Continuing to walk the Stockholm Signature Trail. About 22 km around Brunnsviken and then circling the entire northern side of Norra Djurgården.

This walk goes through the Royal National City Park of Djurgården, with everything from royal parks to protected wilderness areas. I’ve seen bits and pieces of it before, but many parts were new to me. Several areas that I previously could only roughly locate on a map, and only make my way there by metro, now became real. My mental map of north-eastern Stockholm went from disjointed patches into a coherent whole.

The first few kilometres wended through the grounds of Ulriksdal palace, and that was followed by the park around the royal palace of Haga, the residence of the crown princess.

At Ulriksdal I found my old friend Igelbäcken, the little brook I followed during last week’s walk. Apparently it goes all the way to Brunnsviken.

In between the parks, the city with its motorways and shiny office blocks was never far away.

Long stretches of the trail followed the water’s edge. Like the previous sections, none of it was specifically marked – the trail is an agglomeration of random pieces of existing paths. This section was unusually easy to follow, because much of the time I just kept following the shoreline. It was nice not to have to look at the digital map all the time and just enjoy the views.

The botanical garden at Bergianska was not at its best on a snowless day in February. Then again, not much is.

Towards the end of the walk, behind Stockholm Stadion, I learned that there is also an equestrian stadium at Djurgården, as well as an archery field, and a ski jump tower. I had no idea. And a few hundred metres later on, there were boggy forests and muddy, wild streams. The walk was truly a study in contrasts.