Day 8-3. Hamburgsund to Strömstad.
The rain was set for the rest of the day, which kept the cameras hidden away in our bags. Fortunately it was less than fifteen kilometres to Strömstad and the weather whilst wet was still warm. The route had one treat for us on this sodden afternoon in the form of a second off-road section, which took us into Lanesund. After a couple of enjoyable kilometres slithering through forest, which provided some shelter from the rain, we popped out on the main road into Strömstad opposite a campsite. As it was now quite well built up and Damae's bladder had filled again we crossed the road and Damae asked if she could use the toilet block. Even in the rain the campsite looked rather nice, next to the bay with boats, caravans, campers and tents spread across the undulating landscape. Damae returned full of praise for the facilities, a quick clothing adjustment session followed before we headed on to Strömstad.We ran along the side of the road on what appeared to be a cycle track on the pavement. The road itself was rather busy in comparison to sections earlier in the day. The rain was pretty persistent by now and on approaching a second campsite closer to Strömstad we were tempted for a moment to stop then and there. Still seeing as I needed a bike shop for my bike we decided to push on to the Tourist Office. We would be able to get some information on campsites at the same time; although this would be our second visit to Strömstad we would be camping here for the first time.
As we approached the Tourist Information Office the rain eased a little, I chose to wait outside looking after the bikes and catching the remaining drips of rain. Damae came out a few minutes later with information about the bike shop and the two campsites closest to Strömstad. One was the one we had passed a quarter of an hour earlier and we didn't feel like going back. The other was to the North of the town centre, and although it involved some minor climbs to get there we would at least not be retracing our steps. It also looked like we could find a way over to this campsite from the bike shop.
It took us a few minutes to find the bike shop, we'd cycled past it in 2005 and it was thus on the NSCR heading out towards Norway. Damae waited outside, and I picked up a Shimano rear derailleur for a reasonable price. It was one model up from our cheap ALTUS ones in terms of quality; seeing as the original had survived some four years of hard use, and we were planning on getting new touring bikes in the next year or two, I wasn't too worried about durability issues. Damae having been interested in a new pair of cycling gloves for some time, went into the shop after I came out. On finding nothing of particular interest it was then time for a Jongkind like diversion to try to find the campsite.
We found the site without too much ado. It was mostly empty and rather spacious. We picked a quiet spot next to a fence we could lean our bikes against that was flat enough for us and our tent. A little later an old Volvo estate arrived and the three occupants pitched their tent close to ours. I guess they wanted the company. We decided to try out our new wing for the first time as it had started drizzling again. Apart from me spending a small half hour changing the derailleur and adjusting it, we spent the rest of the evening under the shelter of the tent. Soup with pasta was the order of the day; it was strange not to be too thirsty and trying to rehydrate ourselves.
All that remained was to shower and sleep. The day had been short in comparison to others in the Swedish section of our holiday. Still it was a well deserved night's sleep.