TS Day 112-113

And then,

Friday 29 October 2021 - Saturday 30 October 2021

Considering how late we had arrived the day before, how far I’d walked etc, I woke up surprisingly not-late. In the morning Peter came to say goodbye. He was now going to take the bus home so he could come and meet me again tomorrow in Smygehuk! 😱

I took it as slow this morning as I could. I felt like now I knew it would it would all work out like planned anyway, and I didn’t have to rush it one more bit. I would arrive at the shelter tonight, rest a bit, and then continue quickly after. I also wanted to rest as much as possible before pushing on these last 50 km.

Sometime after noon, I finally, slowly, got moving. Had my last breakfast in the tent for this hike, surfed on my phone and just enjoyed the warmth from the sun shining on my tent. When I finally got up and packed my tent, I continued to soak in the sun that had come out to celebrate with me today.

Before going, I refilled my water bottles so that I would make it for 50 km, and then got going. I soon reached Dalby where I threw some recycling before continuing. Then followed some stressful km on a road with a liiiittle bit too much traffic, but it soon got better. Then, I just had a nice time and tried to soak in every bit of it and enjoy the flat grassy landscapes and the sun.

But I had started late, and soon the sun was setting. It was getting cold, and my feet began to protest again. The breaks came more often and I was slower again. But I was happy when I finally got closer to Sturup airport, and found the shelter that I had planned to rest at, in Glamberga. I found it hard to relax my mind though, and instead of just sleeping, I surfed on my phone for a few hours. In the end, I got to bed just one hour before I was going to get up again.

In the night on the Saturday, I suddenly woke up. By myself. Shit. The alarm had not been ringing, or had it? I had no idea. I knew I had started to alarms, but I couldn’t remember waking up by any of them. I scrambled to my feet, and quickly packed my stuff together. It was half past one, not half past twelve! I was one hour late. Shit, shit, shit.

I got going, a bit dizzy from the lack of sleep and sudden stress, and tried to keep a good pace. Soon though, the humger came, and it hit me so hard I got nauseous. I tried to make it better by eating my last Billys, but it took quite some time before it did. So the first few km I was suffering quite a bit.

When I reached the airport after just a few km of walking, I decided to look for a geocache there before continuing. I had to go through some thorn bushes to get there, but other than that it was fine. The airport was eerie quiet.

I then walked on, and after passing the entire airport, I suddenly realised I didn’t actually need my headlamp to see. So I turned it off and let the moon guide my steps. The road was flat and there was no cars, so it was fine. Walking under the night sky for a while was peaceful, and I even got to see a few starfalls.

But, after a few kms I passed a few houses on a dirt road. Suddenly, in the light of some lamp, I saw two black shapes, that I can’t really figure out what they are. After a while of squinting, I turned off the music on my phone because I realised that the shapes were moving. It was a scaredy horse and a woman, trying to keep the horse calm so I could pass. I thought about this for quite sometime. It was around 3 AM so it felt like a really odd time to meet someone out on a road.

Other than that, I also heard an owl quite close, then another one in the distance answering. The owl was also screaming some now and then, and I also heard that “grunting” sound, that I had also heard both when we came to Skrylle, and the day before when we came to Liagården. I wondered once again, what it was and whether it could be wild boars maybe? I have no idea what they sound like.

I didn’t see much as I walked in the dark, but walked through some cute houses that probably looked very pretty in daylight. I felt like I was in Denmark or maybe Germany, not at all like I was actually in Sweden. It was an odd feeling.

Near Anderslöv I took a break to rest my feet and after that, dawn began. It was really beautiful - purple, pink, blue and misty flat landscapes. I wish I had a good camera so I could have captured it.

After many short breaks and pain in my feet I stopped at Stora Isie, with just about 5 km left for a longer break. While having my break, someone called Johan (I think), stopped their car to ask if I was hiking to Smygehuk and we talked a little bit. Apparently his brother had read about me on the Internet! So that was quite an interesting experience. Soon he got going, and another car came by after I had had a conversation with Lukas. It was Peter! I talked to him a bit, and as I got going he followed me with his car and filmed me and took some pictures.

Then I walked on on my own. Took some photos on my own and made a little movie. I walked through some houses - it was like getting through a labyrinth, the last struggle before reaching Smygehuk. There, Lena from Via Suecia waited for me, and also Peter. We walked together the last bit out to the sea. Seeing the sea felt really strange! So, now I was here? It didn’t feel special at all, just weird. But I made it!

Lena and Peter tried to make it special I think, and I tried not to cringe on the inside as I was posing by the little monument-thing in Smygehuk. So, this was it?

After talking to some family and friends, I was off to find a geocache. My feet ached, so standing and walking was hard. We talked a bit all three of us, then Lena got going. Not long after, Peter and I got going too, and I got to his place to do the regular rest day stuff, except that this was it. No more walking.

This was it.

The feeling didn’t set in that day, but I accepted that. Maybe it would eventually. The congratulations and cheers started rolling in. But it just felt odd. I hadn’t done anything else today than I had done any other day? My mind wasn’t catching up, but I was glad I got to rest my tired body.

This was it.

I made it to Smygehuk.

I walked through all of Sweden.

I did that.

Friday's:

Distance: 22.3 km

Start time: 14:19

End time: 20:57

Ascent: 158 m

Descent: 196 m

Saturday's:

Distance: 30.1 km