Ale Stenar

Cycled to Ale Stenar today. Sweden’s version of stone-henge apparently, only this one was built by Vikings and not pagans (was that who built stone henge??)

There are many theories about why and who put the stones there but the most favoured is that Ale was a Viking chief who is buried in amongst the stones somewhere. The stones are in a shape of a Viking boat with the front and back stone marking the summer and winter solstice respectively.

After visiting them I have to say that I think Ale had completely the right idea! The stones are set upon a cliff next to the sea, where the birds fly and the butterflies too. Where the sun shines down onto a life and time gone by. I think I’m going to follow Ale’s idea and my friends and relatives to build me some standing stones upon a similar cliff top that looks over sea – come on you know you want to lug 2 tonne stones up a hill!! (you have been warned!)

The day has been a most rewarding one, the cycle through the Skane countryside was beautiful, but as ever it never ceases to amaze me that there just aren’t any people!! There’s signs of people: houses, cars, random school bus stops (literally plonked in the middle of NOWHERE, apart from next to, say a huge field, which maybe has a house at the long path that seems to lead to nowhere!) but just no actual people!

I go back to original theory from when we arrived in Lund and the same thing was happening there: houses with lights on and cars in the driveway just no people. The theory was that there were in fact Swedes living inside but they just didn’t want to be seen so would drop and roll if ever they came to a window, just in case there was someone who happened to be passing outside and may have see them – I think it’s a fair theory and really quite probable! This is clearly what they were all doing in the countryside too!

But anyway, 40 kilometres later I arrived back in Ystad, bursting with lust for life and most proud of myself for cycling all that way and managing to get back in one piece, well there was no puncture at least and I didn’t fall off, but I will have to admit that I am in fact looking like a panda radish, seeing as I cycled all day with my sunglasses on and no sun cream seeing as I don’t own any as of yet (that’s tomorrow’s job!) So I am the colour of a lobster and not particularly happy about it, I’m not going to wear my sunglasses for the next week just to make sure that I don’t get the same again!

So that’s all from me today, caio for now.