The Orange Band - Uskavi to Pershyttan - 5, 6

My first day solo. I'm on my own for the rest of the trip. Only 190km still to go. It sounds like a long way...

The trail out of Uskavi was soggy and there was still rain around - but not the constant showers of the day before and it's nice to be on the trail, albeit with trepidation.

There's a wind shelter on the trail out of Uskavi going up the hill if you don't want the luxuries of a hostel. It looks cosy with an overgrown roof but it has very little headroom. Creeping room only!

Lunch was at the wind shelter at Stora Gålsjön. It looks a nice spot to camp over but it was not to be this time around. (It was though part of my plan A )

Still, another ten kms under my belt and a chance air my soggy feet. 🙂

The whole route was damp with plenty of puddles and muddy and more than a bit slippy in places, not least on the boardwalks. Beware! 

I came through Hammarby with just a short breather, and detoured left soon after to collect water. Hammarby lookend a nice place with old buildings and a gushing stream. 

In the afternoon I took a detour to the top of Stora Berget, not so very far off the route. It has plenty of open space and fine views and I thought of camping, but the ground was rocky and didn't look great for getting pegs in.

Onward then the wind shelter at Urberget. This is unusual for the trail by not being by a lake. It's just in a small glade in the woods. It's cosy nevertheless with the usual fireplace, woodshed and toilet.

From the windshelter the trail leads on towards Persshyttan, with nice distant views of Nora across the lake, and winding past Digiberget. Oddly I never got a clean glimse of it up close as the trail runs through the woods around the base of the hill. The trail eventually spills out by a sports field which is the old trailhead, with a windshelter. A short walk from there brings you down to a road. Go left to follow the trail, but I was going right...

Two kilometers down the road there's a supermarket in Nora. After looking at limited alternatives I was going to stock up for basically the rest of the trip. The walk there is not great to be honest. It's quiet on the first part but then you have a big roundabout to negotiate, and a stretch along a busy road with no pavement. 

Having stocked up a with mountain of breakfast, lunch and dinners (but not trail snacks) it was time to pack up and head back up the road to finish the leg to Pershyttan. Well, after a  quick elevenses at a picnic table by the supermarket carpark. Eating it is easier than carrying it!

And so, after an asphalt uphill with full load, I arrived back to the trail, and not long after to the stage end at Tågkafeet (the Train Café) and the railway museum. More of that anon.

The Orange Band - Nyberget to Uskavi - 4

Day 5: Nyberget to Garphyttedammen 

Day five was a short day stage taking us halfway through stage 4 as far as Garphyttedammen. The first part was on the road and good tracks along the lake shore. We lunched sat by the trail and then had more ups and downs on the latter part. together with some fine views. Overall, fairly easy going.

The wind shelter was on the shore of a fishing lake - with signs up to be sure you knew what was there for hikers and what was for the fishing club. Another idyllic spot - but busier I imagine at weekends when the anglers are out.

We filled up with water from the lake - filtered and dosed as usual. I was going to go down onto a floating jetty to do that, but thought better of it when I disturbed a viper basking on the boards. Discretion is the better part of valour. 

Day 6: Garphyttedammen to Uskavi

My last day hiking in company was spent hiking in the rain. It varied from downpour to drizzle, but didn't stop until we reached Uskavi. Mostly this stretch was on forest tracks and minor roads and largely good going but other parts were totally waterlogged. 

Constant rain meant no good spot for lunch so we kept going with just regular snack breaks.

Uskavi was a welcome sight - a hostel and campground with on site restaurant - although the restaurant had closed for the season a few days before. The staff were friendly and the little shop had a limited stock of basic foods, snacks and sweets plus some freezer meals.

Our room had double bunkbeds and was soon decorated with soggy camping gear. There was no kitchen in the room - for that you needed to go down to the kitchen in the service house for the campsite. This was in the same building but one story below with a separate entrance, which was fine until it started raining again. Ho hum.

It was nice to round off the first phase of the trip though with a hot shower and a cosy night in the warm.

The Orange Band - Olovsjön to Nyberget - 2 & 3

Day 3: Olovsjön to Stora Myggsjön. 

We did a bit of replanning at this point and added a detour for some food shopping, and shortened some of our planned stages. Us old folks need to take things easy!

Today's trail was nice & varied. There was quite a bit of time on tracks & roads, but also stretches through pine forests, knee high scrub, tracks full of roots & stones as well as some easy sandy trails.

Lunch was on a park bench implausible plonked on the verge of a cinder road, just before the trail swang up into the forest. A place to sit with views over a lake. Who's complaining?

The stage end at Stjernfors was disappointing. It was quite pretty, but the cafe there has closed down and we couldn't find a waterpoint. There's a carpark and an information sign and that's it. 

Just as the trail restarts there's a small beach with a picnic table, and just beyond on the shore is a  wind shelter. It is in a small clump of scrubby trees and near to a row of houses. Functional, but not very vildmark. We stopped there for a snack break but it was so unremarkable there's no photo.

The end for the day was Stora Myggsjön. The last part of the trail runs by the water and as you reach an open grassy area the wind shelter is up in the woods behind your right shoulder. We got there just in time to miss a big shower. 🙂

Being off the track the wind shelter has a nice secluded feeling and it has a broad bench around the inside so you don't need to sleep on the floor. There are fire circles both by the shelter and down by the water. There's plenty of room by the water for camping.

This is not one of the official wind shelters for the trail - that's a few kilometers further on. 

Having missed out on water at Stjernfors we stopped about a kilometer before the wind shelter and filtered water from a running beck that crossed under the trail. 

Day 4 :  Stora Myggsjön to Nyberget.

Our goal for day 4 was Nyberget. After a rainy night we rang ahead to book a room at the youth hostel. There is a shelter there too but it is nice to take the chance of a shower & a bed. 

The terrain for the day was hilly, starting with a hill up from the lake shore. After the rain many areas were very quaggy. For 50 meters or more a stream ran down the path - or maybe the path rain in a stream. In places we had waist high grass and bracken. It was a soggy day.

We stopped and lunched at the wind shelter at Rasbacktjärn. This has a great position on the lake shore and all the usual amenities. Surprisingly after seeing almost no one for days two groups arrived while we were eating. You can tell it was the weekend!

The afternoon hiking by Kroktjärnen was very scenic.. a steep gorge following a fast flowing beck and whenyou get there the area around Nyberget is pretty and pastoral.

There was no-one around when we got to the hostel (an hour after we'd predicted). We know it would only be us there, so after not getting through on the phone, but finding it open, we went in and settled in. The hostel has two rooms with multiple beds and a kitchen on the upper floor and a small shower room and toilet on the ground floor.

Not 5 star but more than enough for two weary hikers. The host popped in when they got back from poppy training and we had a long chat, amongst other things on the bears and wolves that live hereabouts.

The Orange Band - Kloten to OIovsjön. Stages 1& 2

I thought for this post I'd run over and show where I stayed each day - plus the odd option along the way.  At the end I'' drop in some comments on camping as well.

So... let's set off:

Day 0:  Kloten

Here we stayed the night before we set off in one of the 'stuga' cottages at the Nordic Discovery. Accommodation was self catering with a two bed room with a shared kitchen and bathroom. A nice comfy start to the week. There are options for hostel accommodation or camping

 

Day 1: Kloten to Lilla Kroktjärn - stage 1

The first day we took a shorter day to warm up, targeting the wind shelter at Lilla Kroktjärn. 

Along the way you pass Åbostugan where we had lunch. It was a bit early for us but you can stay over here, and it's a nice location by the river.  By the cottage there is what looks like a ford, but go upstream just a little and use the bridge. 

By late afternoon we were at the wind shelter by Lilla Kroktjärn.  The wind shelter is right by the water with a great view.  

Some time after we got there another hiker turned up.  After scouting around he camped on a bare spot not far from the shelter.  Between the  rocky ground and an abundance of lingon and blueberry bushes there isn't a lot of choice for a camp site - something that's common in many places along the way.

We used the lake for water, although I prefer not to use still water. You can swim there  as well - our neighbour did - although the shoreline was a muddy for getting in and out when we were there.  

Day 2: Lilla Kroktjärn to Olovsjön via Gillersklack - stages 1 & 2

It seemed a long old way to our lunch stop at Gillersklack with plenty of soggy ground to cope with. Its great with plank walks over the worst bits but they can be treacherous when wet.

The resort at Gillersklack was closed but it was still a good spot for lunch: a picnic table, clean water on tap, and a portaloo. Somewhere nearby is a field you can camp in, but we didn't see it.

We carried water from Gillersklack for the evening which made for a fairly heavy carry. You could probably just treat the Iake water at Olovsjön but its nice to have water you can rely on.

Arriving you follow the railway, cross a bridge, swing off past a slipway (or beach?) and then a short path through the woods brings you out at the wind shelter. It stands just off a (no through) road with a narrow strand of trees between. There's a good sized grassy patch around it which would be good for tenting.

There's a small beach with long shallow access to the lake. Great for an evening dip, if a bit stony in places.

The area seemed quiet, but its not far from housing and we had a steady trickle of locals dropping by.

Things got quiet for the evening until it was just us and the view. 

Like all the official wind shelters, this one has a fireplace, dry toilet and wood box.

The Orange Band - Answering the call of nature

I've talked about food and drink already, but there's another vital question to solve for long days on the trail.  What happens when you get a call of nature?  Which leads also to, practically speaking - how much toilet paper do you need to pack?  

There are a number of the stages on the trail that have facilities at the stage end - campsite, restaurants and similar.  That's your best bet for a date with a nice modern water closet. Don't miss the chance!  After that your choices get more primitive.  Each stage of the trail has a wind shelter somewhere in the middle and each of those has a 'dass' nearby -  a dry closet or composting toilet.  These are fully functional, and in Sweden quite common for older more remote holiday cottages, but aren't quite that pristine polished ceramic experience we've become used to.  

The good news is though that they are by and large well maintained. There are a number of local organisations that see that they are stocked with paper, emptied and generally kept in order. There is some variation though - some have lime or mulch to put in after you've been to help with smells and composting, some have niceties like a brush to sweep out the floor, some are well stocked with paper, and unfortunately some are not. People use it so it's not surprising that paper runs out sometimes.  Along the whole trail there were four spots with no paper - so around one in four.  That's what you need to plan for...   How much paper does that translate to for you? Let's do a  quick calculation.  

If the average European uses 10.3kg  paper a year (according to the interweb) that works out to about 200g per week. If you use the facilities provided and only need your supplies a quarter of the time - that's 50g a week or say, 7.5g per day.  Only you know if you are an average user though...  If it helps I think I had less than this and it worked out OK - but not with much surplus. 

But the bears though?  It can happen you get caught short with only the woods to turn to. When a man's gotta go a man's gotta go right?  I'm not going to write a treatise on the right way to poop in the woods - there are others available online already like this one in Swedish from the Bergslagsleden YouTube channel.   But, you are going to need something to dig a hole with, and you need to dispose of the paper properly afterwards.  You can bury it - but animals are good at digging it up. If there's no fire restrictions you can burn it, otherwise good 'leave no trace' practice is to double bag it and carry it until you can dispose of it properly. That is, unless you are going paper-less as discussed here by Andrew Skurka.  

Lastly on this topic, you did remember to pack some hand gel right?  Even bears clean their paws afterwards. 

The Orange Band - Food and Drink

 So how does it work with food supplies and water on Berglagsleden?

Food!  The trail is routed to avoid towns and keep you in the countryside.  This is great for that 'in the wild' feeling but is not so convenient for re-supply.  There are no supermarkets or grocery stores on the trail.  For the day or weekend hiker this is not a big problem but to through hike the trail you need to be able to re-supply somewhere (or hike longer each day to finish the trail quicker). 

So what are the options and how did it turn out?  The first choice for many is to send a food parcel for collection along the way (at e.g. Ånnaboda) - or meet up with someone you know to hand over your new provisions. I wasn't so organised and didn't have anyone to lean on so I took the other option.  Buy as I go. 

There are a number of places where there are supermarkets near the trail. Near here means between 1.2 and 3.5km off route- so between a 2.4 and 7km round trip to stock up. The three most interesting for me were in Kopparberg ('Lådan' 1.2km) , Nora (ICA ~2km)  and Laxå (Laxå Food Supermarket ~3.5km).  Other alternatives could be Vedlunds in Närkes Kil, ICA Trivselköp and ICA Nära in Mulhytte - but there are no that close to the trail. 

There are some spots along the way with a 'kiosk' - a small shop.  The ones I recall are in Uskavi and Ånnaboda. These had a very limited supply of staples like muesli, pasta and soup. Uskavi also had a some frozen foods, but not really targeting the hiker. Both were spots to stock up on snacks though. 

My plan A was to pack food for six days and then resupply on day seven in Nora, and then again in Laxå. When we re-planned in the first week it meant an extra day to reach Nora so we detoured into Kopparberg on stage 2 to buy food for an extra couple of days.  The shop there - Lådan - is on Google as a pound shop but in fact had a good selection of groceries. 

Nora has a normal supermarket a couple of km from the trail.  Plenty of choice, but the walk is in part by a busy road.  During the first part of the hike I ended up carrying around 2/3 of our food (for an equitable weight split) - so 5 days of dinner and breakfast for two, plus lunches and snacks for two for 3 days.  With that experience in mind I decided to skip the stop in Laxå and buy for the rest of the trip in Nora (eleven days) - everything except for snacks. In planning I'd never even considered carrying eleven days of food.... but it worked OK.  I was probably a bit under provisioned to be honest, but there was enough to not go hungry. 

It's an interesting experience shopping at a normal supermarket for trail food. You don't want to buy a kilo of this and a kilo of that and portion sized packages are hard to come by. I ended up with a lot of noodles and instant mash, with thing to throw in to make them more interesting - plus muesli, bread, cheese, salami, biscuits and other things for lunch and breakfast. And of course, plenty of nuts and chocolate. 

Food on the trail was happily complemented by being able to buy a proper lunch at a handful of places along the way.  Well, three in practice - in Pershyttan near Nora at the Tågkafé, in Mogetorp at the wärdshus, and in Ramundeboda at Café Sockerstugan.  All three made a great break from the hike.  

But...  there were other places that didn't deliver.  Both the resort at Gillersklack and the cafe at Stjärnfors have closed down.  On my overnight stop at Ånnaboda the bistro was fully booked - so no served meal there, and at STF Tivedstorp the whole place was closed for 3 days for a wedding. As a Swedish Tourist Association (Svenska Turistförening) member that latter one was particularly disappointing. 

Finally an honourable mention to the restaurant at Stenkällegården.  In the shoulder season they are not open every day, but they were open when I arrived at the end of the trail for a delicious 3 course waffle buffet. Stenkällegården also has a good small shop .. and beer ;)

So that was food - how about water?  If you check the details for the trail there is a water source identified on each of the legs, normally at the stage ends. Often this is tap water but there are some places where it's a spring.  At the wind shelter they also flag for many that the lake water is drinkable after boiling - the same can be true of the spring water as well.  In general the info was good and water was readily available - but we never found the water source at Stjärnfors (stage2/3) -probably because the cafe there has closed down. There was water at Gillersklack even though the tourist resort was shut - and the tap at Sixtorp recommended boiling, even though it was from a tap.

Mostly if the carry was not too long I/we would stock up on tap water and carry it for camp.  We did use lake or stream water several times though - finding running water wherever possible.  I was stingy on using fuel so I took a different approach than boiling to making it potable - filtering water and adding micropur water purification tablets. Filtering takes out solids in suspension and small organisms, but doesn't remove e.g. all the iron colouration in the water and on its own doesn't take out viruses (but should filter bactieria). More on the pros and cons of different methods here.

The Orange Band - Getting there and getting back

If you want to hike a long distance it's pretty basic that you need to be able to get to the start, and you need to be able to make it home from the finish. Even if you have a car it's not so straightforward to drive somewhere and then, two weeks later find yourself hundreds of kilometers from your vehicle. 

Bergslagsleden starts and finishes in Kloten and Stenkällegården.  What they have in common is that they're both out in the sticks and are not so easy to get to by public transport.  If you have someone that can drop you off and pick you up, great - but what works otherwise? 

Kloten in practice was not so hard.  The trail starts at an activity centre/canoe hire place.  They have hostel and cottage accommodation and a camp site near by. More importantly they provide a collection and drop off service from nearby railway stations (and it also says they can arrange travel from Stockholm!).  You can book directly on their website which worked smoothly.  We went by train from Stockholm to Kopparberg and when we got there there was a minibus waiting for us with a cheery welcome from one of the canoe center staff. We stayed overnight self catering in a room in one of the cottages - a nice relaxing way to kick off the trip.  There's no real food shopping on site (just snacks) but if you get a transfer there is an option to stop on the way at a supermarket. They do offer breakfast though so we didn't need that with us. All in all, well set up, nice accommodation and friendly staff.

Stenkällegården was a bit more of a challenge. Checking in advance there was no obvious public transport but how hard can it be to get a taxi to the nearest station? When I got near the end of the trail I rang ahead and booked a room (it classed as a stuga or cottage, but was a one room flat with bunk beds, a kitchenette and it's own entrance.  I could have pushed to be there sooner, but that was for a Sunday night as I thought travel back to Stockholm would be easier on a weekday. 

When I got there I could confirm there was no public transport - but also found that the local taxi firm only did work for the health services (according to the campsite).  And no service from Uber either..... Oh. Sugar.

Then I found there was actually a summer bus from Karlsborg to Tiveden National Park that stopped there once a day. But now at the tail of season it was only running weekends - and the Sunday I was there was the  last  bus  of  the  year.... and I'd missed it :(.  This bus is potentially useful if you are there over June, July and early August but bear in mind that the booking details say you can only take luggage you can have with you in your seat. Not so very helpful if you're hiking long distance.

So Stenkällegården...  no bus, no taxi, no Uber.  What's left are two options. Hike out to somewhere else (for me around 16km to get to a station), or ask kindly for a lift.  I opted to stay another night to be able to take up the second option. It was a bit more ad-hoc than at Kloten but there's someone there that can ferry you to nearby station if you cover the cost.  Ring ahead and ask is my advice - they were really helpful in trying to solve my logistics problem.

In the meantime, the shop at Stenkällegården does have a rather nice bottled beer....  And the sun was shining too... It's a hard life.