The way of the next day is very demanding. However, we only start again around noon. Finally the road from the Upplandsleden long-distance hiking trail, which we follow, leads away into the forest. There, however, it is an up and down overgrown stones and roots, so I always threaten to lose my balance or to bend my foot.

It feels like I have a fridge on my back. The markings are not always clear, so we keep losing our way and losing time with our orientation.

Christian has no trouble. After leaving most of his things in Stockholm, he jumps around the area with just six kilos. A third of my weight.

It passes a few lakes that are popular with day trippers for swimming. In the evening we find an abandoned cow meadow for the night. We only walked 15km today.

While I start the fire again Christian begs our dinner. There are few houses in the small town of Länna. He returns with bread, sausage and cheese. The residents mean well with us.

The benefactor also said that Germans lived in the neighboring house and would be happy to see them.

We decide to say hello there later, but we got there first. Two men climbed over the pasture fence and came up to us with their bags full. Dirk from Potsdam and his neighbor, the Swede Tobias, introduce themselves to us and invite us to our campfire with beer and gin.

The next morning I heard a loud wheeze and trudge that we wrongly suspected that cows had left this meadow. And the animals are very interested in the taste of our tarpaulins. Christian is still sleeping soundly, so I wake him up so he can have fun too.

However, he does not find it as funny as I do and tries in vain to shout out the cows. I come to his aid and with a few clapping even the most curious animals disappear and look for the other end of their pasture.

Dirk invites us to breakfast and it’s a feast after the last few days. We exchange more of our stories, sort my luggage so that I only go with the bare essentials and leave the rest with him.

Then he also invites us to paddle with him on the lake. He has several packrafts, we swim in the lake, drink beer and he enjoys the company of other adventurers.

Dirk has already covered many of the great hiking trails in Sweden as well as major routes in Europe, such as the legendary GR20, which I also ran in 2005. Dirk is in top shape, fully equipped with everything and itchy in his fingers to break open with us immediately.
We want to go shopping and return in the evening, but we’re too late and the shops are closed.

Christian, however, shows great talent in the kitchen and conjures up a selected menu from several courses from the available supplies. I have a guilty conscience that we plundered the storage cellar. Christian has no problem with it.