EuroVelo 7 from Gällivare to Luleå, Sweden

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We’ve now been on the road for 3 weeks! We are cycling on the EuroVelo 7 from Nordkapp and heading southwards. You can read about Nordkapp to Alta and Alta to Gällivare before this section to Luleå.

Day 12 Gällivare to Hakkasfallet 59km

The campgrounds have all been very nice so far, but Gällivare was the nicest. The sanitary building was modern and clean. The kitchen had two sets of everything and lots of cooking utensils. Then there was also the fact that there were almost no mosquitoes and no flies. Lots of spider-like bugs and other crawly things, but nothing that made you want to be inside. There were picnic tables on the tent pitch and a big deck with tables and chairs outside the kitchen. Most camps have had a kitchen you could use with at least some utensils as well as a common room, but this place was beyond what we had seen. Plus there was the river with a beach right at camp. 

Nonetheless it was time to leave Gällivare and cycle onwards. I can’t say we’ve had an easier ride. We’re now on the E10 which has split from the E45 and the traffic was noticeably reduced. Also there were several sections with road construction. The surface is getting a new layer of asphalt. At one spot we had to wait at a traffic light until a construction vehicle came to take a train of motorists through the area being worked on. Another section we went through made our tires sticky. 

We went through a large section where you could see the mining. There was a fence that went on forever and all of the entrances were gated. In the distance, cleared sections of cut mountwin were visible.  Gällivare has the world’s most productive copper mine, so I giess this was part of it. The company is working on moving all of the residents of Malmberget to Gällivare due to effects of the mine. Sometimes they move entire homes. One was even moved with its basement! 

We stopped once just outside of Gällivare for the toilet at the rest stop and it was a beautiful little spot next to the river with picnic tables in the shade. Several RVs had parked there over night and there looked like enough space for a tent or two. A sign informed that the rest stop is being renewed/expanded and should be done by the fall. 

About half way we stopped again because the day was going so fast. Another picnic bench by a lake with a few RVs who hadn’t woken up yet. A bikepacker who had trailed us the last few km passed by. 

We decided to go through the village Hakkas just beside the highway and just before our campsite to again pass the time. We found a supermarket with a picnic table in the sun and stopped to eat lunch. The bikepacker came through as well, though we didn’t see him again after this. After squeeze brie (Swede’s love squeeze cheese in aluminum tubes) with bell pepper on bread we went into the surprisingly well stocked supermarket to pick out a magnum ice cream from the large selection on offer. 

Oh! This whole time we’ve been cycling downhill. Or just rolling downhill. The sun has been hot but the pedaling is nothing. A few km after Hakkas we turned at the sign for Hakkasfallet to find our campsite, which is about 2km off the road, slightly uphill on gravel. We weren’t sure what we would find. The place is not on Komoot nor the Vildnis app and Google had mixed reviews about it not being kept up by the local municipality. 

There’s a really nice rest cabin with tables and benches, a fire pit and two lockable cabins with bed slots for mattresses. One of which was unlocked, so we decided to sleep in there since the ground is slanted or covered with heather and blueberry bushes. There’s a wood shed, with the door hanging open, completely empty. Around the back of it is two toilets, but I only checked one and it is very full 🤢. A rushing stream runs parallel to the gravel road below the camp. The water is a yellow brown color, but it’s the only water here. 

We dropped our stuff in the cabin, put on our bathing suits, and gathered our tupperboxes to bring to the stream. The water wasn’t cold but the rocks were quite slippery so we couldn’t go in much past our calves. We splashed ourselves with water to cool off and get rid of some sweat. 

Back at camp we boiled the water, took naps, avoided the hot sun, and read a lot. We finished cycling so early and now we have most of the day to enjoy in this place, quiet but for the rushing water in the stream. 

Day 13 Hakkasfallet to Överkalix 92km

I couldn’t sleep much at night and was relieved when the alarm went off at 5:30. We wanted to get an early start because we would cycle over 90km, it would be 30C, and the headwinds and traffic pick up as the day goes on. 

We were on the road before 7 with it all to ourselves. 16km in we passed the Sommarcafe and wanted to stop. Luckily the opening hours were visible as we rolled downhill: 10-17. No sense in stopping then! We used the momentum to get most of the way up the next hill. The rest of the route for the day would be described by Google as “mostly flat.” But 90km is a lot regardless of the altitude profile. 

Around 40km in we stopped at a gas station which was also a rest stop with a toilet. The Google reviews say that the whole place burned down about a year ago. The rest stop part had lots of picnic tables, a clean toilet, and a playground. 

Out of nowhere came the sign for the Arctic Circle. We whipped in to the parking lot to get a picture. There are some signs with information in English. The Arctic Circle is the point above which experiences a polar day in the summer, meaning the sun never goes below the horizon. This line actually oscillates within a band 570km wide over the course of 40,000 years depending on the location of the planets, sun, and Earth.

Next stop was 28km after the gas station at a rest stop C found on an info sign at the previous one. This one was more rustic. There were picnic benches and access to the stream. We laid on the benches a long time since we had already come 70km. 

The closer we got to Överkalix, the nicer the trail got. The road led through several villages, so the speed was reduced for vehicles. I am loving Swedish architecture. All of the houses are so sweet. Most of them are red, yellow or blue and made out of wood. It was nice to have something to look at for this stretch of the day instead of being so focused on the road as the cars, RVs, and trucks (mostly double tractor trailers) whiz by. There was much less water the last several days. It has just been pines, pines, pines giving us the feeling of being in Brandenburg. 

We left the main road for the first time in days and crossed the river to Överkalix. As we came over the bridge we caught a glimpse of the town. The red cabins and red hotel from the campsite were most visible with a brown wooden church steeple in the background. 

We checked in, set up our tent and headed to the showers. As we ran to the sanitary building, the predicted rain started falling from a big black cloud overhead. There are two unisex toilet/showers near the tent pitch, so we each took one, fully occupying the little building. In the shower I could hear the storm outside. The lightening sounded really close. When I was done the rain was pounding on the roof. C called to  me and I quickly burst out of one door and ran through the next. We waited out the rest of the rain together in the bathroom. We washed some of our bike clothes, hoping the sun would come back out to dry them. 

When the storm finished we walked into town to get a few ingredients at Coop. Came back and cooked dinner in the kitchen, called the nephew for his birthday and settled into the tent. 

Day 14 Överkalix to Vitå 67km

I’m anxious about everything but shortly after going to bed, I couldn’t take it. “I’ll feel better if I lock the bikes,” I explained to C as I climbed back out of the tent. Around 1am, I couldn’t sleep anymore because I needed t.o go to the bathroom. I got up and made the long walk to the sanitary house. Even though it’s the middle of the night, it is still so bright out. The pinky- orange sunset was even more beautiful than when we had gone to bed. 

On the way back from the toilet I noticed that the air was drier than I remembered. It was damp before we went to sleep, so I hadn’t expected our clothes to dry in the night. But now the chances seemed good. As I approached our tent I saw my shorts and bathing suit drying on the fence but two blank spaces where my two pairs of cycling shorts had been. They were gone! There had been no wind, but I checked the ground around the fence in case they had fallen. Nope. My bike shorts were stolen. We have been cycling across Europe every summer for 7 years and never once has anything been stolen from us at a campsite. I couldn’t get back to sleep very quickly after that and even got up again to move our bike bags closer to the tent. 

In the kitchen at breakfast an Austrian guy was trying to clean the depths of his bike bottle with a sponge. I let him know that the other kitchen had a brush which may be more helpful. When he returned he told us that he had ridden from Slovenia to Nordkapp. When he got there he met another Austrian guy who had offered him his van to drive back to Austria. At first I thought they were driving back together, but a few minutes later we watched him pull away with the van on his own. 

The first 10km out of Överkalix were really nice because we weren’t yet on the highway. We passed through villages and by cute Swedish houses and farms along the river. Lots of water in view. We came up a hill and a van was parked on the side. “Oi!” I said as I passed the van, recognizing who it was. Our friend from breakfast was under the hood trying to do something to prevent the van from continually overheating. About 10 minutes later he passed us in good spirits. 

We crossed the bridge over the Kalix river to join the highway in Svartbyn. It was 40km of this until Töre. There was more traffic than we had expected for a Saturday morning. We have had enough of the cars. While most of them pass us in a friendly way, they are loud and stinky and you never know which ones will get too close. The draft is sometimes enough to through you out of your lane. 

Along the way we stopped for a break. There were a few picnic benches overlooking the river below. Some Finns were fishing, but we couldn’t see them through the trees. The river flowed really fast here. The banks on the other side varied between rocky cliffs and lowlands. 

In Töre we stopped outside of a church to eat lunch. Then to the gas station for the toilet and to fill our water bottles. Leaving Töre we could also finally leave the highway. We followed a gravel road for the next 13km to Vitå. The going was slow since the road surface was so uneven. I’m even more afraid of downhill on gravel than normally. The road lead through the forest and there were occasional fields filled with magenta flowers. It totally surprised us to see a bikepacker in the other direction that I smiled stupidly big and waved. 

The camp in Vitå is a really nice initiative of the local people who are raising money to support the local school. There’s a dry toilet, Raststugga room, sauna, beach, fire pit and picnic tables. You can donate money by Paypal and Swish. 

Day 15 Vitå to Luleå 60km

I had my best night of sleep so far at this little camping spot. The weather was lovely when we woke up. So far we have had fantastic weather, if not a bit too hot. We could hear cranes squawking in the distance. I didn’t know they came this far north in the summer. Our tent was damp and dried quickly in the morning sun. The camper van and car were still sound asleep when we took off. 

The trail was easy today but my legs were so tired that any difficulty (small hill, pothole, too much sun, a light breeze, etc) was enough to make cycling arduous. We passed through several idyllic villages and saw livestock regularly for the first time – pigs, sheep, llamas, and horses. 

Raneå was a beautiful town. They had really great cycle paths all the way through. We passed the church on a hill and by the restaurant-cafe, too early for it to be open. After crossing the water a few times we came to a cyclist bridge with a bench where we had our first snack break. 

Several kilometers later we had a short stint on gravel (which in my tired state was grueling), before crossing the highway twice. The first crossing was insane. We had to cross all lanes, and the divider between them, a fence of 3 cables, was lowered to the ground so you could go over it. Thankfully crossing back was an overpass (uphill! Wince!) and much more safe. 

On this road the traffic picked up and so did the little bit of headwind. I was dying. Finally C found a closed supermarket up ahead that had a bench in the shade where we could eat lunch. I ate silently, too tired for my usual plapper. 

As we got closer to Luleå, the suburbs became thicker. We passed a lake which seemed to have the whole neighborhood swimming in it. In Luleå we followed the bike trail along the water to the city center. After checking in to the hotel we made a list of errands needed during our break: new bike shorts, more camping gas, laundry, following up with some things at home, etc. We had dinner at Max’s, Sweden’s version of McDonald’s. I haven’t been to McD’s in ages, but do they also have so many veggie options? C had a crispy patty out of peas and I had the halloumi burger. 

In the night it was still too hot to sleep. The room was warmer than outside and we almost wished to be in the tent instead of a bed. Northern Sweden is not so prepared for the changing climate.

Rest Day Luleå

In the morning we worked on running all of our errands. Even though it’s the biggest city since we began cycling, it was surprisingly challenging to find a good selection of bike products. We went to at least 6 different outdoor stores (one was a bicycle shop, but mostly selling and fixing bikes). No wonder someone had stolen mine if it is this hard to find a good pair!! We hit an area with many industrial size shops on our way to Gammelstad where I could finally make a decision. 

Gammelstad is one of the few remaining Church Towns in Sweden. Recognized by UNESCO, this village made up of over 400 cottages which are still in use today. Mostly in northern Sweden, such church towns were places for people to gather on important church holidays. There was no running water or electricity. The visitor center had a free exhibit about the site, including a replicated cottage. We also got to see a two room cottage preserved and owned by a historical society. Just outside of the town is an open air village, Hägnan, to show various types of homes and the way of life in this region. It is also free to visit, has a cafe, and there are often children’s activities going on, though Monday is a low day. The church village was a time of devotion but also entertainment and a break from village life. Hägnan aims to show what the village life was like. 

Not long after becoming a town with its own harbor, Luleå was moved from Gammelstad to its current location because the bay was not deep enough for ships to enter. This was for two reasons. One, since the last ice age, the land is rising around 1 meter per 100 years (we also learned about this at the rock art museum in Alta – newer designs are at a lower altitude because the land kept rising and the drawings were done at sea level). The other was that with improved technology ships could be wider and deeper than before. 

Attached to the UNESCO site is also a nature reserve called Gammelstadsviken, where the bay used to be. Now a bog, it hosts many migrating birds as well as plants which are usually only found in southern Sweden. We hiked from Gammelstad through the reserve to the suburb Porsön. We were wildly unprepared for the hike which caused me to enjoy it less than I could have. 

I was in shorts, C had sandals on, and we didn’t have any bug spray. The first portion of the hike was wildly overgrown and rife with mosquitoes. I mostly ran through, trying to escape the blood suckers, while at the same time avoiding occasional patches of stinging nettles. At first the overgrown path was just tall grasses but it became increasingly thicker and included shrubbery as well. Not to mention since I went first I also got all the spider webs, including in my face. 

But this is a really beautiful hike. We changed landscapes constantly. Tall grass with wildflowers, bogs with boardwalks (I love boardwalk hikes!), birch forest, evergreen forest, mixed forest, creeks, streams, and lakes. There were two bird towers along the way to have a view over the lake. With the afternoon sun it was hard for us to see them; the best time is early morning. 

Back at the hotel, we did our laundry for free and used the shared kitchen to make boiled potatoes and quark. Well, quark is a German thing you can’t get anywhere else, so we settled for cream cheese and aioli, since that’s our new favorite topping. 

Our second rest day will get its own blog post!!