Day 12: half-marathon day

Not content with trekking across over 100km of northern Sweden, the invitation and subsequent inability to reduse the Malmo half-marathon would come to haunt me.
I had planned this expedition many months ago and only when booked did I receive the offer of entrance to the inaugural half-marathon in Malmo, an offer I felt unable to resist despite being well over a 1000 mile further north. So today was the day, I've run many half-marathons previously but the previous week pave this one a special feel.
I arrived in Malmo at about 9pm last night and immensely enjoyed the benefits of a comfy bed and a shower, a full buffet breakfast this morning was a treat that I have been unfamiliar to for too long.
Needing to collect my race number, I arrived at the start area at 1pm (2 hours before the actual start), the next couple of hours consisted of wind, rain, wind and rain and all of the previous in various constantly changing combinations. I shall brush-over the next 2 hours, they were particularly uncomfortable and I have no real wish to mention them further, I recorded at time of slightly under 1 hour 50 mins, 7 minutes slower than my best but a good time under the circumstances.
I felt completely destroyed and broken in every way, but this was never a trip designed around comfort and relaxation - more a test of my stamina and resilience. I achieved what I had hoped to achieve and despite outrageously sore calf muscles and general exhaustion it was a victory for persistence and stupidity.
I enjoyed a couple of beers this evening and sitting down with a good book was the only sensible thing to do. The living daylights in Swedish was a real treat
I slept well!
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Day 11: En Route to Malmo

For the observant amongst you, you'll have noticed that Day 10 failed to exist.
Yesterday, was a bit of a mixed bag to say the least, the train from Kiruna finally dragged it's sorry arse into Gavle station at about 9:30am (over an hour and a half late!). Even the big-wigs at First Great Western might have felt slightly embarrassed about that, although they'd have no doubt re-lit their fat cigars and the world would be a happy place once more.
I digress, from Gavle it was a couple of hours on train, then a couple of hours on bus to Yttermalung. There was a short, rather amusing Benny Hill-type, rushing about of people between platforms and lots of shrugging shoulders as no-one had any real idea if the train we were boarding was the correct one, or not - badly announced platform changes are always fun!
It was the right train and my journey to Yttermalung went smoothly from here on. I, sadly, only had one day in Yttermalung but made the most of it. Walking, cycling, moose-burgers, beer, chess, putting the world to rights (always love that!), using the Swedish-patented cheese slicer, Princess cake, Bruce Springstein, Lou Reed, a bit of modelling and a moose-hunt.
For those of you who have never seen a moose, they are about 6 foot tall, there are thousands of them across Sweden and they look alarmingly like christmas trees - my mistake, they were christmas trees. Where the hell are all the moose then? I did see a fox, a bat, a grouse and a hawk - everything in Sweden that is also native to the UK!
I must, at this point, say the most massive thank you to the lovely Anna and her charming family who tried in vain to find a moose and made my 22 hours in the beautiful Dala region an absolute delight.
So this morning, as I got on my umpteenth train, yet again I felt pangs of sadness about moving-on to my next location. If this trip was twice as long I would still feel that there were things that remained un-finished and needed to be done. I am currently on my second train of the day and have a bus transfer and another train still to come before my arrival in Malmo in approximately 5 hours from now - a total of 9 hours travel today. A nice shower, couple of beers and a comfy bed await me, with any luck I'll be feeling in good shape and ready to tackle tomorrows half-marathon!
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Day 9: Kiruna

The return to the real world starts here, after my last night under canvas and another patchy sleep I was up at reasonable hour (before 10am) - I know that doesn't terribly early but when it doesn't get dark and you spend most of the 'night' clock-watching, it's not that bad.
Having spotted, the previous night, that there was an earlier bus than the one I was booked on, I decided to try my luck, very kindly they allowed me on board and I was able to make the 63km (1 hour 15min) journey to Kiruna 4 hours earlier than intended.
The road itself was a comical mix of A-road with patches of dirt track thrown in but we made it on time and I now have a several hour wait before the sleeper train arrives to take me south towards Stockholm.
Now begins part two of my trip, the cross- country, inter-rail adventure that will eventually lead me to Malmo (hopefully in time for saturday's half-marathon). The small matter of approximately 31 hours on public transport lie between my present location and my final destination, although a day with my friend and the promise of moose-burgers and beer make it all worthwhile.
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Day 8: 106km travelled

Well, that's it my trip across the wilderness inside the arctic circle is done and what a memorable experience it has been. If I was to try and describe this place I would start by saying that it is like taking the best parts of Snowdonia, the Brecons, the Highlands and the Lake district putting them together and multiplying them several times over. It is vast, majestic and I love it! The effort taken getting here, hauling a heavy a pack for 5 days up mountains and down valleys is nothing when I think about the number of times I stopped in awe of the view in front of me. Don't misunderstand me this has happened in the UK many times but the frequency and the variation of wonderment is what has stood out, even on the most boring path you're expecting a mountain with glacial canyon to jump from nowhere and suprise you - generally one did!
I have been on harder walks and this certainly could have been harder had I pushed my distances but this was not about being on the limit of my physical ability I wanted to enjoy this place as something very different, something I may never do again.
In reality I think there is every chance I shall return to this part of the world.

What a shame that I am in a place as tranquil and serene as any I have ever known and the cities of Britain are being gutted by mindless idiots who believe they are proving a point to the powers that be. Yes, you are proving a point, that respect has to be earned and you don't deserve it! Rant over!
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Day 8: 96km travelled

Really pleasant day today, light cloud, comfortable temperature and fairly flat uncomplicated terrain. My body seems up for walking today as well, the 14km to Nikkaluokta are already nearly half done even despite a considerable lie-in.
I shall saunter the rest of the way this afternoon and it should be a reasonable time when I get to pitch my tent for the final time. Hopefully there'll be a nice little cafe waiting for me as well.
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Day 7: Kebnekaise cont.

So my efforts to conquer Kebnekaise came unstuck this afternoon, not for trying. The cloud level was, for the most part, sitting about 1000m and unfortunately Keb is over 2000m. On the route to Keb there is a peak at 1600m (which has an unpronouncable name). I completely lost the trail twice before I had even got to 1100m and had to completely back-track, that cost me nearly 2 hours and almost caused me to give up completely. Luckily there was a slight break in the cloud and momentarily I could see the trail I was searching for, once back on course I was able to stay with the track despite visibility dropping to within 10m on occasions, rarely more than about 30m at the best of times. My persistent side keep my moving on, scrambling almost at some point but having made my way to the peak of Keb's little brother it was just not sensible to continue.
I made it safely back down the mountain, a cold and tiring experience but well worth the effort. Since my return I have enjoyed the luxuries of a shower, a sauna and dinner in the restaurant - fixed menu with a fish main course, the vegetarian indian stew was great though.
After all this living it up I shall be retiring to my cold, damp tent for an uncomfortable nights sleep.

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Day 7: Kebnekaise

Miserable start to the day with torrential rain but after a decent sleep last night (only compared to previous nights) I've decided to climb the mountain. The rain has now stopped, I'm only 2km into the walk and I'm already in the clouds so the view is unlikely to be spectacular, the route is well marked though so it shouldn't be any great problem getting up. Please accept my apologies if my grammar or spelling has been poor recently, my brain seems to be a little addled (I think it's the altitude).
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Day 6: 87km travelled

I have now arrived at kebnekaise mountain lodge, technically the end of walk. Sadly, the buses here are worse than Reading at there won't be another along for at least 19km. That is another day and my plans for tomorrow (my rest day) are more pressing, it is currently raining quite a bit and if that continues I may not be in a position to go up the mountain. We have to see in the morning, if not the mountain it'll have to be the sauna or the bar! Weirdly I'm hoping for the mountain and if I'm quick enough I should be able to fit the others in as well.
I've deliberately not mentioned today, it was only a short distance but I wanted to die. Cold weather, horrible under-foot, I was exhausted and I couldn't even marvel in the scenery because the cloud was too low.
Hopefully, there will be no more rain left in Sweden tomorrow.
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Day 6: 81km travelled

Really cold and windy start to the day so I decided to take the opportunity of a lie-in, finally starting at 12:30 pm. The first few km have been short but steep climbs into the wind, thankfully now I'm on the steady decent although the terrain is awkward and I'm a little weary from yesterday.
Today is luckily a short day, only 14km until my destination at Kebnekaise. A shall be adopting a slow pace today in an attempt to let my body recover, hopefully I'll be able to have a sauna later as well :)
My present position about 20m below the cloud level..

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Day 5: 46km travelled

I've had a reasonable nights sleep and yet again I'm bathed in sunshine, although at this altitude with the wind blowing it is a lot cooler than previous days - as long as the wind isn't too strong it should be good walking weather.
It's currently 9:30am, I've just finished breakfast and will be very shortly packing up ready to go.
I've attached another picture to you can see what I see as I look out of the tent in the morning...

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Day 5: 70km travelled

Sorry still no reception!

What a crazy afternoon and evening it's been. After leaving the Tjakja pass I was able to make really good progress and the next mountain hut on the route, Salka, was only 8km further on. I arrived at Salka just before 4pm. I should probably mention at this point that yesterday I discovered that over 2000 competitors were taking part in a race in the exact opposite direction to me, there departures are split over 3 days; yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Anyway, by the time I had arrived at Salka I had seen quite a lot of competitors and when I got there I was greeted by over 50 more. I left after a short break and proceeded to meet more and more group, there is not a road 40 km at least and I was seeing groups of 2 or 3 hikers every couple of minutes - walk in the wilderness?
This in it's own way was no problem, almost all were happy and said 'hi', but a short while after leaving Salka the rain started. It was 12km to Sinhi, the destination I had now planned, and for 2 hours I walked in a heavy drizzle. Then the heavens opened, I must at least be grateful as I was less than 1km from an emergency shelter, I sought refuge from the downpour for an hour alongside may of the racers. The fortunate thing is that there was absolutely no shelter for a good 6km in either direction, I have not even seen a tree for over 2 days. I met some charming and genuinely kind people whilst and there does seem to be a real kinship between hikers - especially when it's raining!

Dogs with backpacks!! Never thought I'd see that but it's true, they're actually more like bicycle panniers - that has to be my moment of the day.

I'm now camped just outside Sinhi as it would seem that countless competitors had the same idea to stay there and there was no space, it also started raining again just before my arrival. After sheltering in the camp for about 40 mins I decided to leave and hope the rain would relent long enough to find a spot a pitch for the night - it didn't. At about 10pm this evening a rather tired, sodden mess finally fell into his tent with fingers crossed that tomorrow is better.
I should at least have a phone signal tomorrow - hopefully!!!

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Day 5: 50km travelled

I'm currently perched at the highest point of the kungsleden, the Tjakja pass, it's a bit windy!
The 4km leading here have been pretty merciless, broken rocks and boulders, a bit like a quarry. We've also had the first rain of the journey as well, although thankfully only a few minutes of light drizzle, and the sun is back out again now. Did I mention it's a bit windy?
From here on it's downhill and my body seems to be in much better shape today so I'm hoping for a good day.
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Day 4: 46km travelled

Apologies for the ongoing lack of communications, you wouldn't believe that someone could have so much trouble sending messages in this modern era!

Second Day Syndrome (I'm not sure if I've read that somewhere, if not I've created a new medical condition) :
After the euphoria and adrenaline of starting a new challenge, day 2 presents both a mental and physical hang-over.
The physical is purely over-enthusiasm, covering a few more miles than you should because you're so pumped-up.
The mental is because the reality of the situation is that despite everything around you, ultimately you have got to drag your aching body a hell of a long way and it's got a dead-weight strapped to it.

Please don't get me wrong, I can't think of anywhere else I would rather be at this moment in time. After any good night out you expect a hangover, today is my hangover, my Second Day Syndrome.
So where exactly am I? At a mountain hut called tjakja (that's pronounced Tyucta to us simple English folk), it's 1020 metres above sea-level (higher than most of Britain's mountains) and is just over half way through the main part of my walk.
Today has yet again been incredibly sunny and until the afternoon when the wind picked-up, very hot. The scenery was not as varied as yesterday and most of it was spent following the river through the valley floor - do bare in mind that this a valley at 800 metres and there are peaks up to 1000 metres higher all around you!
The Alesjaure mountain hut was a particular treat, selling cold drinks and a view that went on, seemingly forever, in both directions. I also had the particular pleasure of chatting to a really nice German guy (much more mental than me!) and a couple of Swedish ladies (to all those who aren't aware Swedish women are very attractive, very attractive!)
Hopefully it will get dark enough for me to get some sleep, it's 10:45pm and I'm sitting in my tent typing this without needing a torch or light. Tomorrow is the high point of the walk the Tjackta pass, 1140 m (only 200m less than Ben Nevis), thankfully then it's downhill and one would hope slightly easier!
Good night, I hope this reaches you at some point.
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Day 3: 25km travelled

The weather has continued to be glorious throughout the day and my body is holding together well. I am now safely cocooned in my tent in the most amazing spot, having completed 25km (5km more than intended). The long day has helped that but more than that it seems that everytime I reach a brow what is on the other side is even more stunning than what I've left behind ... to say it has been a good is a massive understatement and sadly I don't think any photograph will ever do it justice.
Telecommunications on the other hand, not so good. Started ok but now gone to shit, I may be in Malmo before I am able to send this, but send it I shall!!
Good night.

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Day 3: 5km travelled

The sun is once again shining and the first 5km have gone smoothly. I was fearing the worst for a while as I struggled to get to sleep, the combination of very hard ground and it not getting dark proved to be a little uncomfortable. Luckily I did get some sleep and just started a little later than originally planned.
Since starting my only real problem has been the continual desire to stop and admire just how pretty this place is.
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Day 2: cont.

After 2 night roughing-it; sleeping on airport floors, planes, buses and trains. Tonight I'll shall be resting in my palais de plastic, my canvas condo and hopefully not being nibbled by bugs.
Early start tomorrow? Shouldn't have any trouble with the light, it'll be bright by about 3am!
Good night.
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Day 2

Having completed the epic train journey at lunchtime today, the last couple of hours of which were breathtaking, I am now at the Abisko fell-station. The tent is up and I am currently sipping on a lemon tea, this is the relaxing part of camping unlike some of the days ahead of me which I suspect will be a touch more demanding.
The temperature has dropped from yesterday but despite partial cloud the sun is shining and when out of the shade it is just about t-shirt weather. Further decrease is expected over the week but when on the move this should not pose any real problems.
The fell-station itself is excellent and is set to an amazing backdrop of razor-edged mountains to the south, a fjord to the north and a white-water river racing through the gorge to the west. More importantly I've had my first shower for nearly 2 days and I have a reservation made at the restaurant for 6:45 (sadly no reindeer).
Having been immersed in this surrounding for 4 hours now my excitement is already off the scale and as much as I am enjoying this moment I just cannot wait for tomorrow.
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Day 1: cont.

It's now 10:08pm and over 4 hours since leaving Stockholm. The glorious sunshine remained throughout the day until finally ducking below the horizon a short while ago, the place is now bathed in a warm tranquil dusk.
The weather may have been consistent but the surroundings certainly have not, over the last few hours the vast grassy expanses and woodland have been replaced by dominating pine forests and seemingly endless lakes.
Now, as the last light slowly ebbs away, I can only wonder what changes will continue beyond my sight.
That's the travel writer bit done, the truth of the matter is that I'm on a train drinking a £6 can of beer (first great western?), looking across an amazing changing landscape (scotish rail?) and come daylight it will a changed again as the mountains come into reach.
A truly fascinating way of building my excitement yet further ... God, this beer is strong!!
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Day 1:

All good so far, it's a glorious day and I'm trying to negotiate the logistics of how to get my bag (that blatantly doesn't fit) into a locker. I'm currently in Stockholm station and have 5 hours to kill, preferably without my pack, before catching the train up north. It will fit!!!
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