Trailrunning in Sörmlandsleden (Sweden)
In July, while I was working with our art (dance, films, photography, travel drawings) with Theresa and Stefan Leckberg in Sandvik, Art See Ocean gallery, in Nynäs natural reserve, near Nynäs castle, I have also been trailrunning a lot, which is a way for me to stay fit, get into nature and in the flow. This thing that in the countries of Northern Europe, that you can pick up blueberries in a pine forest and then just turn around and dive in the cold waters of the Baltic Sea, is magic and hard to believe. We have the same vegetation in Italy, but starting from 1500 m asl. Hahaha! it’s fun! Sweden (and Norway and Finland too) have a net of amazing trails, well marked and with wind shelters where to sleep with a sleeping bag or more comfortable huts to rent. You can also find Bed and breakfasts and hostels. Trailrunning here is great on summer. You do not get scared of the time because it gets dark only a couple of hours in the night, you run at sea level, which is almost effortless, the trails are smooth (no altitude) and the beauty is everywhere. Everything is clean and wild. And you end up swimming in the sea :). I ran around 20 km 3-4 times a week and I was touristing while running, great idea.
The Sörmlandsleden trail is one of the longest walking trails in Scandinavia. The main trail is 627 km long. The path takes hikers through wilderness, areas of cultural tradition and historical monuments. There is everything from open landscape, wilderness, lakes and beautiful coastline.
The Sörmlandsleden trail is divided into 92 sections that are between 2 and 21 kilometres long. Along the route are circular loops of different lengths, from an hour of walking to a whole day trip. It’s amazing to run in the forests of birches or pines, over white moss and above and through a bedrock of stones moulded by the melting of the glaciers.
So for me it has been amazing to just explore, with no phone, but just the paper map, my camera, my backpack, water. You can fill water every once in a while.
It is a region really suitable for families or slower trekkers too.
The last day I chose a longer path, which lasted 4 hours and a half, a bit more than I wanted to, more than 30 km, but it was amazing (see the pictures, the cat also seems to tell me: “where have you been?”. I love to discover by doing, without apps and I had the comfort to come back to my red cottage every night. It has been the feast of blueberries and rasberries. And restoring swimming for my legs.
Here you can download the maps and find more information. Highly recommended.
http://www.sormlandsleden.se/eng/