The boys taking care of the dishes after dinner.

Midsummer lunch, with herring and eggs and new potatoes. And a decadent strawberry and elderflower cake.

In the evening, Ingrid and Eric watched the movie Midsummer. They’re the only two in this family who like scary movies.

Eric made stracciatella ice cream.

A combo of Oxögabergsrundan and Trollkyrkorundan, maybe 10 km or so, and Mellannäsrundan, 1.5 km.

We did the most obvious route yesterday. Today we headed into the wilder parts of the park. Yesterday we met plenty of people all day; today – especially on Oxögabergsrundan – barely any at all.

The elevation profiles for today’s trails were much more up-and-down than for the lake circuit yesterday. But in practice we found today’s walk less challenging. There may have been more hills, but the path itself was somewhat more even and easier to walk, with fewer roots to stumble over.

The weather report promised rain for today. A few days ago it promised pouring rain all day. Then the forecast gradually improved as the day got closer, and by this morning we were down to maybe the occasional shower. And in practice we got a few very, very light showers. Enough to put the rain covers on the rucksacks as a precaution, but not enough to get us really wet.

We managed to time both our mid-morning snack and our lunch break between the rain showers. Adrian of course found rocks to climb on top of for his snacks.

I love walking in really wild forests like this, with wild growth everywhere and dead trees left to rot where they fall. When a large tree falls right across the trail, the park staff cut out a big enough chunk of the trunk to allow hikers to pass through, but leave the rest untouched. And they don’t even bother doing anything about trees that you can easily step over or crawl under.

I walked the Trollkyrkorundan trail when I was here on my own a few years ago. It’s funny how my brain remembers places. I remembered the viewpoints on top of the rocky hills, the two “troll churches”. Most of the trail I didn’t recognize at all. But there were small things here and there that were immediately familiar. I knew I had walked past this particular cluster of rocks, these specific dead trees. I remembered stepping on these very roots to climb that rock with an absolute certainty.

After 10 km of walking it was barely three o’clock in the afternoon. No point in heading back to the camp yet, because all we’d do there is sit around and wait for dinnertime. Even Adrian thought more walking would be better. So we drove a few kilometres to the other end of the small park for another short circular walk. This one was so flat and easy that it felt like a bimble in the park.

Adrian loves walking and can easily keep going all day, as long as his pack is light. If it isn’t, he starts complaining. The kilometres don’t bother him, but the kilograms do.

I’m vaguely thinking of doing a longer walking holiday this summer, covid permitting. If we did day hikes, we could make them quite ambitious. But if it’s anything that requires us to carry all our stuff with us, then either Eric and I would have to carry most of his gear, or we’d have to keep the days quite short, or live with a fair bit of complaining. So maybe we need to stick to day hikes still.

Trehörningsrundan 9.5 km + Tärnekullerundan 1.3 km.

A full day of walking. We hiked around lake Trehörningen (“the triangle”) and added an extra detour to see some caves.

It’s a popular route so we met people, passed people and were passed by others, all day long. I was afraid it would be crowded even, but it never got to the point where it felt that way.

It’s customary for hikers on a trail to greet each other. It’s just a natural, nice thing to do. It’s a behaviour one just picks up after a few hikes. In a touristy place like this, though, not everybody you meet is a hiker. Some are just “normal people” out in the woods for a day. You can see by people’s clothing whether they will look at you and say hi or not. If they’re wearing jeans or tracksuit bottoms and trainers and a city backpack, they’re likely to just look past you and pretend they didn’t see you, like one does with strangers one passes in a city street. But if they wear outdoor trousers and hiking boots, you’ll probably get a smile and a greeting.

The trail circles a lake, keeping quite close to the shore at all times, so you’d think it would be flat. And in terms of metres of altitude it may have been. But the terrain was uneven, with rocks and roots everywhere, so it was quite tiring.

Adrian is constitutionally incapable of walking at a slow pace. He scampers, and he runs, and he climbs all the large rocks he can see. Most of the time he was ahead of us and then waited for us to catch up at our energy-efficient adult pace. As a result he was tired after we’d walked barely a third of the way. So we took a long break, ate lots of nuts and dried fruit, and rested his legs.

The weather was unsettled and threatening rain much of the time, but in the end we only got a few drops. On the other hand we got plenty of dramatic light.

The so-called caves at Vitsand were disappointing. Despite the name, there’s nothing cavelike about them. It’s just a bunch of really, really large rocks in a higgledy-piggledy pile that you can scramble through and under.

Adrian is home from school because of a runny nose, but essentially not the least bit sick. So when the sun is shining bright, we can go for a walk in the middle of an ordinary Tuesday.

Two of Adrian’s favourite foods are dumplings and spring rolls. He loves Asian buffets – not for the wide variety of food but for the chance to stuff himself with dumplings.

He’s been asking for a while now if we could make dumplings at home. I’m not very interested in meals that are more crafts than cooking. For the same reason I’m not very interested in making sushi, although I like eating it.

Eric was willing to give it a go, though. The whole project took hours. First, making the dough and the filling. And then all this rolling and filling and shaping… Adrian liked the first steps, but the assembly part was too tedious for his taste, so I had to step in and help out to get them done in time for dinner. It was pretty tedious; I can understand that he didn’t enjoy it much.

The result tasted good. But store-bought frozen dumplings are also good, and I’m really not sure if these tasted two hours better.

Adrian loved them though, and immediately started talking about making them again. If we ever do, we need to find a faster way of filling and shaping them.

Eric and Ingrid are playing a racing game. They both play a lot of fast-reaction games like FPSs, so they’re quite evenly matched.

A beautiful, snowy walk on Järvafältet around Säby.

We saw quite extensive ski tracks on the fields. I didn’t know there were prepared tracks here. Tempting. I wonder if my back country skis would fit in the tracks.

Christmas break is over for all of us and we’re back to our usual routines. I went back to work last week. Eric started working this week, and Adrian’s school term started on Monday as well. Today Ingrid’s school term also started.

We get up shortly after 7, although I sometimes stretch it to 7:30 since I have no particular hurry in the morning. I’m winding down my engagement in my current project (this is my last week) so I have no urgent tasks. And with no commute, I can be at work by 8 even if I sleep to 7:30.

Ingrid and Adrian both leave just before 8. School starts at 8. Ingrid has a three-minute walk to school; for Adrian it takes less than 10 minutes. Eric cycles to work and would much rather do so in daylight, so he waits until sunrise which is happens around 8:30.

They all have breakfast before leaving. I’m not fond of early breakfasts, so I start working first and break for breakfast around 9-ish.

All of us read while eating breakfast. Eric reads Dagens Industri. Adrian read Kalle Anka Pocket. I read Dagens Nyheter. What Ingrid reads I don’t know but I’m guessing it’s Snapchat.

Another month, and the sun will be up when I get up.