The Orange Band

So here we go -  or rather here we went.  I'm back at home after 18 days on the trail after hiking the whole length of Berglagsleden. This is what they call the 'Orange Band', notionally because the trail is marked along the way with orange markings on trees, posts and stones by the trail. 

This is the first of several posts where I'll talk about the experience on the trail, and share some details on planning and the resources along the way. 

But first - why Berglagsleden?  Berglagsleden is a trail running 280 kilometers through central Sweden from Kloten in the north to Stenkällegården in the south in seventeen marked stages (both of those are really small places so you won't have heard of them).  It runs almost exclusively through natural terrain - rarely on roads, sometimes on forest gravel tracks but mostly in trails through the woods - and had a range of cultural sights with remains from the ice age, iron age and its industrial history as an iron working area.  Although it meanders around a number of small towns on the way you spend your time immersed in the landscape. For me it offered a get away from it all break that was fairly accessible from Stockholm - and with options to bail if needed.  (My foot's been playing up over a long period and I didn't know how it would handle multi-day hiking).  

I talked about my outline plan in an earlier post - but let's look at the reality. 

For the first week I hiked in company, and then hiked on my own for the rest of the trip.  Daily distances are modest. I'm happy with shorter stages (on average, 15-16km), and as I said above I was a bit wary of over-stressing my foot. Even so we adjusted our plan in the first week to shorten our days which resulted in a re-plan on food and re-supply. Originally I planned for us in that first week to reach a bus-stop called 'Berglagsleden' outside of Nora (on stage 6).  Instead we got as far as Uskavi (end of stage 4) and could get a taxi to Lindesberg for bus/train to Stockholm. 

Each stage has a similar set up - a stage start and end point which may have a hostel or other accommodation, and normally access to fresh water.  In the middle (-ish) of each stage there's a wind shelter with a fire place, wood, and a dry toilet, and often usable water. The base plan then was to hike between these wind shelter and use them for sleeping. In case they were full we had a tarp, and for use in hostels, silk bag liners.

In practice this turned out as four nights under canvas, including one on a campsite at Ånnaboda, three nights in hostels - Kloten (at the start), Nyberget and Uskavi - and the remainder in wind shelters.  We were travelling at a quiet time of year but there were several times we shared the evening camp with others - so when I/we had the wind shelter and someone else camped nearby.  

When to go?  I was on the trail from mid August to the end of the month.  Apart from fitting in with my work I like this time of year for hiking. It's not too warm but still not yet too chilly, and the mosquitos  have mostly gone which makes it nicer sitting out by the lake in the evening.  The downside is that this falls off the end of the Swedish vacation period.  Many facilities shut from mid August so for instance in Uskavi the hostel was open but the restaurant was not. As I discovered to my cost, transportation can also be more difficult our of season. 

It also means there are few Swedish hikers on the trail.  Most of the people I met and talked to were tourists from other parts of Europe - Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland.  Most days I met very few people on the trail, but it's noticeably busier at the weekends.  If you plan to stay at hostels over the weekend it is worth booking ahead. 

The spring has flowers and birdlife, May and June has the delight of very long days, but late summer has it's attractions too.  The woods have a comfy feel and are full of blueberries and lingon in fruit, and more rarely, wild raspberries and blackberries.   There's also a plethora of mushrooms and fungus that can supplement your rations if you know your stuff.  Plus, it gets dark at night so you can get some sleep ;). 

So now we are started.... on the next post: Food and drink