What with the coronavirus, I’m not going on a hike in the mountains this autumn. They all “take precautions” but really, sharing a sleeper compartment in a train with random strangers all night, or cooking dinner shoulder to shoulder with random strangers in a mountain hut (or worse, trying to cook dinner while dancing around them at a two-metre distance) just does not seem like a sensible idea right now.

So, alternative plans. I’m taking tomorrow off for a three-day hike along Sörmlandsleden. It’s not as scenic and doesn’t offer the wide vistas of the Swedish Fells, but the forests of Sörmland offer some pretty nice hiking. And it costs nothing (now that I’ve paid thousands for a tent, haha) other than a day’s worth of flex hours, so I could actually do several of these.

I’ve checked off stages 1 through 12. The Sörmlandsleden web site suggests walking next few stages in reverse, starting with 15:1 in Läggesta and ending with one of the various connecting trails in the area – Nyfors, Mölnbo, Gnesta, or even walking all the way to Järna. I guess it’s because walking in this direction gives you more choice regarding the length of the trip. Or maybe because it’s easier to catch a commuter train back from Mölnbo/Gnesta/Järna than to time your arrival in Läggesta to fit in with the regional train schedule. Whatever the reason, I’m going to follow their suggestion, starting in Läggesta tomorrow, walking stages 15:1, half of 15, 14, 13, 12 and 12:1, and finishing in Mölnby some time on Sunday.

The official estimate is 45 km; reality will be several kilometres more, I’m sure. It always is.

My pack weighs 16.5 kg with everything except my toothbrush and my keys, both of which I will add tomorrow morning, and my camera, which I don’t pack in the rucksack but keep in a waist bag for instant access. A bit on the heavy side, but I really can’t think of anything I would want to be without.

The hardest thing to pack is food. How much do I actually eat in a day? And how much extra will I eat because I’m walking up and down rocky hills and carrying this pack? At home I just cook food and eat food without worrying much about precise amounts. If I make too much, I’ll have leftovers for lunch the next day. If dinner was too small, I can have a piece of bread later in the evening. In the mountain huts also I can just buy more if I have too little of something. But there are no huts or shops of any kind along Sörmlandsleden. I really don’t want to be carrying leftovers, and I really don’t want to go hungry, either.