo is free of charge, so we did not support the captivity of the animals with our visit. We saw deer, penguins, mice and seals there. Some of us also saw an elk, a pig and various farm animals.
A lot of people passed by our campsite on Sunday to enjoy the lake. Many people were curious about what we were doing, and no one seemed to mind our presence.
On Monday, we left Göteborg to cycle towards Trollhättan.