7:04 Today I will get wet. Either because of a dip in the sea whilst chilling on the beach, of because this rain continues. I�m on the bus to the north of Gotaland - the scenery is great but I’m a little queasy from the early start and I need to get more sleep.

10:25 got to f�r�sund but didn�t see a bike hire place. A japanese tourist had bruoght her rental bike from Visby (and was merrily coasting down the hill on the left+hand side of the road) so I thought I must have misunderstood the tourist info when he said I could rent a bike in “the town”. So I hopped on the ferry after explaining it was free to the fretting Japanese girl.

Arriving on the island, I noticed a distinct lack of… well, everything except trees and rocks really - and a dirty great asphalted road. So I began my hike to the town marked on my map, shortly to be overtaken by the japanese girl, still on the left. I decide to call her Yuko. A few km later I heard an engine behind me so I stuck out a thumb. “f�r�?” I asked, somewhat naively, to which came a possibly cheerful reply in Swedish which I took to mean “jump in”. Once we had established a more practical language of discourse, it turned out there was no town at the dot on my map, but as it was this was my lucky day. As we passed Yuko (now thankfully on the right) he explained he lived on the farm by the ferry and was on his way to work at the tourist office, which along with a churck, was all there was at the dot on my map. I could rent a cykel and to save a long walk back to the ferry I could drop it ayt his farm. Sorted!

Once one the bike I struck out and took far too many photos, bumping into Yuko from time to time. I am probably glad that I am here out of season as it would only take a dozen tourists to make it feel a little crowded.

A f�r� (”four-air”) is what you get when you take a big chunk of seabed and shove it up into the air to become an island. Spectacular rock formations on the west coast include the miniature canyon where I just stopped for a nectarine and to write this. There are fantastic dwarf trees here that look like mr.miyagi has been working overtime!

11:34 I am 1/4 though my island tour, 1/2 through my food and 3/4 water and 2/3 film gone. More pedalling required to make it to the beaches in good time!

14:37 ah me, a dip in the (pretty warm) Baltic after many trials and tribulations, during which I managed to cover a significant portion of The Hobbit by bicycle. If you don’t mind I’ll just sip my pop while my towel dries and I’ll tell you all about it when I’m less busy…

20:32 and to think I say York is dull: I came within a gnat’s chuff of hitting my original budget today, having got back to the hostel with one meal to get and 62kr to get it with. A quick shower (during which I disturbingly started singing “empires” with the hook line “bring me men”) and retrieve my laundry from where it has apparently been playing british bulldog in the hostel yard, and I’m out again looking for the small supermarket that I missed on the way back from the bus. En route I check out the restaurants I pass in case they are dirt cheap (61kr ~= UKP4.50). They’re not, and the shop is shut, but I remember a street with some bars and kebab shops on.

The kebab shops shut at the same time on a friday as any other night - 1800!! Ruh? So now I am in the Chinese restaurant that I was so proud of myself for not going to last night.

Score Tally, day 4:
Akijump noses: 7
meatballs: 0
History: groovy barn, old harbour
Prehistory: 0
Geology: 87
km cycling (enjoyed): 20ish
km cycling (extra): 11
marching songs composed: 7