Ultralight Hike
Bimbi and I were out and about in beautiful southern Sweden, more precisely in Skåne.
Off to my adopted home Sweden - how I have missed you!
Since the dear Mr. Swede lived practically right on the route between my home and the starting point, we parked the car there and spent another lovely evening together.
This was a wonderful start to a two-week trip. The last time we would eat properly! Not only did the grilled food go down like oil! Schwede took us to Ängelholm the next morning, where our hike was to begin.
Right behind the station, the orange markings of the Skåneleden began. For the first few metres, the trail led us into a patch of forest near the coast. The sandy ground was a dream for our feet and reminded me a little of the coniferous forests on the coast of Danzig. Although, if my memory does not deceive me, there were considerably fewer mosquitoes and lingonberries to be found there.
After a quick spray with DEET, the critters left us alone again. Chemistry won successfully against nature. This patch of forest had not only the markings of the Skåneleden, but apparently also a hiking trail that we affectionately dubbed "The Booted Dino Chicken".
The trail’s logo was simply divine and could be found in abundance along the wayside!
After the forest patch near the coast, we finally made our way to the beach.
The Swedish late summer showed itself from its best side. The thermometer showed a temperature of more than 20 degrees and the sun blazed relentlessly on our backs in this almost shadowless area. Only the asphalted path, which in the long run was anything but kind to our joints, marred the otherwise flawless picture of this coast.
Every now and then, the trail left the asphalted cycle superhighway again and instead led us along small paths near the sea or across pastures on the coast.
While we were still wondering whether the storm brewing a few kilometres away would catch us, it was already upon us. The first drops came pattering down on us. Before we could decide on a proper place to set up the tent, it was already pouring cats and dogs. So we abandoned the search for the ideal spot and "set up" the tent right by the wayside. That is, we frantically tried to drive the wide Easton pegs into the gravel path to secure the tent. Well, "tried" was about right, because it actually worked for only about half of the pegs. Rather than standing outside the tent in the storm, we crawled into the half-erected tent and tried to finish setting it up from the inside.
Sometimes a freestanding design would be more practical; on the other hand, we could have tried setting it up with the thin pegs suited to this type of ground. In future, we will simply put up the tent earlier. Barely half an hour later the sun was shining again and we could pack the tent away and march on. After all, we still had a few kilometres to our self-imposed daily goal.
The next kilometres took us across several pastures, simply beautiful. Only two thirds of the first day on the trail had passed and we had already experienced so many different impressions of Skåne.
When we arrived at our spot in the evening, we unfortunately found that the well marked on the map was dry. Fortunately, we still had enough reserves for dinner.
So we set up the tent and enjoyed the beautiful sunset by the sea. Such a beautiful spot on earth. Unfortunately, it was Sunday evening and apparently several teenagers had the idea of watching the sunset from this stretch of beach.
The next morning, we felt the high humidity of this region for the first time. The clothes we hung out to dry were just as damp as our tent.
There was nothing for it but to get back into the damp clothes and hit the trail. The next beach was supposed to have a toilet hut again, so we should be able to top up our drinking water for the rest of the day there.
That morning, the route ran across many meadows and pastures.
Some of the hiking trail’s markings could hardly be recognised as orange anymore. Our motto for the next few hours was clear: salmon-coloured is somehow still orange. The rest of the route ran almost exclusively across pastures and meadows. A wonderful experience, walking right past cattle, sheep, horses, goats and other animals. Realising that most animals do not care about our presence at all. The trail conveyed the feeling of a simply carefree life.
We wanted to treat ourselves to the luxury of a warm shower that day. After all, there was a swimming pool on the way. Unfortunately, the pool was closed outside the main season. It was off-season, after all. We thought it over briefly and decided on a campsite. Because showering, washing clothes and charging electronics sounded like a luxury not to be sneezed at, one you can treat yourself to once in a while!
Along the way, I was still pleased that Murphy apparently did not want to accompany me on this trip, but I rejoiced too soon. He came back with full force and knocked Bimbi out for the next few days with salmonella.
That is how it goes - forced break. After a brief deliberation, we headed to the campsite in Båstad. A few sanitary facilities are not a bad thing in such a case. When she felt a little better again, we could at least go to the beach together for one afternoon.
In Sweden, people place great value on the appearance of the garden. I have rarely seen so many perfectly mown lawns as on this holiday. But this perfect appearance did not only apply to private individuals, but also to the campsites. So of course the lawn at the campsite was mown too. That is where Murphy reported back to us - apparently tent pegs do not get along so well with a lawnmower. At least the tent was still intact, and we quickly and easily came to an agreement with the campsite operators on how to handle the incident.
A few days of rest are certainly pleasant for the feet, but at the same time they bring the danger of cabin fever, so we decided to head for the next stage destination. Next stop: Örkeljunga!
We reached the campsite in the afternoon. This site was not as luxurious as the one in Båstad, but at least there were sanitary facilities again. In addition, the site bordered on an idyllic lake.
We enjoyed our shared dinner at this lake in glorious weather.
While I was simply relaxing and enjoying the view of the lake, Bimbi could not resist and collected blueberries and lingonberries around the barbecue area by the lake for our next breakfast.
The following morning, we washed our clothes once more and returned to the Skåneleden. Not wanting to overdo it after the salmonella, we planned to take the rest of the route very slowly and leisurely. For the next few days, we considered stage lengths of just 8-10 km.
But we threw our planning overboard on this day too, because we were making good progress and did not feel like setting up camp so early.
The nature on this section was simply beautiful and varied!
In the afternoon we reached Lärkesholmsjön and simply had to jump straight in - who could possibly resist there?!
A short time later, we met the first two hikers who were apparently also on the trail. It was quite astonishing that in all the days we had been travelling so far, we had not met any other hikers. Whether that was due to the off-season or generally to the rather unknown trail, we do not know.
During this stage, the trail showed its most multifaceted side; it was fascinating again and again to get to know a new side of Skåne.
Unfortunately, our next night camp was not as nice as hoped, right in the middle of nature. Be it the deer that started barking at close range or the nightly howling concert of wolves (or huskies). Until now, I had always thought that mosquitoes were the worst thing Sweden has to offer, but in that I was badly mistaken. The forests we had crossed recently were teeming with deer keds. These things were really annoying. None of them actually got us, but we kept picking off these pesky creatures.
That was the ideal moment to enjoy our gifted pack of "Good Mood". Thanks again for that!
I read the instructions and fired up the stove with 240 ml of water for the two of us. When the water was boiling, I read the recipe again:
Well, then there was just a cup of tea for dessert 
Towards evening we reached Vittsjö. Unfortunately, Bimbi was prevented from continuing by the after-effects of the salmonella. So we hatched a plan to check into the campsite there and enjoy the rest of the holiday relaxed. I used this site as a base camp to do two smaller trips from there.
A little trip without a lake? That is hardly possible in Sweden. But even here you could clearly see how dry it must have been recently. Most streams carried no water or only stagnant water. Same on this trail.
Since half of the day’s stage was supposed to run along roadsides, I considered going cross-country instead. With that view, it was clearly the better alternative.
Oh right, and they say Skåne is flat. The few metres of elevation added up quickly thanks to the
constant up and down.
I also got to see something like this: drinking water for hikers at a clubhouse.
Later, I also walked through the by now almost dry moor. In hindsight, that was not so bad at all; otherwise there would probably have been significantly more mosquitoes than there already were.
All in all, it was a very nice holiday and Sweden? You have not seen the
last of me! 
