Day 7

Lombäcken to Bräcke
Distance: 16.6 miles / 26.7 km
Cumulative: 88.6 miles / 142.6 km

“Super trouper lights are gonna find me

Shining like the sun

Smiling, having fun

Feeling like number one.” Super Trouper, ABBA 1980

I’ll get to the quote shortly. 

Yesterday’s rain miracle was a one and done scenario. We woke up—well we decided to stop fighting the mosquitos and get out of bed, there wasn’t a ton of sleeping—to a light but steady rain. Having yesterday’s rain success under our belts, and wanting to flee the mosquitos that had somehow infested our beautiful cabin, we suited up and set out expecting the rain to dissipate in 20-30 minutes. Two hours later it started to let up. 

One dead mosquito inside and one outside trying to get in. 

Everything was wet, especially the forest. So we decided to follow the St. Olav bike route on the main road for a bit. It was fine, if a bit boring. Unfortunately, we missed the turn for the bike path to reconnect with the hiking trail. With a little bit of navigational legerdemain, we cut back to the trail. This unfortunately added about a mile to an already long day. 

The good news was the rain had stopped. But within about a half an hour, the wind picked up with gusts between 30-40 mph. Kristine hates wind. 

We trudged on. At some point I needed to eat. Kristine found a little clearing with some rocks for benches. 

Not the best lunch spot so far. 

We ate quickly as we were again attracting mosquitoes. What is it with these bugs? Thank St. Olav for our Deet spray. 

About three miles from our destination, Kristine hit me with the best quote of the day, “Today smacked us in the face with the fact that a pilgrimage is not a vacation.”

We staggered into town, found a place to buy more Deet spray, and arrived at our hotel only to be pleasantly surprised. It is a real hotel, with a desk clerk and other guests, and even a sauna which Kristine enjoyed. The restaurant was nice and we are looking forward to a restful, mosquito free evening. 

Back to the quote, today was hard; we didn’t get much sleep; Kristine’s feet were wet; the wind was howling; it was cold; we were walking along a major road with trucks; we got lost. She wanted to hitchhike, then she contemplated calling a taxi, but she didn’t do either. She put her head down and trudged on. Today she was a super trouper. Maybe tomorrow she will be a dancing queen. We are one quarter done.