Sweden's Allemansrätt - a right to roam

One of the attractive things in Sweden for hikers and campers is Allemansrätt - 'Everyman's rights'.

Put simply you can wander where you like and camp where you like. But.... 

Things aren't that simple.

Yes there's a freedom to roam, even on private property but it's not unrestricted.  Two main rules apply - do no damage, and don't disturb people at home. The latter in practice means keeping your distance from buildings, particularly homes, and avoiding people's gardens. Particularly when camping 'out of sight out of mind' is a good maxim to follow.

Do no damage is an important distinction as this includes crops and forests. In England rights of way let you go straight across fields even if the farmer has sown them, but not in Sweden. Around towns and villages keeping a distance from buildings basically means sticking to established paths & finding out of the way spots to camp may not be so easy.

And you should be aware that there are exceptionswhere the normal rules don't apply or are modified. A typical example is in nature reserves & national parks where there may be special rules on camping. City parks are another example.

In Stockholm this means wild camping spots are hard to find in or near the city - presumably for the good reason that there would be too many people doing it. There are probably a lot of places you could stealth camp but you won't be doing it with right on your side. I camped out near Stockholm a few years back in the midst of the woods by lake and only recently discovered that camping's not allowed in that part of the forest.  Ho hum.

The other thing to think of when camping out is the rules on lighting fires. Again, many reserves have special rules for this - often that you can only light fires at at official campfire spots. Fair enough, but it is common in the summer particularly that there are fire bans. These can be general over wide areas or specific to certain councils. You need to do some research.  Normally camping stores are Ok but even these can be banned sometimes. It's not so long ago that some parts of the fjäIls had a ban on using camping stoves.  A bit of a challenge if you haven't planned to go storeless.

And how long can you stay?  The law is not very specific. A couple of nights certainly. Some nature reserves specify - typically not more than 2.  If you are somewhere really remote I guess no-one will complain. If you are close to civilisation  then maybe be happy with one night and be gone before the dog walkers and morning joggers turn up en masse.

With rights come responsibilities. If you are wild camping at the end of the day you are camping on someone else's land. Be sensitive to that and work on a principle of leave no trace. Don't break up the place, damage trees or plants or leave litter. If you carried it in full you can carry it out empty.

Lastly, a tip. In the wilds  it's easy to find places where you can be undisturbed.  In more civilised areas it can be useful to have a view on what property you are on.  Often houses are on a discrete plot of land but theres also often big areas of land that are farms, forestry or just communal. The same rules apply for all of course but it feels better to not be on a plot connected to someone's home - regardless of how big it is. It's also very easy to see how land boundaries lie.  Sites like hitta.se have maps where you can choose an overlay of property boundaries. (tomt in Swedish).  The combination of this and a good satellite photo makes it much easier to scout ahead for good prospects.

The photo above is taken by a campfire spot in Frölunda nature reserve outside of Kungsängen. 

Solar on the move

So my packlist for GR10, not to be this year it looks like, currently has a solar panel on it. And two batteries - one at 5000mAh and one at 3300. 

The larger one will charge the phone one and a bit times, and the smaller it to make sure I have charge for my watch. In principle it's enough for 5 or 6 charges but I still need to test it. 

The dark horse is the solar panel. Its a back up I suppose, in case I don't reach a place to recharge. But is it worth the 80g?

The panel is from Lixada - cheap but with a simple fairly rugged design with just a socket for a USB cable. Nominal output is 10 Watts. 2 Amps on 5V would charge the  2700 mAh phone battery in an hour and 30 minutes. But life's not that simple.  Firstly the device has a rated output of 1700mA at 6.xV.  - but at the USB port only 1200mA max. on 5V. So in practice it's a 6W panel. 

How much current does the panel actually deliver? When I've tried indoors at the windowit has seemed fairly ineffective. The charging light comes on on the phone but the charge status doesn't move noticeably - if anything it discharges! But with good sun (for springtime in Sweden) it does charge a powerbank battery - slowly.

What's going on? How good or bad is it? I did a quick search on Google play and downloaded a battery app that can show charging current and put the panel and phone out in the sun.. Slightly intermittent sun... 

The first thing is, with the phone screen on, apps, wifi and mobile data running the panel doesn't keep up with current drain unless there's good sun, and then only just. 

But if the phone is not drawing much current? With the phone in flight mode and the display off it managed about 250mAh in 58 minutes.  At that rate, eleven hours for a full charge and its giving around 1.2W. There's still some drain in the phone.  Charge it turned off and that's probably 'only' nine hours for a full charge.

On the other hand, on YouTube a guy shows it delivering 700mA to a Power bank.  That could give a useful 25% charge in an hour and still not much over half the rated output. 

The differences could be three things, how much sun its getting, whether my unit is as efficient (it should but who knows?) and whether the panel is better able to drive current to a bank rather than a phone. Four things... The phone is measuring current into the phone battery - not the current from the panel.

Conclusively inconclusive. If more sun gives a better charge rate then it is worth having - albeit if you're stuck up a mountain in pouring rain it's not going to help at all! Even as it is topping up the phone 10% over a lunch stop is good to have. 

But a bigger powerbank could be a better bet for the weight. 

More testing I think and see if there's more juice to be had from more sun. :) Or maybe add a tinfoil reflector?  :D

Update: new tests on a sunny  slightly hazy morning gave an average 560mA over 20 minutes and a 7% charge. Over 20% per hour is starting to sound interesting :) 

Going buffalo

Some time ago, years ago, I discovered Buffalo Systems and their pertex pile products- an all in one garment for the great outdoors.

Not waterproof, but shower resistant and breathable, lots of ventilation options, and a warm lining that wicks away sweat and keeps you dry and hicomfy. No more layering needed...

I like my Buffalo shirt, or is it a Special 6? but for most of the year it is too warm for me. It needs to be below 5C to contemplate taking it out. For the rest of the year I have a Teclite shirt - lighter weight and better for warmer days. Even that's pretty warm and has been useful for more vigorous activity in minus temperatures - its great for winter cycling for instance.

Much as I like both though they don't come out the cupboard as often as you'd think. They are not really lightweight by modern standards. In principle you can save on layers,  but to take them on longer trips I'd still want a warm layer for stops and overnighting, and a waterproof layer in case of persistent heavy rain. Whenever I do the sums they don't make the packing  list. 

Today though we were out for a local ramble and it seemed a good chance to get reacquainted.

The weather was sunny but a blowy 5C. Feels like 1C said the app.  Shame I didn't check that before hand. 

Looking at the sunshine I picked the Teclite. Its cosy and comfortable on, but in company the pace was just a wee bit slow to counter the chill from the wind. OK at the beginning, but after an hour and a half I was glad to pull on another layer over lunch, and keep it there for the 45 minutes back to the car. (We had wind and hailstones on that stretch so it was pretty chilly!). 

Conclusion... Still a good practical piece of gear, but if id realised how chilly it was I'd have taken the Buffalo shirt not the Teclite

Pros:

Comfy & easy to wear 

Good storage with kangaroo and full width front pocket 

Good ventilation and regulation - open the sides, adjust or push up the cuffs open the collar and even the pockets. 

It does the job of a base layer, fleece and wind shirt

Limitations 

It doesn't work out lighter than alternatives - they are designed for when you are active so you need a back up for stops.. 

The neck zip is a little short for best ventilation - a sacrifice of having the kangaroo pocket. 

Great for wild trails, but not so stylish for stopping off at civilization on less wild trips. 

But I do like it :) 

Camping in.

Easter, four days off, but no time for camping - but there is time for a little equipment test.  I took the chance to sleep test my Xframe sleeping mat, and with it the silk sheet + APEX quilt.

With the mat direct on a hard floor it took a while to doze off but by morning it was really quite comfy. Sometime in the wee small hours I rearranged things, with a small piece of 5mm pad (30g) over the upper part, and with the pillow pocket on the sheet reversed and popped over the end of the Xframe. That kept everything together and softened the uneven support from the frame tubes. 

So far so good....

Corona: Hike where you can...

Strange times... The Corona Virus outbreak is with us and even if we can avoid being laid low with it (or worse) it is impacting everyone's lives. One of those impacts is travel restrictions and I'm already fairly convinced that hiking GR10 this year is going to be difficult or impossible.

But, I am hopeful that by the summer, restrictions will ease enough to go hiking in Sweden. So I'm making plans for new plans with my current favourite being Bergslagsleden and Orangebandet - the Orange Band - which is basically walking it all in one go.

Overall its a bit over a quarter the length of GR10, and about 15 days of hiking.  The route meanders around the towns though rather than go through them and it doesn't look to be as well supplied with bars, shops and cafés. Victuals en route will mean more attention to logistics and probably carrying more food.

Accommodation is also less pampered. There are some hostels and maybe even hotels but mostly it will be wind shelters and camping.

That in itself doesn't mean too much change on the packing front. The biggest difference is weight if I need to add 2kg+ of extra food I'm really over the comfy weight for my Fastpack 35 and probably struggling on space too.

Of course I have a Haglöfs Matrix 50l pack I could use - for another 900g - or maybe I should make something? 🤔 Now there's a thought. 

Puck, the musical

At the end of my packlist there's a line that says 'luxuries'. That's the things I plan to take that aren't needed on the voyage, but are nice to have anyway - a small notebook for a journal and sketching, a small monocular for some idle birdwatching. And now... this.

A Hohner Puck harmonica. 

First let me say I'm not any good at playing harmonica, but you know, getting better needs practice and what else are you going to do alone up a mountain?

Hohner make smaller mouth organs, including the Little Lady, the first instrument played in space.  The Puck though is a full ten hole diatonic (ie. Like a classic blues harmonica.) and it sounds OK all things considered, 

And it's still small.. Just under ten centimeters long and weighing a stingy 31g.  I plan to sew up a cover from a cleaning cloth from a pair of reading glasses..  So maybe add a couple of grams to that. And for that I get hours of idle entertainment and as much music as I can remember.

Just to be on the safe side though I'll still be taking some ear buds and a library of .MP3s.  🙂

The real McCoy

Another busy morning at the sewing machine and the camp shoes are finished. 

The design is a two part development of my mocassin prototype. The soles are in ripstop nylon, with an insert in silpoly (most because its low weight) to make a pocket for a foam insole.  The upper is a synthetic material with light stretch - originally a garment from the jumble box at a secondhand shop.

The pictures show both the sole and upper stitched together inside out. The slot in the upper I cut out after sewing the edges.

I did all the sewing on the machine, even details like this. The tab is sewed in last to get a snug fit against the heel.

They are sized to wear with socks but I added a homemade foam insole, with a second layer under the heel.

Compared to the denim prototype you notice how smooth the sole material is, and they rustle a bit too. All in though I like them and I'm looking forward to trying them out for real. 

The finishing touch was adding elastic across the tongue.

Total weight for the pair, including the insoles - 36g. 

After hike footwear

So you get to the end of a long day, and want to ditch your soggy boots. You you turn up at a hostel and want to have something else to put on your feet. But what are you going to take that doesn't weigh you down.

Crocs take space, and sandals with hard soles come with a weight penalty. 

Do they need hard soles? Do they need to be waterproof ? Or do they just need to keep your feet clean? 

At home I mostly go round in my socks so for hostels something similar is enough - but it would be good to keep out dirt and dust. And that's almost enough for padding round reasonable camping grounds - with some tolerance of damp and dew thrown in. So I'm testing out mocassins. 

The picture is my prototype made from an old pair of jeans. The pattern is based on a one piece Native American design - originally for leather of course. 

I sewed an extra piece into the sole with a slit in the middle and added an insole of some thin foam (designed I think for going under wood floors). 

It will get a couple of bits of ribbon/lace to tie at the front but they fit like a glove and are super comfy on. 

The next step is the real thing.  For that I will split the pattern in two and use ripstop or sil nylon for the sole and inner sole (making it damp resistant) and a more breathable synthetic fabric on the top.

Bags of room

So there it is. Finished. One do it yourself waist pack.

I tackled the last stages after work which turned out to be a bad move as I grappled with fitting the bits together inside out. Aka. I made a few mistakes along the way, including some I will have to live with - but it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.  It fits comfortably, even with weight in and has that tardis quality. It doesn't look so big on but seems to take a lot of stuff.  Case in point my water bottles. I designed it to take two Platypus soft bottles thinking that would fill it, but one bottle disappears into the bottom with lots of room for more. 

The bottles are actually longer than the bag, but the sides bow out to accommodate :). 

The front flap is longer than it maybe needs to be, but the pocket is just right to take a map... Swedish topo maps and UK OS maps drop right in with just a tad showing. I think the French maps I need for the Pyrenees are just a bit smaller. 

As bumbag go it's not small - and seems to sit more comfortably at the front than as a lumbar pack. It does sit nicely as a satchel too, though the compromise there is extra length on the straps when it's around the waist. 

Dimensions... 300 x 155 x 75.  

Weight... Circa 100g.

MYOG waist pack project under way

Planning ahead for the summer I want to have a waist pack I can use while hiking - both as easy to hand storage but also to take water or food. My pack's comfy as long as it is not too heavy so I thought it would be handy to offload weight direct to my hips when I have extra stuff on board. That's the plan.... 

And then I can use it off trail and touristing when I don't want to have my full pack on :) 

I have a bumbag I used for this in the summer but I figured I could make something lighter.

So, having bought in ripstop, straps and buckles, me and my trusty Elna 'Grasshopper' are halfway through doing just that.

I've designed it around a satchel style, with a fold over flap instead of a zip.  I like the old style gas mask bags, and I have no experience with putting in zips! 

Size-wise it's wide enough to fit my platypus 1L soft bottles, with a mesh pocket at the back inside and side straps to keep things packed close. There will be a pocket on the front face big enough for a map. The front flap buckles closed which leaves plenty of scope for expansion if needed.

The nominal volume is about 3l but it will probably take 5l with the sides let out. 

Side panel with adjustment strap

As always getting from a design to finished article needs a bit of thought on what sequence to do things in and how stuff will fit together. It's useful to be able to reinvent stuff on the fly... 

.. but, so far so good! 

Straps on the inside of the front flap with stiffener.

The silk road.

My latest investment.  For two years my silk liner has been ripping apart. Theconversation.com fabric is just tired and old and giving up.

So looking ahead to staying in hostels in the summer I've shelled out for a new one. After looking about I plumped for one from Treksilk - a Vietnamese firm you can readily find on Amazon. The spec says 110g for a rectangular  profile which seems par for the course. It's not been on the scale yet to see what reality says. 

My last liner was mummy shaped but I thought the squarer s ha pe would've be better for hostels and work well with the quilt in camping in warm weather. We'll see!

Postscript.  Full weight including the bag... 101g. :) 

The burning question

So, I've tried a bit of cold soak, but for a longer trip or for colder nights it's nice to be able to cook up something warm.  So that brings the perennial question of what stove?

In the past for trips I've always used a Trangia most recently variants on the one man mini version. But I have a collection of old Meta stoves as well.  That's small stoves that burn meta tablets - or Esbit tablets these days. So my plan is to use one of those together with a Vargo Triad burner. 

The burner is titanium and a lot lighter than the traditional Trangia brass one. Yes. It's more than a soda can stove but so far I've been to lazy to make one of those. :) 

The stove uses alcohol, or you can turn it over and use it with Esbit tablets or gel. 

There's always a first time for everything so yesterday I fired it up with 3dl of water in a Meta 71 pot. The stove took a long time getting going (the alcohol needs to gas off to get a full burn). Once it did it was 6 minutes twenty to get a boil. Slow...  But to be honest I don't mind. What else am I going to do out on a bare mountain? 

More interesting is how much fuel does it use?  As best I could measure all up 8g. If we say 20 that gives 20 burns off a 250ml bottle with circa 200g of fuel.   That's not bad. 

The weight.. 24g for the stove and 65g for the pot. I may swap the lid for just foil dropping it to 50g. And it needs  a windshield. 14g. 

So 88g in total plus fuel.  And for that I get coffee, tea, soup, porridge and a variety of warm cold soak meals. Not bad I reckon. 

Reading afterwards slow starting is a known problem, most easily solved by burning a few drops of fuel under the stove in e.g. a bottle top or the base from a soda can. That'll be my next test! :)