Days fly by here in Sweden by hanging with family & friends 🙂 Having a great time and try to get some work done in between too.
Me and my sister headed for our yearly hike up north here in Sweden a few days after I got here. This hike was 90km in total and we crossed over to Norway too.
Started with taking the night train up north. We went to the restaurant on the train when it took off and had some wine. Very classy with paper cups hahhaaaa… We had booked beds on the train so we slept good. In the morning we prepped with caffeine before getting off.
The bus ride to the trail start was about an hour to Storulvån mountain station. Perfect weather and we found a good spot to have some more coffee and breakfast after hiking about an hour.
Felt great to be outdoors and out hiking. Since it was so beautiful outdoors we decided for an other break before reaching our hut. Only ‘bad’ thing about the weather is that the mosquitos and horse flies were enjoying the weather too and tried to snack on us.
Our first night was at Sylarna. We have stayed there before and this one is serviced and has a restaurant and our favorite – a sauna!
We hit the sauna which is great after a day outdoors. Having a sauna is actually always great when I think about it!
We had booked a 3 course dinner at their restaurant too. The meal started with some charcuterie board with elk sausage and other local stuff. Then a delicious homemade tomato soup and an elk stew with blueberries that was soooo good! Topped it off with a glass of wine. The dessert was Pavlova with cloudberry jam, that I finished before I remembered to take a photo of it!
Decent nights sleep and we were up before 6am since we are both early birds. We only drink coffee in the morning where we stay and prefer to eat our breakfast outdoors on the trail. They do have a great breakfast spread for those who like to have it there.
Second day was a cloudy day and around 11 Celcius. It started with a climb on a rocky surface where you better pay attention to where you step, unless you want to risk a twisted ankle.
Even encountered some snowy patches…
Decided on break, some hot chocolate and some food when we reached the top. The mosquitos were also active in case you wonder about the net on top of my head 🙂
Continued and reached the national boarder to Norway and crossed over…
The hut on the Norwegian side was called Nedalshytta. Very tranquil place.
Checked in and chilled a bit in the ‘living room’ as we waited for the sauna to open 🙂
Their sauna was the least cosy one, but it did the trick.
Starving after and waiting to be served another amazing 3 course dinner. Homemade split pea soup which was sooo yummy! The meatballs were delicious too, but not sure they were homemade. The dessert was a 10/10 blueberry panna cotta.
We had a room with 6 beds all to ourselves. I love the feeling after a day outdoors, sauna and dinner. It’s like you gave your body and mind everything in needed. You pretty much fall asleep within a minute when the head hits the pillow.
We stayed in a separate house from the main building and since both me and my sister are morning people, we had our morning coffee while everyone else in the next room was still asleep. #yousnoozeyouloose
Our 3rd day was our longest stretch. 24km in total. The weather was rainy, windy and a lot of fog. Only managed short stops when the rain gave us a short break to grab a snack. Last year a hiker told me he was wearing dishwashing gloves on top of his regular gloves to keep them dry. You can see mine in the second pic. It worked pretty good, but a little cold at times…
Despite the weather we stayed positive as the scenery was beautiful (when we could see it through the fog). Another positive was that the mosquitos and horseflies were no existent! On our last 4km the weather cleared up and the rain stopped. Please appreciate the first image with my rain poncho on top of my backpack. We call this look ‘The Hunchback of Notre-Dame’ LMAO….
We finally reached the Storerikvollen station where we stayed our 3rd night. This was also a serviced mountain station, but unfortunately without a sauna. There was a group that arrived on horses at the same time as us.
We had booked another 3 course dinner here. The homemade split pea soup was tasty! The main course didn’t impress us as it was sausages and salted meat. Didn’t even take a picture of it. The dessert was homemade berry ice cream so we filled up on that 🙂
I had to go to the bathroom at midnight and this is how ‘dark’ it gets at night during summer here.
The breakfast buffet was a feast though. It was included, so instead of our usual cup of coffee we stayed put and ate breakfast.
Next day was full summer on display again. The hike started with a long climb and when we reached the top, we finally saw reindeers too.
Right before crossing back over to Sweden, we found this beautiful spot and took a break.
A seagull and more reindeers before reaching our last stay at Blåhammaren. We have stayed here before and it’s a beautiful place. Unfortunately they no longer serve their dinners which were amazing.
But, they had a sauna! Best part of it is the round window with views and we saw about 30 reindeers grazing outside. They are missing in action in my pic though.
The room was pretty chilly so I went to bed in clothes and a scarf! Love our view out the window in the morning 🙂
Very eery lighting, or the lack of light, in the morning when we headed for our last stretch.
One last stop before we reached the end of our hike which was also where we started.
There is a scale where you can weigh your backpack. My backpack was 13 kilos when we took off. Lost 3 kilos from it during the 5 days we were out.
Ate and passed out at the mountain station while waiting for the bus to take us to the train.
As always, a great time adventure with my sis. 7th year in a row and hope we have many more to look forward to in the future 🙂
How are you doing? I’m unpacking from a shoot yesterday and then packing again, as tomorrow we are off to an island called Gotland to hang with our cousin. Last week in Sweden and cramming in friends, meatballs & family 🙂
Laters, Puma