Upplandsleden - From Kallhäll to Rosersberg

A fresh autumn morning

It was one of those wet and inclement weekends.   The forecast was for cold and rain... which, as it happens was just what I wanted.  There's no way to know how gear works in the cold and rain without... cold.. and rain.
By the time I turned out on Saturday the rain had come through - everywhere was wet and muddy and with light winds a toasty five degrees.    The first part runs past Kallhäll and Stäket , areas I know fairly well, before heading north meandering along the coast and through the woods. Parts are on the road or on gravel tracks, other parts wind through the trees around rocks and tree roots. 
Saturday's leg is about 15km to Skarvberget.   The path veers off from the coast up a slope to  a cliff overlooking the water.  Fine views I'm sure if you have fine weather.   There's also a vindskydd there  (a timber built wind shelter with a place for a campfire).  I'm planning to camp, but it's the first time using the tarp in the rain so it's nice with a back up shelter.

Pitched with a view

And yes... cold means cold. I pitched the tarp and took my dinner watching the view and listening to cattle lowing across the water. But damp  and four degrees creeps into the bones so it was early when I crept under the quilt to turn in.  It was first time out for my new bivy so there was a bit of palaver getting everything sorted and comfy. Practice I hope will make perfect on that front.

Morning woke to light rain on the roof.  It was pleasantly dry under but eventually I had to get up and fix breakfast.  Today I'd swapped my Esbit 42 for the larger Esbit 71.  Space to boil a bit more water to mash the muesli and for a morning coffee.  It's still chilly and inclement though so I don't linger too long before packing up and getting off.

The second leg continues north.  It's still raining so I get a chance to test the poncho, gradually losing layers as I warm up.   Rather belatedly I remember that I wanted to take a detour to see a viking age ship grave that's not far from the trail.  I thought I'd missed it - but not too long after I reach the turn for Runsa borg - the site of an iron age fort and that ship grave.  It was a bit muddy getting there but defintiely worth a look.  The borg itself is just a once fortified hill, but the ship grave is more evocative of past times - an oval of stones laid out like a ship in the landscape.

Ship grave at Runsa Borg

Back on the road thelast of the trail took me to Rosersbergs Slott - once a royal palace, now still owned by the crown but used mostly as a training center.  Upplandsleden goes through the grounds with a fie stretch through beechwoods with a rich russet carpet of autumn leaves.

And.. lastly the trail passes along the border of an area used for military exercises.  The sound of shooting in the woods ahead is only slightly disconcerting - but to just by two blokes I passed on the trail it's hunters not infantrymen that our out this Sunday morning.

Home is via the commuter train a mile or so up the road from the trail.  All told for both days, a tad short of 30km.