Having done two weekend walks in the company of others and come home semi-satisfied from both, I decided to go out on my own this time.

I’ve been thinking for a while of starting to walk Sörmlandsleden, or at least its more accessible sections: the entire path stretches 1000 km throughout the county of Sörmland and is perhaps not entirely doable without overnight stays and dedicated transport. So today I got started with stages 1 and 2.

My start happened to coincide with the start of Sörmland Ultra Marathon, a 50 km run mostly along the Sörmlandsleden. But those 200 runners quickly disappeared from view and most of the time I was walking on my own, which was just the way I liked it.

The views were nice and varied but nothing spectacular. A bunch of little lakes overlooked by rocky bluffs, pine forests with blueberry bushes, some fir and birch and oak, a few meadows.

After 14 km of walking I briefly considered doing section 3 as well, but I would have reached the end after dark and after the last bus back to civilization, so I had to give up that idea. Instead I walked a few extra kilometres to Tyresö castle, hoping to get a hot meal at the café there. The extra walk there was nice, castle was pretty standard, but the salmon quiche served at the café was the stingiest one I’ve ever had.