Day 474: The High Coast

Heading north again, to the High Coast world heritage area. This is known as the High Coast because it's literally, a high coast above the shoreline. The highest in the world, apparently! But we learned that it's not high with dramatic cliffs, it's just elevated land next to the sea.

It's elevated because of isostatic land uplift, whereby during the Ice Age the weight of a 3km thick ice sheet pushed the land down. Once the ice melted, the land gradually rose again - several hundred metres in some places. Apparently there are early Bronze Age settlements discovered up on the hills that were originally at the shore level and are now 150m up which is quite cool. And in around 2500 years' time, there'll be a land bridge between this area of Sweden and Finland.

Nice countryside, though we actually found it a little underwhelming. "High Coast" conjures up visions of dramatic cliffs and escarpments, but it was all a bit of a let down, sadly. Still nice to look at though, and we managed to get our video done.

Made camp at a completely deserted campground, with only one other tent at the other end and a note on the door at reception saying you were welcome to pay in the morning! Very trusting.Read more