Day 10

Gällö to Brunflo 
Distance: 10.2 miles / 16.4 km
Cumulative: 127.2 miles / 204.7 km

“Always seeing within
a flower at the break of dawn
the face of god.” 
Matsuo Bashō from Oi no kibomi, 1685

In 2019 I hiked small portions of the long route Bashō took in 1689 on the trip that led to his masterpiece, The Narrow Road to the Deep North. I knew little about haiku but learned to love his work. I had hoped to connect that walk with this one. Today gave me that opportunity. 

Bashō wrote many haiku about flowers. Given the nature of this walk I thought the one above fit. I have gone on at length about the mosquitos, but I have neglected to tell you about the wildflowers. OMG. From day one we have been treated to a visual feast. The number and variety is like nothing I have ever seen. We stop to marvel at them multiple times a day. They have so many flowers that they consider lupine an invasive species and are trying to eradicate it. Here are a few pics from the last several days. 

I decided to focus on the flowers because today’s hike was, well, kinda boring. We were mostly on small dirt roads. There were nice lakes and forests, but after a while it’s just more trees. 

We did find a nice bench swing someone had set by the road with an invitation to sit and enjoy the view. Here we had lunch. 

Lunch selfie. 

When we reached the village of Brunflo we stopped by their impressive church. Unfortunately it was not open and none of Kristine’s incantations worked on the door (wrong denomination I guess). 

Details are a little vague but we think the church and tower are from the late 1700s. 

About a quarter of a mile past the church, and right before we turned into a field to cut over to our B&B, a car stopped and a cheerful man in a clerical collar asked, in English, if we were on the pilgrimage. He works at a churches in Bräcke and Revsund, both of which we had passed. He was on his way to Östersund, where we will be tomorrow, and always drives the Olav route to try to encounter pilgrims. Sounds a little sketchy but a nice conversation ensued. We were the first people from the USA he has encountered on the path. He told us he has been to Los Angeles. We told him not to judge all of the US, or all of California, based on that experience. He and Kristine exchanged the secret clergy handshake and we walked the last half mile to our lovely B&B. 

Johannes the priest. 

No bathtubs today.