Lycksele is the kind of place where a reindeer standing in the middle of the road is not unusual. This small town of about eight thousand five hundred people in southern Lapland sits on the banks of the Ume River, surrounded by endless forest, and it serves as a centre for the vast, thinly populated interior of Västerbotten. The Blue Highway, the E12, passes through on its way from the Baltic coast to the mountains, and the town is a natural stop, about halfway between Umeå and the high country around Storuman.
Lycksele has a long history as a meeting place for the Sami, the indigenous people of the north, who came here for markets, church services and trading. The old church town, Gammplatsen, on the edge of town, preserves wooden buildings and Sami huts from those gatherings, and it is now an open-air museum. The town also has a zoo, Lycksele Djurpark, specialising in Nordic animals such as bears, wolves, lynx, wolverines and musk oxen, a good chance to see creatures that are hard to spot in the wild.
The Ume River here is wide and calm, flowing between forested banks, and in the past it carried timber floated down from the interior to the sawmills on the coast. Today it is used for hydroelectric power, with several dams along its course. The forests around Lycksele are mostly pine and spruce, with birch along the rivers, and they are home to moose, reindeer, bears and many birds.
For riders, the Blue Highway around Lycksele is a long, flowing road through forest, with long straights, gentle curves and little traffic. It is not technically demanding, but it is a fine ride, especially in the long evening light of summer, when the sun barely sets. The distances between towns are long, so fill up in Lycksele, which has fuel, food, shops and accommodation, before heading west. Watch for reindeer and moose, which often stand on the road or cross without warning. Summers are short, light and pleasant, with occasional heat, but the weather can turn cold and wet quickly. Mosquitoes and black flies can be fierce in July, so bring repellent if you plan to stop in the forest.