Team-CC consists of Christer and Christina. One summer they decided to go on a biking holiday around the Swedish island of Gotland – a geocachers’ heaven. Caves, pillars and the grave of director Ingmar Bergmans . Here, Team-CC tells the story of their experiences. Written by Christina Sigurdsson.

Friday, July 30th

Take-off from Säve airport at 8:20 in the morning, the rain pour­ing down. We landed in Visby, the main city on Gotland, at 9:20 in the sunshine. From there we took a taxi to the hotel. Then it was time for a trip through the town.

Christer had geocaching in mind. This served us fine, since caches are often placed at interesting sights. It’s a great way to discover a new city. We met a German family who were also out caching. After several hours of walking, with lunch, coffee and something good to drink at a cosy place it was time to return to the hotel for some rest before dinner. Summary of the day: 7 caches.

Saturday, July 31st

Breakfast at 8:30. We made our way to Visby bike rental to get our bikes and bags and then went back to the hotel to repack. Then we continued to the famous Lummelunda caves. Heading down the caves was truly interesting – in total there are five of them, twelve meters down below ground.

Mixranch at a town called Stenkyrka was the goal for the day. Upon arrival, a dip in the pool was very appreciated. Then we got installed in our cabin. Today, we biked 37 kilometers. Number of caches: 5.

Sunday, August 1st

After a somewhat dry breakfast it was time to hit the saddle again. This time we were heading for Lärbro. The weather was sunny and nice. We began with visiting the Blue Virgin, a 27 meter high cliff.

We had coffee at a nice place. They had great freshly baked gin­ger buns which we ate in the shadows of the big oaks in their gar­den. This far all was well, but after a while of biking my back wheel went bang. A flat in the middle of nowhere. Luckily for me, Chris­ter could fix the tire on the spot. Only minutes later we were head­ing for Hallshuk, the most northern part of the island. A small fishermen’s village. Here we had lunch, took a bath and enjoyed the beautiful view. Then we turned back south towards Lärbro. Now we had the wind against us so our legs were somewhat tired when we got there. In total, 59 kilometers on our bikes. 5 caches.

Monday, August 2nd

Breakfast at eight. The sun was shining today as well. We headed towards Fårösund. We didn’t get far until I noticed a flat once again. We agreed to try and get into town where there was a place that could help us fix the bike. At a place called Rute we also got tape from a couple of men, to try to stabilize the tire so we could continue. It all went well and we got a new tire on the spot.

Happy as ever we biked towards the Blue Lagoon, an old lime­stone quarry which is now filled with water and has become a popular swimming location. When the sun is around the water is turquoise. Now it was cloudy and the colors didn’t really stand out. We went in anyway and had our lunch, just before it started to rain.

Back in Fårösund we took the ferry to the small island of Fårö. Now we realized how good it is with bikes. With ease we went past a long line of cars and could board the ferry immediately. Next stop was Fårö church. There we visited Ingmar Bergmans grave­stone. When we returned to the bikes, Christer was the one who had a flat, so there was nothing to do but fix it. Then we continued to Sudersand where we would stay for two nights.

In total we rode 75 kilometers and found 7 caches this day.

Tuesday, August 3rd

Today it was cloudy but hot. At 9:30 we started cycling towards Langhammars where the famous big limestone pillars are. After having cycled through flat landscape with meadows and stone walls, the over eight meter high pillars by the water were a power­ful sight. We continued to Digerhuvud and Lauterhorn. Then we went back to Sudersand. 43 kilometers.

Soon it was time for the next minitrip. This time to Fårö light­house. A trip of 20 kilometers and now it had started raining for real. It went on all night.

The total of the day: 63 kilometers and 8 caches.

Wednesday, August 4th

Today we had the longest and most boring part ahead. No varied nature, only forest. The goal was Åminne.

Continuing was a challenge. It rained and the wind was hard. After around 20 kilometers it all lightened up and eventually it became really nice. In Bunge we stopped for coffee and pancakes with jam and cream. It was nice getting warm in front of a fire­place before continuing.

In Slite we stopped to look at the limestone quarry and a big concrete facility. We stayed at a good camping ground in our own cabin by the sea.

70 kilometers, 8 caches.

Thursday, August 5th

On our second last day we got up early to log a cache on a bridge. No muggles were awake. The sun was shin­ing and today we were going straight across the island back to Visby. We began at 10:15, took the smaller roads to avoid the traffic and arrived at three in the afternoon. Our legs were limp and a shower was really nice. We un­packed and then went to return the bikes. An evening walk in Visby and contact with a lifeline earned us one more cache. The num­ber of caches for the day was 9.

Friday, August 6th

At 06:15 the alarm went off. Sun and great weather. The taxi arrived at 07:30 to drive us to the airport. The plane took off at 8:20 and we were back in Säve at 9:20 in pour­ing rain. Today, we only got one cache and that was by the airport.

As a whole, a great trip. We found many caches and trav­elled a long way through beauti­ful nature. In total we cycled 350 kilometers in six days and found around 50 caches. Absolutely worth the entire trip!