Sweden??

[Tandem Tom]

Has anyone cycled south from Stockholm to Karlskrona? Thinking about this section to work our way to a ferry to Poland.
Would appreciate hearing about the route!

[Galactic]

I did most that route in reverse, from Karlskrona to somewhere near Norrköping where I turned inland. I followed the Cykelsparet 4 and 6 routes, which were very easy (no significant hills at all), lots of forest, quite a few attractive lakes and sadly not much coast, although where you get down to the sea it can be very beautiful. There are a couple of stretches where it makes sense to take the E dual carriageway for a few km if you want to avoid a long diversion, although Swedish drivers on fast roads seem to be far less considerate than when you meet them on minor roads (I encountered lots of beeping and close passes on main roads and nothing but respect on smaller roads).

All tarmac except or good surfacing (from memory) about 10km of coarse gravel, although you could probably do about 90% of that route on pure gravel if that's your thing.

I took the ferry over to Öland which was perfectly pleasant but underwhelming, and predictably a lot more windy than on the densely forested mainland.

Would I do it again? Definitely, as part of a longer journey. But I wouldn't travel all the way to Sweden to specifically cycle that bit.

If you give us some clues as to your interests (chiefly what kind of cycling) then you should get some specific answers.

[Tandem Tom]

Thanks for your reply! Not sure what you mean by the type of cycling? We would be fully load touring Ikes each with 4 panniers. We camp along with other types of accommodations.

[Tandem Tom]

Any chance you might be able to send me a link to the map showing these routes?

[Galactic]

Thanks for your reply! Not sure what you mean by the type of cycling? We would be fully load touring Ikes each with 4 panniers. We camp along with other types of accommodations.

Yeah, that's what I was after. If you fancy gravel roading it down to Karlskrona you'd get a very different set of answers to someone who wants to zoom down on a racer.

I did that route with a heavy touring bike, wild camped all the way. Lots of small ports on the coast which almost always have toilets and usually have showers you can use (cost 10Kr back then, don't know how much now), so never had a problem with hygiene or water supplies until I went through the middle of the country.

Any chance you might be able to send me a link to the map showing these routes?

The Cykelspåret are just one of Sweden's two national cycle networks. Signage is patchy at best, so it's a good idea to have the gpx on your phone. I just copied the routes from Open Cycle Map onto a 1:500k paper map (the red line along the coast on this: https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=8/56 ... 6&layers=C or Cycle travel will see you right with the gpx files: https://cycle.travel/map?from=Stockholm ... 15.5866422 - that isn't the exact route I followed, it's just what you get if you plug Stockholm and Karlskrona into cycle.travel).

[Tandem Tom]

We use Cycle Travel exclusively! I didplug that route in when I first started looking. You mentioned in your first reply that it wasn't too hilly. But Cycle Travel seems to tell a different story. Is this route 4&5?

[Galactic]

We use Cycle Travel exclusively! I didplug that route in when I first started looking. You mentioned in your first reply that it wasn't too hilly. But Cycle Travel seems to tell a different story. Is this route 4&5?

I guess hilliness is a relative quality. To put that in context, I'm not good on hills and will always find the easiest route through a hilly place. I checked my tour diary and the hills aren't mentioned except for a bit just south of Söderkoping where I mention it's tiring to be continuously crossing from one side of the valley to another. There may be some up and down, but there's nothing very high so the pain is never particularly long.

I mainly followed whatever main routes (red dots in cycle.travel) went up the coast.

[Tandem Tom]

Thanks! I try to hide the profiles from my wife!