Sörmlandsleden Day 11 - Middle of Stage 44 to Simonberget

Walking 8.20am to 5.15pm
Distance walked 22km

I refilled water this morning from a spring. Not one, like most others, from a pipe but an inverted concrete pipe, about two feet in diameter, set in the ground with a wooden cover. The water level was quite high and the water was clear and clean.

Ant hill

 A mix of terrain, forest and farmland, following tracks and farm roads. Absolutely no-one else on the trail today.

Warm again but not quite as warm as the last couple of days and a cool breeze now and again this afternoon.

At Koppartorp is the Tunaberg museum of local history, comprising a number of small wooden buildings from various periods and also the only wooden church in Sörmland. The trail passes through the museum. My route notes indicate a water tap here but as the museum is closed the tap wasn't on. The summer season in Sweden starts late and finishes around the end of August I think.

Anyway, I had just enough water for tonight. A short distance out of Koppartorp, the trail approached Simonberget, a vast stone mass maybe 100 feet high. There was an optional path over the top. I took the path around the foot and it was as well I did. Scouting for a pitch for the night, I found just the place which I would have missed had I gone over the top. There is constant birdsong.

Simonberget