While cycling this section of the EuroVelo 7 from Luleå to Umeå, I really got into the groove of cycling every day. We had the most fantastic, peaceful campsites on this stretch. A major highlight was seeing more of the church villages we had learned about when we had visited Sweden’s most well-preserved church town, Gammelstad, near Luleå. If not for the bike trip, we would probably never get to see these places, but the trail passes right by them! To read about our first days on the trail, see our journey from Nordkapp to Alta, Alta to Gällivare, and Gällivare to Luleå.
Day 16 Luleå to Piteå/Öjebyn
Today we left the comfort of the hotel for the road. Despite two days of rest, my legs took about 50km to wake up. In the meantime, we had easy trail through villages and the forest. When there were fields, the wind kicked up. I’m sure you can guess which direction it was blowing…
We rode a short section on the E4, but unlike further north, it has now become a real highway. We spent just 3km on it, but it was terrible. The speed limit was 110kmh and there was barely a shoulder. At least for the 1km-long incline there were two lanes on our side, so most vehicles had enough space to go around us. But on the last 2km, there was nowhere for us or the cars to go to avoid one another. Komoot had planned for a second section on the E4 but we avoided it by using another bike route, the 3. I would recommend doing this for both sections of highway on this leg. Stay away from the E4!
After 50km we were in Rosvik, a lovely small town. Outside of the supermarket and gas station was a lovely green area with playground, gazebo, and benches. We ate our lunch here and people-watched. We took a nice long break because my legs were so tired. After this, it seemed like they had woken up because the rest of the trail was fine, even though there was a lot of gravel riding. Along the way we passed a bikepacker heading the same direction as us, but we didn’t get to talk.
I’m glad we took bike route 3 instead for 2 reasons. One, it was the more direct route to our alternative campsite in Piteå. The original camp was en route from the original plan, but doesn’t allow tents at their campsite (I do not understand this). And secondly, bike route 3 passed right through Öjebyn, another church village like Gammelstad.
At the Öjebyn church village, there was some more variance in the homes and it seemed more lively and less touristic. Some homes were unpainted and didn’t have siding. We could go inside a show cottage which had 4 rooms on 2 floors. We also happened to be there when they were having a yard sale day (loppis in Swedish, the signs are everywhere in summer). Many people were selling clothes and dishes and typical flea market items, but one stand also had homemade things like juice, jam, and baked goods. We chose a bottle of juice without being able to read the label. They used Google translate and turns out it was red gooseberry juice. We bought it to have with C’s “cake” for his birthday.
Going on through the village, which has more than 100 cottages, we came to the cafe and couldn’t resist. When we went inside nearly all the cake was gone. Instead we got a chocolate ball, mud cake cookie, and Hallongrotta raspberry cookie. We ate outside at the picnic tables before continuing to the supermarket, bakery (where we also did not find the cake we wanted, so we got 2 kanelbulle), and to the campsite.
The campsite is really beautiful on the water, with tall birch trees around. We expected to find the bikepacker here, but the only one sharing the tent pitch with us is a motorcyclist from Switzerland. We sat at a picnic table by the water to eat our cinnamon buns and toast with gooseberry juice. Later we cooked an extra special curry complete with coconut milk, zucchini, and sweet potato.
Lucky with the weather and the bugs here!!
Day 17 Öjebyn to Byske 65km
Today we cycled on a great road that was very lightly traveled. We saw so many bikepackers today. The most we’ve seen since being close to Nordkapp, maybe a good dozen heading in both directions. Our trail has now joined the Baltic Sea route, so perhaps that’s why there’s more cyclists.
We had one hill to climb today but I felt fresh and the hill had nothing on me! At the top we stopped for a snack break. We were mostly in the forest and occasionally there was a bog. In the villages we also passed by farm land. There are always so many buildings on each property. House, barn, shed, garage, little huts, storage buildings, and I don’t know what.
Later we were looking for a lunch spot and to take a nice long break because it was so early in the day and we were already so far. We cycled between two lakes and waited for the road to get closer to the shore of one of them. When it finally did, there were so many houses. This section was all privately owned. We cycled back, determined to find a nice spot to rest. There had been several fishing signs and we followed one onto a dirt road. There were some houses but then a path that lead to a dock and the lake. We grabbed our lunch things and went out onto the floating section of the dock which had some built in benches. After a slice of bread, with a slice of cheese, and some slices of cucumbers, we slipped out of our bike clothes and scooched into the lake. It wasn’t cold and felt so nice after sitting on the dock in the sun. We swam around and dried off on the dock. We enjoyed the view a little longer before getting back in the saddle.
In no time we had reached Byske and went to the supermarket to get ingredients for dinner and ice cream. While there, I double checked the camp outside of Byske that we wanted to go to. The reviews were pretty awful. There was another campsite here in Byske, and our route tomorrow was less than 60. So we decided to stay here instead. When we got to the camp, I realized why I hadn’t picked it in the first place. It is as busy as Disneyland and just as expensive. Before we could change our minds we had checked in. We set up the tent on a shady patch in the scorched field, put on our swim suits, and walked past the screams from the pool to head toward the sea.
We had to walk out far before we could be in water up to my chest. It was also warm in some pockets and cooler in others. Our first time in the Baltic since we had arrived to the coast in Luleå 4 days ago. Then people watching, shower, cook, sleep 🙃
Day 18 Byske to Bureå 61km
Around midnight it began to thunder. Soon there was wind blowing into C’s side of the tent and it began to rain. Then the lightening was striking all around us. The flash and the boom were happening nearly synonymously. It went on for about 20 minutes. The rain let up before the lightening did. The power at the campsite went out as well and it was the first time I noticed darkness since we arrived at Nordkapp.
In the morning the whole camp seemed to be still asleep while we ate breakfast in the service house and packed up. The only other pair of bikepackers on the tent field waved as we left.
We cycled mostly through the forest with occasional breaks for farmland. There was some gravel stretches. In Kåge we stopped at a picnic table outside of a business which was closed for the summer. There were ripe raspberries growing along the side of the building.
Soon we were in Skellefteå which had its own church town. These houses were mostly unpainted and without facades. It has been cool to see the different towns along the way. This one was also in much more orderly rows than Gammelstad and Öjebyn.
The promenade in Skellefteå along the river was really nice, even though the gravel was not so suitable for bikes. At the end, I suggested we take a break here since I didn’t think there would be much else until our destination. We had passed all the nice benches and instead sat at the closest picnic table with uncomfortable metal bars for seats. We watched the ducks for a while before crossing the yellow pedestrian bridge.
On the other side we had a bike path next to a more frequented road for several kilometers with many lovely Swedish houses. We turned towards Örviken and were back on the street, but it was less busy. When we turned again we were now on a very busy road. We rode over a bridge with water on either side and looked for a break spot, but nothing came. Some teenagers were swimming under the bridge, presumably because all of the shore space was privately owned.
It was just a few kilometers but there were many double tractor trailers speeding through. One tried to pass me as an oncoming car approached and nearly ran me off the road with his second trailer. At the top of the hill we turned onto a dead end road which was passable for bikes. The few kilometers that were left until Bureå were relaxed on abandoned roads that were for bikes only.
Before the supermarket we found a bench to stop for lunch in front of an apartment building. We watched other cyclists go by and one stopped to talk to us. He was from Belgium and spending a year cycling through Europe. He had lots of details to share with us about campsites and mosquito deterrents.
After stopping in the Coop, we headed to the camp. It is quite a find after yesterday’s experience. The camp is small but spread out with a forest in the center that has a nature-art walk through it. The owner loves Lego and has a Lego museum and Lego table for people (kids?) to play with. He told us he won the TV show Survivor back in the day (2010?) and has been on other TV shows and won some Lego building competitions. The camp has wooden and metal sculptures made by his friends, Lego mini golf, and a logic puzzle zone. It is just fun to walk around and discover what is here. For me, the best part is that the camp is on the river! As soon as we set up the tent, we went swimming. The river widens right where the camp is like a swimming pool. The water was mostly warm except where it was running through. There’s a beach and a floating dock on the other side which also seemed like a popular swimming spot in town.
After swimming, the owner offered to open the museum to show us. There are so many lego sets inside including famous buildings, Star Wars sets, cars, planes, castles, and so much more. He also had historic sets dating back to the 70s and the mini pack-of-cards-sized boxes that Lego used to come in. The museum even has a Lego shop! A Finnish grandma came in with two small kids to see the museum and bought them a pack.
We walked around the camp some more before cooking dinner – lentils and rice! This time with a tiki masala jar sauce from the supermarket – we are living it up!
Day 19 Bureå to Noret
It rained in the night briefly but no thunder. I’m happy our tent is holding out because we have used it a lot in the last 4-5 years. The tent didn’t dry before we packed up because it was overcast. But got sunny as soon as we hit the road.
The first part of the day was mostly through the woods and past some villages. I saw several rock walls which reminded me of the farmer’s walls in the forest near where I grew up. We stopped at a stuga by a lake because it looked really nice. There was a picnic table and boat launch. It was right next to a husky kennel and a woman came by with one on a walk.
The second half of the day we saw more farmland and also passed patches of clear cut forest. And there was more gravel riding of varying difficulty. Sometimes there’s a lot of big stones which is really hard to ride through. But it is also difficult when there are enough small stones that it is like sand. We cycled by several bodies of water.
In Lövånger, we passed through another church town. The houses were a mix of painted and unpainted, but generally seemed more modern than the other church towns we had seen. I thought I heard running water inside one of them!
We stopped at the Coop for some fruit and veggies and ate lunch at the picnic table outside. Then we went to a cafe and store with local products. We tried a cake that was like German Bienenstich, a cookie with marshmallow creme covered in chocolate and a cinnamon bun. The store had lots of great products I would have loved to get as gifts, but I do not want to carry anything extra!
From Lövånger it was just 10km to our camp, all off the EV trail and 3km on the E4. To avoid the E4, we took some side roads which had the most challenging gravel and ended up on the E4 for just 1km. It was not as bad as the last time we had been on it, but still stressful. The turn for the camp came and I thought we were nearly there but it was another 4km down to the sea.
The extra journey to the campsite was worth it – it has been one of my absolute favorites. The camp is on a beautiful piece of land right on the Baltic Sea. On the other side there are pine trees and rocky boulders right down to the shore and some little red houses poking out in between. The tent pitch is just big enough for us but pretty private and very close to the sandy beach. We went into the water immediately. It was much colder than yesterday’s stream had been but crystal clear.
We saw a snake! And a rainbow. Went to sleep with the sound of lapping waves and rain drops.
Day 20 Noret to Sikeå 75km
A perfect weather day for cycling. The sun was out but never too hot. It did get windier towards the end of the day and we had some struggle.
We started with the 10km back to Lövånger, this time following Komoot’s instructions for 3km on the E4. At 8am on a Sunday there wasn’t so much traffic. In Lövånger, we passed a man on a scooter who must have been the same old guy we saw at the supermarket the day before. He had tried to ask C some questions, presumably about our bikes, but C answered “I speak English” in Swedish and the guy just laughed.
There was a big hill up out of Lövånger. After a few kilometers, C stopped for me to catch up. As I met him another biker was coming towards us. We could see a bike bag, but it didn’t look like a bikepacker. The older woman in a flowery tank top and knee length blue shorts was giving it all she had to come up on the other side. She crossed the road and came over to us. Curious about where we had come from, she asked what the plan was. She told us that she lived 5km further on where there was a lake on both sides.
We continued to cycle through the forest and were excited to identify her village when we came across it. Not long after that we came to Vebomark. The Belgian bikepacker two days ago said he stayed in a woman’s garden here that was fantastic. We kept our eyes open for the sign he told us about.
In the center there were several red buildings, a hockey rink, and a soccer field. C spotted a bench and we pulled in as several people a bit further on sat under a canopy with several tables and dozens of chairs. A woman waved to us and came over to talk with us. She invited us to join them for Fika, Swedish coffee break. She brought us inside the village gathering house and offered us something to drink. Back at the table with the others we could share a cinnamon roll cake and Kladdkaka, the famous Swedish chocolate cake.
We chatted about the village. They had had a celebration yesterday because the local sports club turned 90. She offered to show us inside the meeting house where they were setting up a town museum on the second floor. The house had previously belonged to a family with 9 children. The exhibits were all very creatively and lovingly made by the local people in their free time. It was so nice to meet such welcoming, enthusiastic, generous people.
The whole route today was 75km and could have been around 30 had we just cycled the E4. The bike trail zigzagged all day. From Vebomark we zagged on gravel nearly the whole way to Ånäset. There was a church building with a toilet sign which was free to use. Everything is so civilized here in Sweden! There’s always toilet paper, soap, even paper towels. Which is not usually a given when traveling.
Then we had some more gravel and headwinds for what felt like a really long time. We needed a break spot for lunch but nothing was coming. C suggested to climb onto a boulder on the side of the road but I vetoed this. Our route intersected the E4 and there we found a picnic bench at a construction company next to the highway. The wind here was ok and the sun was warm. We ate the last of our sandwich materials and climbed to Robertsfors.
We stopped at the ICA for pasta, feta, and sauce as well as some snacks. All the kids around seemed to be there with their bicycles to fool around. Then it was mostly downhill to the sea in Sikeå for the campsite. There they also had Kladkakka so we got a slice and a Hallongrotta. Together with camping was just 200SEK. We couldn’t even finish the Kladkakka it was so big, so we packed it up for snack tomororw. Then I walked around the campground to find us a spot. We found a nice one on the peninsula protected by a bunch of pines. The picnic table had a clear glass beer bottle with wildflowers in it.
We pitched the tent, showered and then had a longer look around. We walked to the swimming dock, past all the sunbathing RV-vacationers, and on part of the Kulturstig – a path about local history. Unfortunately it was only in Swedish, otherwise I think we would have walked more of it.
We had pasta with feta tomato sauce for dinner and watched some baby ducks afterwards. Tomorrow will be pretty rainy so we’ll get up at 5:30 to be out by 7. Hopefully we can be packed up before the rain begins.
Day 21 Sikeå Hamn to Umeå 75km
Waking up at 5:30 was perfect. When the alarm sounded, C checked the weather and was annoyed that the rain should start even earlier. We packed up the tent immediately, even though it was wet on the inside. Did you know you breathe out about around one liter of water in the night? After packing, we had breakfast in the camp kitchen. As we loaded our luggage on the bikes at 7 it began to drizzle as if on cue.
The E4 was in earshot for our whole ride today, even if we never rode on it (thank goodness!). The first 15km were on gravel roads through forest villages and, meine Gute, it was hilly! Like up and down, and up and down. I was constantly shifting gears and the downhills were never long enough to get you up the next one or give you a break.
The rain came and went constantly. As soon as it seemed like my jacket might be starting to dry off, the next shower came. After 25km we made it to the famed Ratan, a town we had heard about from two different cyclists. Just before the village there is a simple campsite with beach access. In the center of town there is a harbor with rest house where you can do laundry, cook, and shower.
We pulled in, grabbed our snacks from the bikes, and ran inside. There was a British couple cooking breakfast (it wasn’t past 9am) at one of the two tables inside. C and I got out of our rain gear and hung them up anywhere we could. We read about the history of the town and island and talked with the couple about our journeys. If the weather had been nicer, I would have stayed a night in Ratan. The Raststuga was so cozy and there was a lot to explore. You could rent a boat and visit the island and the town had a cafe and restaurant.
It had stopped raining briefly when we got back in the saddle, but more rain clouds came soon enough. It was another 25km until Sävar where we searched for cover so that we could have lunch. We found a barber shop that was closed for summer. A red bench was under the awnings that had been left open, providing just enough protection for us and the bikes. As we ate our polar bread with aioli and cucumber we watched lots of townspeople go by foot, bike, and car to the ICA supermarket across the bridge and back.
Leaving Sävar there was a rest stop with a toilet before we got on the paved bike path that paralleled the E4 all the way to Umeå. The sun came out and I was feeling like I could cycle forever. It is amazing what the sun feels like after 5 hours in the rain. It is no wonder that people have worshipped a sun god. It is absolute magic!
In Umeå we checked in to the hostel (which was more like a hotel), showered, got ice cream, and reveled in more sunshine before taking forever to decide what to eat for dinner. We landed on making a salad with halloumi and a bag frozen french fries (6-7 portions, all for us). “Oh you can always tell the bikers apart,” a woman said to us at one campsite, “they’re always hungry.”
Rest Day Umeå
We were totally shocked to find out that there’s no tourist info office in Umeå. Luleå was considerably smaller and had a buzzing tourism office both times we went in. Online and in guidebooks, Umeå is touted for having a great culinary and cultural scene, but it seems like there isn’t really much in the way of tourism. Since it was super rainy again, we started our day with errands and ended with a museum – what we thought would be great rainy day activities.
We took the bus to the big box stores and finally got me a second pair of bike shorts. Thank goodness that saga can be over now. The bus is like 9€ each time for the two of us, so we walked 2.5km to a big ICA in hopes of finding some toiletries (like travel detergent). Sweden doesn’t do drugstores like Germany and C and I were really missing DM!! We spent the whole walk looking for places to dodge the rain when it really started to pour and ended up totally soaked by the time we reached the supermarket – where we didn’t find what we wanted anyways.
Then the rain was lighter so we walked another 2ish km to the Vasterböttens Museum about the county we are in. The museum foyer was FILLED with lots of tiny kids running around. Luckily they were mostly in the cafe area and not really in the exhibits. Though mostly in Swedish, there was some information in English. We saw exhibits on textiles, Umeå’s history, and the history of Vasterbötten from the Stone Age onwards, as well as some exhibits with work by local artists. When we had finished the sun had appeared so we checked out the open air museum portion. They had some farm buildings, a sami camp, and a dance pavilion.
What a week! We really loved Luleå and enjoyed the many cafes there. Then we had a fantastic week of great weather and feeling strong on the bikes, plus we said goodbye to bugs and mosquitoes. And this stretch had (besides Byske) our favorite campsites of the trip with lots of swimming opportunities.