On the evening of the 1st of August, the Biketour arrived in Borås for the start of the Childish Weeks. In this experiment, which we are doing for the first time, the coming two weeks of the Biketour have been organized to especially focus on the needs of children.
Some parents and their children had already arrived the night before and found a suitable campsite in Borås. Others arrived over the coming days. There are now 11 children with their own bicycles and one toddler who is travelling on a child’s seat, along with around 20 adults on the tour. In the days before Borås, a lot of people left, but many people also arrived, some with and some without children. While the Childish Weeks with daily distances around 20 km, one rest day per two cycling days, and no hosts or planned activities might have been the reason for some people to leave, we are glad that many were happy to stay and some even specifically came for this section of the tour.
In Borås we stayed for two nights at the Södra Kypesjön lake on the outskirts of the city. In true Swedish wild-camping fashion, there was a large field of grass, a fire place with a small shelter, toilets with running warm water open day and night, a drinking water tap, electric sockets available day and night, a sauna for a fee of 6 €, a café with very cheap prices and a children’s play corner, a free outdoor gym with actual weights and a free forest parkour park. The days were mild and the nights cold (around 8 °C), making the water temperature feel quite okay. Lots of people passed by in the day and spent time on the beach, and no one minded us using the space and its resources. The police came by but only to ask what we are doing, and the café operator called a security guard because she thought camping was forbidden, only for the security guard to tell her that it is allowed. Many people left their bicycles and their belongings laying around unsupervised, and nothing was stolen.
On the rest day in Borås, we had a circle (meeting) and a welcoming session for all the newcomers. Some people went into town, where some kind of art exhibition took place. The textile museum had free entry and not only presented interesting weaving and sewing machines from the past, but also offered a sewing room where people could fix their textiles for free.
On the 3rd of August the route took us about 25 km to Abborrsjön lake. The weather was warm and sunny, but not hot. The way took us through small country roads, sometimes unpaved and sometimes with some short but very steep ascents, and some sections of roads with car traffic. Some of the children were struggling quite a lot, not from exhaustion, but with their motivation to continue towards the destination. There were just too many interesting things on the side of the road. They found strawberries, bilberries and redcurrant. On the uphills they usually walked their bikes, but the rest of the time they cycled.
Cycling with a large group of children was a very fun experience. On the car roads we were moving in a single line, which felt a bit like a caravan of camels moving through the desert. On the smaller roads the children were all over the place, making us quite an attraction. As soon as the car drivers noticed that there were children cycling, they immediately slowed down and generally gave us a lot of space.
In the end everyone made it safely to the most beautiful imaginable campsite. It was a lake with small islands surrounded by beautiful forests full of bilberries, hills and rocks. There was a fireplace and a wooden shelter large enough to even stand inside. Everyone pitched there tents scattered across the hills and trees. Sitting around the campfire we watched the moon rise over the lake. The sky was clear and mystical fog developed over the water.
We decided to skip some of our rest days in order to make the daily distances smaller for the children. Also, the route was replanned to take even smaller roads with less motorized traffic for the children to have more freedom while cycling and their caregivers to have more peace of mind. So the next day it was only 15 km, although there were some exceptionally steep gravel ascents along the way.
Some of us spent time on a large playground belonging to a church that had so many things to discover that we could have spent several hole days there. There were sandboxes with lots of toys, swings, small houses for the children, rabbits in a cage and a “play church”. Some people even saw an elk on a nearby field.
We arrived to another lake (Östra Nedsjön) with a small beach, where the owners of the land had let us use their barn and even their rowing and motor boats and spend the night there. The children had a lot of fun playing in the water. The owners also came by later to bring “ice cream for the kids and beer for the adults”.
In the night, some heavy rains started and the next morning the view was so grey that you could barely see the other side of the lake.
Some thought was put into how to keep the children motivated during the ride. It was decided to hide small treasures on the way, such as tattoos and snacks.