The night was terrible. I woke up at 4.30 in the morning because I was cold – it was 7 degrees centigrade (45 F) at that time. When I rose at 6.30 the temperature had increased to 12 degrees centigrade (54 F).

I didn't like the receptionist at this camping. She seemed to say ”have a good trip” only because the situation demanded it. But then everything was just wrong with this camping from the beginning. I think it's a caravan camping, and that must be the reason why it's not listed among the campings in the list in the accomodation guide that accompanies the map of the Bike Track along the Swedish eastcoast. I could as well have camped in the forest as between the grotesque dinasour caravans on the camping. To feel like an alone outsider wasn't particularly hard...

However, things can change fast, and so they have done now – positively. Outside Sölvesborg another tourer biked up beside me – he was solo and my age, which makes him the first of that kind on this trip. Like me, he had been stood up by his bike friends. His name is Jörgen and he's from Karlshamn. Starting from there he plans to bike around Skåne.

We joined forces the rest of the day. A banana break at the 17th century castle of Trolle-Ljungby, pizza lunch in Åhus, banana break again at the renaissance castle of Vittskövle – yes, there are many castles in Skåne – and then via Degeberga and Brösarp to Kivik, where we will miss the famous market by just a few days. However, people are already coming here for the sake of the market, so the camping had a big sign with the text ”FULL” written in block letters. For once a positive thing about being bikers – the manager allowed us to raise our tent in the corner of the camping if we found a free spot there, and we did.

How nice to live in Jörgen's big tent, made to fit three persons. I had to raise my tent for a while too, to let it dry in the evening sun.

The best thing with meeting Jörgen was that we were each other's equal when it came to tempo. The cruising speed was around 25 kph (16 mph), almost too much for me, since I'm recovering from my cold. But that didn't bother me, because I have actually never biked with anyone as fast as me. So I concentrated on enjoying it – we took turns lying in each others vacuum.

Today's hardest stretch was the one over the ridge of Linderöd: Linderödsåsen. And they say Skåne is flat! The upslopes wouldn't stop, it seemed.

By the way, Jörgen has camped in the forest so far. Five kilos of his packing consists of the five liters of water that he carries to drink and to use for cooking. I'm the more convenient type (yeah, says the one who's gonna bike to Budapest), and I was happy it wasn't hard to convince him to stay with me at the camping. After all, a warm shower at the end of the biking day is worth a lot.