TS Day 98

Erikssonsdammen - North of Bredsjön

Via Vitsjön

Friday 15 October 2021

Today the goal was to just walk as far as possible, because at the end of the day I would be picked up and driven to an AirBnB that Lukas and my parents had booked for the weekend.

But getting up early didn't go very well, but who's surprised!? Lukas tried to call me in the morning, but I only had vibrations on and normally I wake up by that, but apparently I didn't do that this morning. Eventually I did wake up though, so I called Lukas right away and turned my headlamp on to try to stay awake. When it's dark outside its like my brain just want to shut off! It's really, really hard to wake up. I'm glad I don't live in the Arctic...

The day went on kinda like yesterday. I talked a lot with Lukas, listened to music, podcasts and surfed on my phone. The day progressed slowly, both time wise and distance wise. From the first step in the morning to the last step in the evening, my feet hurt. I wanted to pause all the time because they hurt so much - a dull relentless pain, but at the same time I knew I needed to go as far as possible today.

When I got closer to Hyltesjön and Vitsjön I decided to take a detour there to take a break and refill my water bottle because I really needed that. My feet hurt so much, but despite sitting down there for just over an hour, it didn't help one bit. The first part of the pause was great. I surfed the Internet, listened to a podcast and sat in the sun. Then, it passed behind some trees and despite wearing both my down jacket and rain jacket I was cold. After a while, three people and two dogs arrived. We didn't converse other than they asking if they could have their dogs loose (which was of no problem for me). But this felt like my cue to get going. I sorted my trash, ate a clementine and some snacks, and went to refill my water bottle. While doing this I noticed two things. One, that the water was REALLY clear, and two, as I got closer to the water surface, I saw a really weird lobster-like creature swim away from me. It looked like a lobster, but was pale and about the same length as my knuckles are wide. So weird and creepy! If anyone has an idea what this might have been, please leave a comment!

The rest of the hike nothing else of interest happened. Three motocrosses passed me while I was walking along a forest road, but that was all.

When the sun set, I heard from Lukas that they were getting closer. This was both uplifting because of the pain, but also not great because I wanted to get further along the trail today. But I did my best to endure and pick up the pace. Lukas called and we talked while I walked. After a few minutes I could see a car parked in the distance, it was Lukas who had arrived to my pick-up destination. I pushed on, and was so exhausted when I reached Lukas, but also really happy. We hugged, and I staggered into the car. We then drove to the store and I ordered take-away for the family from (fittingly) "La famiglia Restaurang". At the store we bought some breakfast and snacks, and then went to pick up the food. We went to the AirBnB, had dinner together and then basically went straight to bed. I got some very needed massage from Lukas for my exhausted body, and then I fell asleep.

Today's:

Distance: 36.7 km

Start time: 09:20

End time: 20:40

Ascent: 508 m

Descent: 450 m

Snickers eaten: 3

Totals (from Grövelsjön)

Distance: 791.7 km

Ascent: 10,923 m

Descent: 11,482 m

Tent nights: 10

Shelter nights: 5

Ice cream eaten: 12

Snickers eaten: 29

Totals (from Treriksröset)

Distance: 2,223.9 km

Ascent: 44,050 m

Descent: 44,056 m

Tent nights: 52/98

Snickers eaten: 72

Ice cream eaten: 35