Day one was a climbing day. Day two is a surface day.
Day two of two along the eastern shore of Vättern, and the gravel day: barely a third of the climbing of day one, but nearly a third unpaved. Smooth, hard-packed gravel through wheat and past small red houses to Vadstena castle, a lagoon you cannot drive to, Brunneby Musteri and the Göta kanal, then into Motala and across the Vätternrundan finish line from the wrong side. Go wide on tyres.
Day one was a climbing day. Day two is a surface day: nearly a third unpaved, on dry, hard-packed, fast gravel through wheat and past small red houses with white corners.
Vadstena arrives at the water with a castle. After it comes a lagoon you cannot drive to, Brunneby Musteri, Göta Hotell in Borensberg and the five locks at Borenshult on the Göta kanal, and finally Motala’s Stadsparken and the Vätternrundan finish line, crossed from the wrong side.
This is day two of two. Day one runs from Jönköping to Borghamn: Vättern in Daylight: Jönköping to Borghamn.
We rode it in two days and recommend three. The three-day version is a slightly different and longer line, 199 km, with nights in Gränna and Vadstena: Day 1 Jönköping → Gränna, 51.2 km (Komoot) · Day 2 Gränna → Vadstena, 77.2 km (Komoot) · Day 3 Vadstena → Motala, 70.5 km (Komoot).
The full story: Crossing the Line from the Wrong Side.
Smooth gravel through wheat and past red houses with white corners, to Vadstena castle and a bun at Bageri Hamilton.
The lagoon, the long, hot and exposed middle of the day, and an elderflower at Brunneby Musteri where the plain meets the Göta kanal.
Göta Hotell, the canal and the locks at Borenshult, the allé at Österskog, and into Stadsparken and over the finish line.
No weekly newsletter, no filler. Just the occasional dispatch — a new route, a story worth your time, or an event you'll want to ride.
No spam, ever. Unsubscribe any time.
