Walking 8.10am to 3.15pm
Distance walked 14km
At the end of Stage 44, I diverted for a short distance on Stage 44:1 to where I knew from last there is a water tap. There are also two shelters and picnic tables. As I was in no hurry, I stopped here for breakfast and read for something over an hour in the sunshine. Another lovely day.
I then rejoined Stage 44 to meet the road into Nyköping and walked along a cycle path. Moving on to Stage 44:2, I bought food for tomorrow's journey at a big supermarket on my route. I had cash on me from a previous visit to Sweden but it seems they only take cards. Managed to pass by two burger restaurants without stopping.
Reaching Oppeby, I cut through a housing estate to join Stage 46:1 by the river and this brought me to the airport.
Having time, I passed by a tiny F11 fighter plane museum (open weekends only), with an F11 stationed outside, and then went to inspect the carved wooden Mother Earth sculpture facing the runway.
Last task was to find my pitch for the night. I had identified a belt of woodland not far away but, in fact, have found a spot only ten minutes from the terminal. I hope it's not too noisy. Shortly after I'd pitched, a plane burst into life and very noisily warmed its engines up for twenty minutes only about two hundred yards away. There is other aircraft noise now and again and a bit of road traffic but I expect (hope) that it will quieten down later.
I've set my alarm for 3.45am. I have to be at the terminal two hours before my 6.30am flight home.
Sent from my iPhone
Geoff, newsworthy you are, Southend residents have same problem..
ReplyDeletehttps://www.itv.com/news/london/2019-04-24/southend-residents-protest-about-commercial-jets-at-the-bottom-of-their-gardens/
Have a safe trip back, Well done on the Swedish tour!
ATB
Kevin
Hey Geoff!
ReplyDeleteMy girlfriend and I met you on the trail on Tuesday, shortly before (or from your viewpoint, after) Nävekvarn. You were the first, and as it turns out, only, other hiker we met on our 6-day hike on the southern Sörmlandsleden. Unfortunately, we did not chat, which I thought was a pity only minutes after our paths crossed.
Anyway, we saw your name in many of the guestbooks at the shelters, and at one of them you also wrote this blog's address. So we looked you up, and went through your Sörmlandsleden account. Great writeup, our experience was much the same, albeit in a counter-clockwise direction ;)
For us, this was the first multiple day hike where we did not overnight at regular camping sites or small villages. Instead, we tried to sleep in a shelter overnight. Turns out, we slept in the Överdammen shelter the night after you did. Our favorite place of the whole hike, by the way!
Got some questions though, if you don't mind us asking of course! First, you use chlorine tablets instead of a water filter (like we did). What's their advantage to offset the worse taste? Second, how do you charge your cell phone? We had to ration the charges as our solar charger did not function as expected and we did not want to risk the possibility of an emergency call... Finally, you did not manage a bath in lake Nävsjön? The water was chilly, but with the sun out and the sweat of three days of hiking in our clothes, we felt thoroughly refreshed after :D
Also, in Koppartorp you can get water from the church toilet (or wash your hair with the tap set to hot like my other half did). The summer season in Sweden indeed starts in July, and the Swedes are big on going to a cashless society, so debit and credit cards typically do the trick.
Congrats on finishing your 300km tour, and will keep an eye on this lovely blog to share in your adventures!
Kind regards - Veronika & Jo
Great to hear from you. I put my blog address in some of the guest books. A bit like putting a message in a bottle and seeing if anyone responds! I've just bought more of these on Amazon - 100 for £1.90. The ones I used on this trip were best before 2013 but I had no problems. I also had a Sawyer Mini water filter which I used on a 500ml bottle sometimes (or just half a tablet instead but I had to wait for 30 minutes before drinking with a tablet). I carried two litres of water in an Ortlieb water belt and would put two tablets in this. Much easier and quicker than filtering. I don't notice the taste of the tablets. Using lake water as I often did, there was a taste to this anyway.
ReplyDeletePhone charging - I took with me a power pack, an Anker PowerCore 20100. I also had a much smaller power pack as well. I charged my phone quite a few times (I didn't keep count) and also my Kindle and mp3 player. The Anker came home with a quarter charge left so I'm very impressed.
No, I didn't bath in any lake. I kept reasonably clean though with water and Dr Bronner's liquid soap, especially before my flight home to the UK.
Yes, I'm sorry we didn't talk. I assume you didn't post to a blog. Where are you from? I'll definitely return to Sweden to do more of Sormlandsleden and other trails of which there are so many.
Naah, no blogs for us. Happy to just hike and be away from city life for a while. We're from Belgium, but I work in Stockholm for a year, so it was a good opportunity to take the train and hike the Bråviken part of the Sörmlandsleden.
ReplyDeleteThat Ankar powerpack seems worth checking out, thanks for the info!