E1 Sweden 08/22
What our regular lunch looked like: Tortillias with hard cheese and some condiments.
Continuing our mammoth project: Walking through Scandinavia along the European Long Distance Trail E1.
Progress
In April we went from Varberg to Gothenburg where the trail turns east. In August we continued from the turn to south of the narrow lake.
It’s been a while, the last blog entry has been posted some weeks back. I tried to catch up with my hiking journal. On my last trip with Isolde to Sweden in august, both of us took a new approach on journalling. This time we kinda did scrapbooking instead.
We glued in tickets, labels, bills, newspaper and magazine cuttings, flyer and much more. This is so much more time intensive, but a lot more rewarding. Its visually appealing, tells stories without text and reflects mood, activities and impressions at a glance. But because its so much more intensive, we didn’t manage to complete it on trail and keep up every day.
That’s why the delay. I didn’t wanna rush it though, so I took my sweet time to write about the trip from the comforts of my heated room. A luxury that makes writing, illustrating, cutting, stamping, glueing, … a lot easier. Particularly because I don’t have to carry all those pencils, washy tape etc. And wind won't blow away all the utensils. Well, I didn't have to carry them either way, because Isolde carried the arts supply case. In addition to a lot of other important shit for us. Shes is a lot stronger than she seems. And maybe got even more endurance than me.
Ultralight?
Not really. But this is what our journalling looked like. And it was well worth the weight.
The mistake upfront
Both of us got pushed to our limits again, thanks to my stupidity and lackluster contribution in the planning process (yes, this somehow is a confession). My goals included managing 300km and carrying the entire food for our trip from start to end. The thought: being independent, saving money at Swedish grocery stores (Sweden is quite expensive) and “practicing” for the PCT, where there is no restock station for weeks sometimes. With those limitations and expectations, we kinda set us up for failure.
I didn’t weigh the backpack before leaving, but let's do a quick calculation.
A handful of Trailmix per person, per day = 60g*17 = 1.02kg
2 granola/chocolate bar per person, per day = (50g*17 days)*2 = 1.7kg
1 bag of dried food per person, per day = ~80g*17 days = 1.36kg
1.5 tortilla per person, per day = 60g*17 days = 1.02kg
Okay, I think that’s enough already, were not counting the condiments like ketchup and mustard (luxury I know), but were already totalling at around 5kg per person, and that is without water. In summer we usually drink around 3l per day. 8kg for rations. The big takeaway of this trip: don’t do that. Especially if you don’t have to. We could easily have restocked every 3 days or so. I guess some mistakes you gotta make yourself to learn from them.
Backpack criticism
I love this backpack. It’s light and very sturdy. The waiststraps are comfortable and the lid can be vertically adjusted. But external mesh pockets would be so nice…
Detour
Additionally we did not go to Sweden straight away, no we made a detour on our trip to sweden to visit my parents in North Denmark. In my mind this option was pretty convenient, as we could take the ferry from Frederikshavn in the northeast of Denmark to Gothenburg in Sweden. On paper this sounded like a good plan. Only that traveling by train in summer of 2022 was a big mess. Delayed and full trains, booked out months in advance, trains got cancelled spontaneously and no proper replacement was offered. The German 9€ ticket, an experimental summer ticket that was valid in most trains throughout Germany, was used more than anticipated, resulting in the aforementioned consequences.
Back in the days, when I was little, the public transport to Denmark was pretty straightforward. Coachette train to Hamburg, a train over the border to Fredericia and then with a regional train towards the destination. It took long, but was fairly stress-free. This time it was completely different. Isolde played out her strengths in coordinating public services and found us a route to Tornby. But it still required lots of transfers and we only had little room for delays, as the trains in Germany were so unpredictable. We managed, but only after almost missing trains, delays due to emergency doctors on trains, recalculating the connections on the fly, … and other inconveniences.
This meant exhausting 24h of travel. It took longer, was more stressful, and even more expensive than just going by plane. Environmentally friendly travels only get you so far.
Arriving after the Odyssey
But Sweden was gorgeous nevertheless. The weather was pristine (maybe a little too hot in the beginning), the sunsets scenic, trail angels generous and the path varied. We had lakes to swim in, campsites to wash ourselves and clothes at, ate dinner with panoramas, morning yoga during sunrise, fresh blueberries to diversify our trail meals, and the local fauna (apart from reindeers and elk we have yet to discover) presented itself from its best side.
Picking up where we left off
We started off just outside Gothenburg next to an highway Burgerking. We visited that one in April as well. Our path led to the left (north), while last time we went to the right (south). It felt odd but also rewarding to return to our mammoth project. The area felt very familiar, the lakes, trees and park infrastructure looked just like in April, just … warmer. While it was raining and snowing last time, we sweated in warm and humid weather.
Trail companions
We got blessed by a cat surprising us by jumping out of the bushes, it's necklace bell ringing. She wouldn't be the last cat to visit us on our hike. Another cat joined for cuddles and pets while setting up our tent a few evenings later, leaving a bunch of fur on our clothes and hands. Another one watched us warily from afar, perched upon a tall fence. A black cat waited for us in the middle of a gravel road. I know she waited, because as soon as Isolde unpacked a random rope, she was completely entranced and played with her for a long long time. Isolde missed her own black cats dearly, that's why this “replacement” came in conveniently. A farm cat strolled over its property proudly in the distance and one walked a few meters with us next to a cow and sheep pasture.
We had another kind of trail companion: Tiny froglets. We called them Marvins, so we had a name to refer to them, both as an alert (watch your step!) and as praise (naw, look at them!). There were hundreds of them, dozens each day. They crawled and jumped around our ankles, sometimes even towards them when startled, instead of away from them. With (only?) one casualty, I think we got away pretty well. Though we did provide the unlucky one a proper burial…
The Trail
At first we followed the Bohusleden signs (like in April), but left him for the Vildmarksleden after around 40km. The Sjuhäradsleden made up most of our trail though. With 140km covering 10 day hikes, it was a very long and trustworthy trail. It led through swamps, over pastures, alongside lakes, through villages and forests, provided plenty of rest sites and Vindskydds (the wooden shelters).
Depending on the Kommune (the local county), the signs and trails were more or less well maintained. Around Borås we wished for more orange markers, while we couldn't complain at all after crossing the municipality around Saggryd. It's wonderful to just walk, look around, take in the view, the air, the environment and not navigate by checking the phone. We missed a few exits in junctions regardless though. Some backtracking is always necessary, however frustrating it is.
We struggled with the weight, with the early exhaustion due to the humidity and heat, we couldn't recharge properly to acclimate to the new demands and challenges. Consequently we had to deal with morale issues and doubts, we had to mentally push ourselves soon into the trip. Moments of respite and joy were comparably rare and the absolutely gorgeous views and environment were hard to enjoy with our mind sets. This is something we will have to practice: How to keep up morale on the trail? How do we reconnect to the reasons that got us on the trail in the first place? How to forget the pain and exhaustion in order to see what the trail has to offer?
My therapist once said something along the lines of: “Empty yourself so you can be filled.” That probably means to let go of pain, expectations, thoughts, wishes and grudges, only then there is space for experiences that spark joy and awe.
But despite all the struggles we went through together, we long to be out there again. Despite the worries that caused our last trip, we dare to try again, to hike and give this long long trail another chance. Who knows how soon we will walk with Swedish soil underneath our feet again…?
