Lövåsen

Tonight, I am staying in a stuga built in 1937 and still in the same family. The kitchen faces onto an open rectangular meadow, maybe 200m long, that is backed by forest rising up to the top of a ridge. Robert, the owner, was here with a friend when I arrived, getting the place ready and leaving my dinner and breakfast. Moose do inhabit the forest, but they are hunted, and so I am going to enjoy elk stew for dinner.

Today, I walked with a small pack, Tobias, who runs Bellmangården, kindly offered to bring my big pack here, and I was glad to take that up. There is a little bit of asphalt leaving Matfors, but most of the day was walking on grisvei, the compacted earth road, and a little bit of gravel road in the forest at the end. It is generally in good condition, but my legs were still suffering after doing nearly 41,000 steps yesterday, and a little over 25,000 more today wasn't helping.

Farms and forests alternated along the side of the road, with what might have been week-enders and caravan sites as the road got closer to the lake. There was a delightful little beach shortly before the road into where staying turned off. It was a pretty steep climb on a rocky gravel road for about a kilometre, followed by a few hundred metres of nice, smooth gravel, then a couple of hundred metres of dirt road through the forest and beside the meadow out the front of the house.

The long stretches of grisvei are not without some charm. There was birdsong throughout the day and little streams burbling down towards the lake.

Late in the day, I met a fellow pilgrim, Josef, from Germany. He was coming back, having overshot his accommodation for the night.

Now for a shower, and to try some elk for dinner.Læs mere