Eric and Adrian went out on a hike on Friday, and Ingrid has long planned to go camping with her friend group this weekend. Not wanting to be left out, I thought I’d do the same and check off the next stage of Sörmlandsleden.

Not even halfway through my drive to the starting point, Ingrid called me, nearly in tears. They had ended up on the wrong bus, and since the right one only goes once every two hours, they’d lose almost all of their planned afternoon out in the forest. As luck would have it, I was only 15 minutes away from the bus stop they’d gotten off, so I turned around and then spent the next hour and a half shuttling them from their bus stop to the Paradiset nature reserve they were aiming for.

By the time I was done playing chauffeur, it was four o’clock in the afternoon. I could still have followed my original plan – but here I was, right at the entrance of a beautiful nature reserve, so why not stay right here? The horde of teenagers headed east towards lake Trehörningen; I followed Sörmlandsleden (stage 6) south-west, stopping just short of the other end so I wouldn’t get back to civilization.

This is a beautiful time to be out walking. The greenery is all fresh and young and lush. I’ve never before managed to time any of my hikes to hit the peak of lily of the valley season.

And then in the middle of everything vibrant and beautiful, I come across this devastation. I cannot fathom how clear-cutting can still be allowed – how it can be legal to destroy a landscape like this.

Towards the end of my walk I saw a clump of aquilegias right next to the road. Beautiful colours, larger blossoms than even the ones in my flowerbeds at home. I was surprised to see them in the wild – but another fifty metres on I saw a lilac bush, so I guess there must have been a cottage some time in the past.