Sweden Kungsleden

I woke up to pee at 4am and was delighted to see the sun coming up! I have learnt to always take a camera on my early morning pee breaks as the light is always magical.  It was a very short day today, 15km with paths that were almost groomed! The path meandered up the […]

After a glorious night sleep I left tjaktja to head down to the alesjaure river. It was a divine sunny morning. I made good time to alesjaure hut 12k away at the head of a delightful series of lakes After fortifying myself with coffee, a whole packet of biscuits and a bar of chocolate I meandered

A glorious sunny morning after torrential rain all night so I decided to summit kebnekaise – swedens highest mountain.  But first, a huge buffet breakfast to fully fuel myself – muesli, four bread rolls with ham, fish paste and marmalade and four cups of coffee.  I was also a cheeky kiwi and made four sandwiches

I didn’t really have much of a plan today, apart from seeing what the day bought me….. And what a day it was! I set off up the hill from Teusajaure alongside the waterfall and had a lovely 6k walk across a bald on the mist. After a while I came to a reindeer fence

Given the vagaries of the boat and bus schedules I can’t actually start hiking today until about 3pm. I am in saltuluokta, where the Kungsleden breaks and then restarts about 70k away, which requires a ferry over the lake followed by a two hour bus ride.  And the ferry does not leave until noon So

So this photo is the only photo I took in the first 10 hours of my day, as my fingers were too numb to open my jacket or use my phone.  In case you can’t tell it is my socks for the day, soaking wet in a glacial puddle in the corner of my tent. 

The forecast today was for sun!  Unbelievable!  But sadly it was only going to last for one day and then rain again tomorrow.  I decided to try to get all the way to Skierffe today for what was described as the best view in Sweden.  That would require a 37k hike, a boat ride (on

The rain bucketed down last night, and I was a bit worried my ultralight tent wouldn’t withstand the torrential downpour but I made it through the night and actually slept like a baby.  The plan for today was to do a half day (25km) to Kvikkjokk where there is a hostel with a shower and

So the trail today came in three types – bog, slippery rock, and bog with slippery rock!   Between the trail and some interesting chats with hikers coming the other way, it was a slow 37km I woke up with the rain coming down on the tent.  It was a restless night as I woke

A wonderful start to the morning in my idyllic Swedish hut – awake naturally at 6am and kick started the day with coffee and sugar buns!    Heading out of adolfstrom, the sign said 27k to Jakkvik, turns out, like most signs here, it was wrong, but for once in the right direction, it was