We did not expect to wake up to snow on our first morning.

Starting a project: Walking through Scandinavia along the European Long Distance Trail E1.

Since my road trip through Lofoten Islands, Norway in the arctic circle a few years ago, I felt a pull towards the north. I spent quite a few summers in Denmark, but Norway was something else entirely. The coast kissing mountains, beaches, dense forests, fjords, and northern lights. All of this, while being allowed to camp anywhere, thanks to the “everyman’s right”, makes for great ingredients for a hiking trip.

European Long Distance Trails

While there are 12 very long ones in Europe, the E1 (going 8000km from Southern Italy, through Austria, Germany and finally Scandinavia up to the North Cap) was most appealing to me; especially the 3350km between Varberg in the south of Sweden and North Cap in Norway.

According to data.worldbank.org, 68.7% (2020) of Sweden is covered with forests. I cannot think of a better country to just hike through. In addition the tempered climate, comparably flat topography, beautiful and diverse landscapes, everyman’s right and accessibility from Vienna, were good reasons to pick the E1 as my next passion project.

Walking the entire >3000km in one go (while averaging on 20km a day) would take you 168 days. That’s like half a year. One that we don’t have right now. So, together with my girlfriend we planned to just go for a week at a time, until accessing the trail head would get too complicated. To be fair, reaching Nowhere in the middle of a Swedish forest could get tricky after all. Maybe we will have time to go a month or more at a time sometime in the future.

Our trip

140km between Gothenburg and Varberg (which is the southernmost city along the E1 in Scandinavia) seemed like a good start to manage in one week. Gothenburg (you can see the blue line turning east in the north of Varberg: thats Gothenburg), the second biggest city in Sweden was accessible , as well as a good place to return to, once we would walk the next sections.

We accessed our trail head outside Gothenburg by bus, next to a highway Burger King which provided us with a good last toilet. From there off we went for 7 days through rain, snow, wind, hail and sun. The trail wound its way through low growing mountain pines atop rocky hills, dense and moist mossy conifer forests, along lake coasts, paddocks and through loosely populated countryside.

Between the two cities, we did not encounter a single E1 signpost as I expected previously, no, the trail consisted of local hiking routes: Bohusleden, Hallandsleden, Northsea Trail. The upside: They were taken care of by the counties. At the recommended stops along those routes, wooden wind shelters, fireplaces, firewood storages and sometimes outhouses were provided. The most notoriously swamped parts of the tracks were crossed via wooden planks, fixed a few centimetres above the muddy water level, and small detours to villages paid off with cinnamon rolls (Kanelbullar) for breakfast and even showers in a sport club and church.

Challenges

Despite considering myself to be somewhat experienced in hiking, I, or rather we, stumbled across some difficulties.

The weatherforecast from before we left Vienna put us in a good mood: no precipition, cool days and brisk nights, but nothing that we couldn’t handle. Turns out that the forecast couldn’t be trusted (who would have thought) and we spent the entire first day in rain, soaking our backpacks to its contents through the protective rain coats. What a great start. Additionally, during the first night, we spent it in an open wind shelter, adding some layer of protection by spreading out our tarp in front of us, it froze and snowed. My camera did not like it, and its battery discharged. I could have thought about bringing spare batteries (I brought extra rolls of film after all), but because the battery hasn’t been changed in I don’t know how long, 10 years?, I forgot that my camera even ran on battery . So after the first night, my camera was approximately 1kg of dead weight. My girlfriend shivered the entire night and did not get any rest, this would not be the last time though, sadly.

Another thing we had to get manage was a trail routine. It’s the first time the two of us went hiking with wild camping. Waking up, preparing breakfast, packing, tearing down camp, hiking, taking breaks, setting up camp, preparing dinner, taking care of hygiene, personal space, time as a couple and falling asleep. All of these things are quite straight forward when hiking alone. You are responsible for everything by yourself, have freedom of choice but carry all consequences alone. Being together requires you to make decisions together, find compromises, adapt to each other, be it pace, hunger or strength. I spent a good portion of the afternoon at camp writing my journal. Only then I realised how much time manually writing consumes, when I hiked alone it filled my downtime enjoyably. This time I felt self aware about how much time I took up, while it did not obstruct my responsibilities and my share of chores, it took away off-trail time that we could have spent together to relax or enjoy each other’s company. After returning I reflected on my journaling behaviour and thought about how to fit it into our shared hiking experience.

Hiking through the wilderness with your significant other is a magical experience. You get to hold their hand while walking on soft and bouncy forest floors, watching wild geese land on glistening lakes, listen to distant elks bellow, ignite camp fires, watch their faces bathe in the light of the rising or setting sun; you get to wake up together to take on the challenges of the upcoming day, morning after morning, you get to fall asleep together after a hard days work. It’s simplifying, calming, decelerating and puts the troubles at home into perspective. But its not always so easy: Being on edge over and over, day after day, due to challenge after challenge, takes a toll on the body, the mind and the relationship. Be it bad sleep, freezing, being soaked, feeling dirty and disgusting, drinking out of lakes and the fear of bowel movement afterwards, chafing, aching bones and muscles, limping due to a strained Achilles tendon, and last, but most importantly, not being able to fall asleep while cuddling, leaves our bodies wrecked and our souls starved.

The right season

The late spring in Sweden (it still felt like autumn) left much to be desired: Particularly temperatures that would allow to be more relaxed at night times; temperatures that would allow snuggling together on our sleeping pads, covered by sleeping bags, without risking hypothermia. We know we want to return when it’s a little warmer, when the trees grow green again, when sleeping with beanie and several layers of clothes isn’t necessary anymore, and when jumping into the nearby lake would replace a coveted shower to relief our minds of the constant state of feeling dirty.

Lessons learned

Survived challenges offer experience and lessons that would hopefully improve the next trip. Every piece of equipment that has been brought was scrutinized, and considered carefully, whether or not it fulfilled its purpose, if it has been used at least once, if it brought joy. To my surprise, none of the items I carried, I would leave behind next time. There are a few things that I missed, some that could improve my well being the next time, while other might consider them as luxuries.

I missed an extra pair of shoes for the campsite, feet need some relief, the shoes need to air out. In summer sandals, crocs or flip flops work, I’m not quite sure what to take in colder seasons though… A small tube of allround healing ointment would take care of chafing or bruises, Labello with integrated sunscreen would have protected my lips that got burned, cracked up, bled and finally evolved fever blisters. A small comb could replace my finger brushing technique, something to trim nails would be necessary when hiking more than 10 days in a row. Next time I want to improve my nut and raisin trail mix with M&Ms for extra crunch and to satisfy the everpresent chocolate cravings.

In hindsight

I don’t understand how our minds brainwash us into romanticizing the pain and aching of hiking into a desirable activity, one that needs to be repeated and rejoiced. The memories of persistent rain, shivering and aching gets overshadowed by the joy of making campfires, of waking up to a sunrise over a mirror-flat lake, of getting up and being in nature right away, of enjoying the surprising company of a local and another hiker with hotdogs and hot tea, of travelling a distance that is so vast, that it can be seen on a map of Europe. Its an achievement, an adventure, and a big challenge. Hiking simplifies, decelerates, challenges, nourishes, grants confidence and strength and just shows you how beautiful life can be if you are willing to see it.

E1 Sweden 04/22