Europe India Trip: Day 27: The day I missed my ferry & had to stay in Sweden for one more day [May 9, 2023]
My 3rd night camping during my trip so far. Also met a 69 year old lady from Holland who was driving solo with her cycle & dog in a camper van to Finland
This is part of my Europe India solo motorbike trip . Please read the post for more context.
In the previous post, I had mentioned that I was in Crafoord hostel Stockholm & had a booked a ferry from Kappelskar (around 100 kms from Stockholm) to Turku at 7:15 AM in the morning. I was up by 5 AM & by the time I could load all the stuff & leave ( I did not want to miss the 15 SEK coffee .. greedy me . .so I had it before leaving ), it was 5:45 AM. The Google Map estimated time was 1 hour+ & I knew I was late.
I did not ride way above speed limit but I did ride a bit fast. I booked the ferry soon after waking up from DirectFerries website & they sent Google Map link which I assumed was for the port. Only after reaching the destination, I realized I am in the town in which port is located. It was 6:53 AM & I knew there is no way I could catch the ferry.
I then looked up for port on the map & could see a location marked ‘DFDS ferry something’. I put that as destination & rode to it. It was beyond 7:15 AM. I tried calling Tallink (my ferry provider) but it was outside office hours so their customer care did not answer. DirectFerries had no customer care number (I am not sure how businesses in UK are allowed to function without one). I then looked for ‘Tallink’ on Google Map & I found something beside the boarding gate with the name ‘Tallink Cargo’. I called them & fortunately, someone picked. I explained my situation & they asked me to come to them.
They were right beside me but between them & me, there were some large trucks parked & I could not see them. I figured when I rode around the trucks.
The guy on the counter was a guy with long beard (he was old so probably he dint have long hair like me). After talking on phone for some time, he said, they can offer me next day ferry for same money. There was another ferry from Finnlines that depart at 10 AM but it was expensive (around 75 Euros .. the one from Tallink was 45) & I was thinking of taking it up. On asking if they would refund, he said no. But he then said, that as a kind gesture they are offering the ferry tomorrow & I need to tell if I need it. I was like - but you need me to pay the same amount for tomorrow & that is when he clarified it is for free. There was a misunderstanding from my side. I quickly said yes (well you would know by now that I dont say no to free stuff :] ). Now I had to figure out one day stay in Kappellskar.
I looked on map & saw Kappellskar Camping . I had mentioned in the previous blog that I had contacted them before & wanted to stay overnight at their place but they had responded that they were fully booked. I called them again & heard the same thing. But then I asked if I can camp & the lady on the other side said they have camping space but no huts or hostel beds. So I decided to ride to them which is not even a km away from the ferry point.
I reached the location & met Ingrid. She was not the one whom I have spoken with (the owner is Lotta & she was not at the campsite). I told her that Lotta quoted 150 SEK for the tent place & she was ok with it (the official price was 165 SEK). I soon rode to an open area & pitched my tent.
I did not have a long sleep so I slept for some time post pitching tent. It was sunny & warm. I woke up to see a camper van had come, not too far & there as an old lady with dog. She then came to me asking if I can help her figure out the schedule of ferry from Kappelskar to Mariehamn (island between Sweden & Finland) & then to Turku. I looked up online & told her about the ferries. I also told her that Finnlines & Tallink had their offices at the port which I visited in the morning. I offered to book ferry for her online but she said he is going to ride her cycle to the office & get this sorted herself.
She took her cycle out from the camper van, put the dog Sara, in a basket as pillion & rode to the office. She came back after sometime & said that those were cargo offices & she has to book it online or on phone. I offered to help but she decided to book it on the phone. Guess she wanted to be as much self sufficient as possible.
We had a chat later (she made me coffee in the evening) where she mentioned she is 69 years & made herself a promise that she will visit Finland (again) & now she is driving her camper van to fulfil that promise. When her husband was alive, both of them used to go out on the camper van & now she does that alone with her dog.
I remember cooking myself soup in the evening. Nel also needed some bread so I rode to the nearest grocery store that was 7km away to get her & myself some bread. I also got some butter. While on the way back, I figured my right side indicator lights have stopped working. So now I had some fixing to do.
I wrote a blog post in the evening. It became reasonably cold in the night & I remember when my feet were freezing, I got up & went to the bathroom as they had radiators & trying to warm my foot on them. That did not help much so I tried pouring hot water. It did cross my mind that I can possibly bring my sleep setup in bathroom (or kitchen) & sleep there as it was warm but I was too lazy to do it. So I just went back, put another layer of socks & tried sleeping.
I also remember that I reached out to a few bikers from Bunk A Biker in Turku & Helsinki. One guy named Manne responded to my email. I had asked if anyone had a garage with tools as I would like to tweak the indicators. He mentioned he has the setup but he also posted about my ask in the biker group in Finland. A guy named Tim responded to him & Tim also messaged me on Facebook ( I have a page named Pocha Solo Bike Trip on Facebook & I send the link to folks while I reach out to them). From no help to now two people willing to help me within like an hour, that was some progress I had made. Finally I decided to seek help with Tim as he was at Turku. Tim proactively suggested to meet me outside the ferry point in Turku & then rode me to a workshop he & a few of his friends own closeby.
With the promise of help making me optimistic, I slept okayishly well inspite of the cold. I figured that I am pretty close to ferry point & I can take my time to get up. But as usual, I ended up cutting close this time & nearly missed my ferry (again). That is in the next blog.