I managed to get some sleep last night but my feet didn’t quite dry out…. I have realised that they haven’t actually been dry since the start, 3 days ago. During the day, even yesterday when it was sunny all day, they almost start to dry out and then plop you walk through a bog and they are wet again…. And as my feet get cold in the night I keep my (wet) socks on, hoping that the socks will dry, and keeping my feet warm. With good wool socks, my feet aren’t cold, but you do get to a point where you are worried your toes might start growing webbing. Between the wet feet and the decidedly honking smell emanating from my underarms I figured it made sense to aim for adolfstrom this evening to wash the clothes I had been wearing since the start and also wash myself. (Btw – I appreciate in theory I could have washed myself and my clothes in all those lovely rivers I have passed, but it is quite cold here and those rivers are icy, so I decided to stay warm and smell)
I was hopeful for another sunny day, but woke up to gray skys. Another breakfastin bed, and I had almost finished packing my bag inside the tent when it started bucketing down. It is a bit of a challenge to leave a tent in the rain (even a tiny tent like mine) so I gave it 20 minutes to see if it would relent – which it did a little bit.
I headed up the hill through a herd of stunning reindeer, sadly my phone decided to play dead so no photos.
And then it was a long walk across the moors and through various lakes. I saw a tent after about an hour so presumably there were some people in there, but another four hours went past until I actually saw a human being…. He startled me! He was followed swiftly by 7 more, and these were the only 8 people I saw all day up to Baverholm. It appears to be a Swedish tradition to head to the bush and fish, and these guys even had a bbq strapped to their packs.
My fingers were numb until about 1pm and it drizzled steadily all day. I genuinely believe that if you don’t like hiking in the rain, you should never go hiking as odds are (in most places I hike) it will rain at least half the time. But even for me, today was a bit much for my sodden feet. The STF helpfully do put nice wooden planks on the worst of the boggy bits, and when I see the planks I give thanks to the STF gods and their benevolence. However they probably only cover about 1/3 of the bog, so the rest of the time I am cursing them
I arrived at Baverholm around 2pm where there were 20 people in a lovely restaurant so I procured coffee, three pieces of cake and half a kilo of chocolate in case the store in town was closed.
And then onwards to Adolfstrom, where fortunately the store was not closed and they have a lovely hut for me to stay in. It oddly has a fridge and microwave and electricity but no running water so you have to haul it from the laundry. But for £35, my own little Swedish house! And I had a wonderful shower. Oh, and I bought another half kilo of chocolate, two pieces of cake
and three sugar buns for breakfast tomorrow.
There is no restaurant in town, so am eating mac n cheese from the packet with cake to follow! And am toasty warm with all the radiators on full drying my clothes! Very exciting 🙂
Distance travelled= 41 km from Davta bavnna bridge to adolfstrom
Hello. I met you on your first real day of tramping, just before Tarnasjostugan: the lady that recognised the brand of your tent. Nice to see you are speeding on northwards. Nights can certainly be very cold here in the Fjallen. Perhaps you already know about this little trick to make your sleepingbag feel a little bit warmer: put a belt or a strap around your waiste on top of your sleepingbag. This will divide your sleepingbag in to different comfortzones. Hope this can help to make your sleeping more comfy! Now I will read more about the trail you talked about when we met. Where the Sami have their villages/camp they often sell homemade bread (glodkaka) and smoked fish.
Hej Nina, that is a fantastic tip, will give that a try up at Skierffe tonight!!! Hope you had a lovely time around syter.
I could read that the “tramping” of Kungsleden have gone great. Did the sleepingbag-tip work for you? Had somer varm and peaceful days i Syter. Welcome back to Sweden and then you have to try the Nordkarlottleden, that goes thru Finland, Norway and Sweden!
Nina