Sunday the twenty-fourth of June was a little bit special for me. I woke up and was really excited, two great things was planned for this day. First in the morning I had invited my family to come and celebrate my twenty-eight birthday which was the following day. I would not be home for my birthday. I had some days off and the weather looked good so I decided I wanted to spend my birthday doing one of the things I love the most, to be out in the wild. Alone. Just me and the nature.
But first, celebrate with my family. For people who know me they know I’m not very good in the kitchen, either at cooking or baking. But when I came back home to Sweden a few weeks ago I tried to make a rhubarb & banana pie, which directly became a new favourite. Especially since I could pick the rhubarb in my garden and it was so easy to make. I felt like I nailed it again today and I was ready for my family to arrive. When my mum & dad came over my mum was holding a big strawberry cake in her hands, this my friends, is something I have eaten every birthday since I were a kid, (except from last year when I was in NZ for my birthday). The last years when my mum have asked me what I wanted for my birthday I always said I just wished for a strawberry cake, so to see my mum holding this cake in her hands gave me the biggest smile and I knew my day would be perfect. My little sister were working and couldn't come, which was sad, but more cake for me instead.. My sister and brother and their families arrived and we had a lovely picnic on the grass outside my little red house, drinking coffee, eating rhubarb pie and the delicious strawberry cake. And I felt blessed to have such a beautiful and caring family.
To start the day with cake and pie was definitely the best way to prepare my body for some walking the following days.. Or maybe not. But I felt happy & full of energy so my parents drove me to where the trail started and dropped me off. I put on my 15 kg heavy backpack, and took my first step out in the wild. On my third step I could feel the first raindrop on my face. Luckily I only felt five more, and then the rain was gone again. On my fourteenth step one of the straps on my backpack broke, but I could easily fix it with a lace and some knots. Nothing could stop me now, not even the blister I started to feel on my right foot already. I didn’t actually really know anything about this trail I was about to do. I didn’t know what to expect, what I would see, if I would walk out in the bush or on gravelled roads. All I knew was that it was around 92 km long, I knew it was called “Sigfridsleden” and I knew where it started and where I would finish. I didn’t really know how long it would take me, I just knew I had to try to be at work five days from now. Other than that I didn’t really care what would happen along the way.
After around forty minutes I arrived to a lake, and of course went for a quick dip. It’s just something that naturally happens in my body when I see water, I just wanna get in. I walked for a little bit longer and it started to get very windy and soon I could feel the raindrops on my face again. This time it continued to rain, but just very lightly. I decided to hide under a pine tree for a bit and put on the rain cover on my backpack & find my rain jacket. Since I didn’t start to walk until half three I didn’t walk for too long until I felt I wanted to set up my camp for the night. And I found this perfect spot just next to the water, a little bit hidden from the road where no one could see me. When I saw the rainbow over the lake I knew this was the perfect place to put up my tent and stay the night. I was sitting in the sun for a long time until it disappeared behind the trees and I started to cook my dinner. The mosquitos were crazy and I thought they would eat me alive, but I survived. Went to bed very early because I wanted to be up super early for the sunrise the next morning to start my birthday in the best possible way. It was such an incredible feeling to get cosy inside my tent, I just love the sound from the zipper when you close the tent and your sleeping bag. It was totally quiet and I fell asleep straight away.
