After cycling 90 kilometres through sunshine, hail and beech forests, Pernilla Alencar Siljehag arrived in Tomelilla - with tired legs and a heart full of impressions. She shares her reflections on the conversations along the way, the audience at the library, and why research journeys are sometimes at their best when taken on two wheels.
Welcome back, Pernilla! How was your leg of the tandem tour?
"It was a great journey! I saw so much - wetlands, beech forests, sand dunes, coastal woods, pine forests, seas, lakes… and so many animals! We cycled through all kinds of weather: sunshine, rain, strong gusts of wind and even hail. It also became a study in road conditions - from brand-new cycle paths to forest trails accompanied by a whole orchestra of birdsong. And we had a real "Hulk bike", specially made in Berlin and kindly lent to us by an 80+ enthusiast from CASE's senior advisory board at Lund University - incredibly comfortable!"
What did you talk about during the ride?
"We covered everything from ageing research and educational projects to scholarships, exchange programmes and future assistive technologies in eldercare. One of our conversations was about prototypes of robot-assisted toilets and showers, where older people might manage their personal hygiene using advanced tools - possibly in collaboration with home care staff in their own homes in the future. Right in the middle of that discussion, a tractor with a long front loader suddenly appeared from the right! We imagined the newspaper headline: "Ageing researchers on tandem bike skewered by tractor in Österlen." We had a good laugh about that."
"Overall, we managed to cover both the serious and the light-hearted during our roughly seven-hour journey. Among other things, we talked about the power of the encounters that arise through research - often, and perhaps especially, in the unexpected and spontaneous moments."
"We also talked about the magic of collaboration and what can happen when you meet a fellow researcher on the other side of the world. There are these sparks that arise when solidarity and creativity come alive in small, everyday moments."
How was the lecture in Tomelilla?
"Fantastic! Senior Tomelilla was almost full to capacity - there were 25 enthusiastic pensioners, librarians, researchers and local politicians. The atmosphere was warm, and the audience asked many important questions about so-called good quality local health care, social inequalities between women and men who care for their relatives, and the powerlessness relatives sometimes experience when health and social care for older people is not well synchronized. It was a completely different kind of closeness than what I am used to from gatherings in larger cities."
Some key take-aways from your trip?
"Research is so much more than numbers and texts. It is about encounters, conversations, and creating meaning together. I was given chocolate and a paperback book as a gift - but the whole day felt like one big present. Sitting in the sun afterwards, waiting for the bus with tired legs and a warm heart, was the perfect ending of this adventure."
Picture gallery from the tandem tour
