"Idyllic" Must Be a Swedish Word...

…Because it describes this part of Sweden perfectly.  We just finished the third day of the walk, and it’s been through some of the most beautiful countryside imaginable.

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This walk, “The Osterlen Way,” is taking us mostly along the coastal part of Skana County, the southernmost county in Sweden. We’ve seen a lot of the Baltic Sea,  and have never been far from it. But rather than seeming like “The Grand Strand” of South Carolina, this is a largely rural area peppered with picturesque  small villages. Our B&B’s the first two nights were just outside a couple of these villages in the middle of farmland.

The first two days of the walk were the hardest. Each day was between 15-17 miles, depending on which Fitbit you check.

Everyone's Fitbits were also registering over 30,000 steps a day for their owners, and , consequently, handing out kudos and smiley faces to all nearby. The days ended with everyone pretty spent.

The first day, from Ystad to Kaseberge tooks us quickly to the outskirts of Ystad, past the ferry to Poland, and down to the beach at the Baltic.

 For several miles we followed the beach, on a path at the back of the beach, or through wood areas outside of the line of dunes. We went through Nature Preserves, past a couple of spa hotels, past some beach homes, and past several colonies of beach huts. These clusters of small buildings appear to be owned/rented by individual families and are just large enough for beach and picnic gear, and maybe a couple of bunks and cots. They’re all well kept, and individually decorated. A great way for everyone to have a “place at the beach.”

For much of the way, the path through the dunes runs through and around  patches of wild roses. They’re blooming and they’re fragrant. Lupine, astible, wild iris, and salvia added to the color. It was an awesome walk, on a sunny, 70 degree day.

Eventually our path ran up to an area the Swedish Army uses for live fire testing, and our map and route notes took us away from the shoreline and on a long detour around the site. It was marked all the way with signs that, even though they were in Swedish, obviously said to keep out. We learned later that the site is generally only used in the winter, and if there weren’t red flags up, it was ok to stay on the coast and walk through the area. My practice in these situations has always been that, if you can make out the words “live fire” and "keep out” on a sign in any language, I’m pretty much accepting that and acting accordingly.

The detour did take us through some more gorgeous countryside, then back to some high, rolling bluffs with the blues of the Baltic down on the right, and the farmland of Skana falling away to the left.

Finallly, at the end of a long day, and shortly before Kaseberga, we came down a ravine to a road that took us off the trail to a shortcut to our B&B for the night.  

Ejagarden B&B is a converted barn on a hobby farm run by Tommy and Maria. It has three rooms, just enough for us. The stop, the shower, and a chance to put our feet up were all just in time. 

It was a great place to stay – with just one rub. The B&B is about a mile outside of the village of Kaseberga where the only place too get dinner was located. It was hard, but we all managed to put the boots back on, walk into the village – scenic, with a nice little harbor – and had some of the coldest beer and best fish and chips I can remember.  Was it worth it? Oh, yes. But it still hurt.

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Doing these walks with long days, you recognize how your body recovers. You can feel it after a few hours, and, thankfully, really see it after a restful evening and overnight. Sure, there’s some stiffness and some muscles still weary, but the feeling that you’re ok to go on and have another long day is back.

And it was a good thing, because the second day of the walk turned out to be even harder physically. It was another 21km day, largely along and on the beach, ending in the village of Skillinge. Beaches are beautiful, but as places to walk, they’re slow and they're also energy sinks.

We left Ejagarden B&B right around our normal 9:00 time. The route took us back up to the bluffs and then down toward Kasaberga from the “top.” This route took us directly past the Ale Stones, “Sweden’s Stonehenge.” The Ale Stone’s, 59 of them, sit atop a bluff overlooking the Baltic, and are placed in the outline of a large ship. And, like Stonehenge, the stones and ship are positioned to capture the changes of seasons by their shadows. Scientists date the Ale Stone’s to the Iron Age, 1400 years ago.

From the stones, we dropped down into Kaseberga again, then onto the beach for a couple of miles. This stretch of beach is rocky, and although a rocky “path” existed in some places, it was slow going.

Then followed a stretch through some cottage areas and a coastal forest, until back to the beach and the Baltic Sea. This leg was a 6 mile stretch of sand, and although packed in some places, it was overall slow going.

John, Debi and Marty were anxious to get the day over with and boogied on ahead. Diana and I took a more relaxed view and stopped on the beach while I addressed a blister issue. Then we took some time to take our boots off and wade in the Baltic for the first time – it wasn’t as cold as we thought, and felt heavenly.

The break was good, but the walk was only half over. The second half was more beach, some back roads and forest roads, until we finally got into Skillinge.

When you’re walking, the last thing you want to do is take a wrong turn. If you miss a turn when you’re driving, it’s probably easy to correct the mistake. If you make a wrong turn when you’ve walked 13 miles you resent every extra step you’ve caused.

As we got into Skillinge I made a left turn that I wasn’t sure of, so I stopped and asked a gentleman outside an office building. A good thing. Ihad turned too early. He told me what to look for.  As it turns out he was a neighbor of Sjobacka Gard, the B&B we were headed to.

He said when he finished up where he was he’d look for us on the way to his house.

And he did. He gave us a ride the last half mile. Another of my beliefs – after walking 13 tough miles on a day, anyone who turns down a ride deserves their blisters.

A point here about the Swedish people we’ve met. Whatever I say, it won’t be enough. We’ve met people in restaurants and shops, at the B&B’s and hotels, running the B&B’s, passing us on the trails, and stopping to help us make the right turn.

To a person, everyone has been friendly, smiling and happy, helpful, and genuinely interested in us and what we’re doing. The Swedish people are all great representatives of the Swedish people.

Sjobacka Gard, our B&B was a welcome stay at the end of the second long day. “Eclectic” might be an overused term, but it fits. And it’s an apt description of Ami, the owner. She met us (and everyone else, it appears)  with open arms and big hugs. And a selection of cold beers.

This B&B is also a ways outside of town, in the middle of farmland. But unlike the night before, we didn’t have to walk back to town for dinner.

We had dinner at Sjobacka Gard. We had a choice for dinner. That choice was whether we wanted three courses, or four. Because tonight, it was Ami’s Asparagus Menu. Most of us had all four courses, and they were:

1. Asparagus soup, 2. Aspargus and Proscuitto Salad, 3.  Asparagus and Smoked Salmon, and 4. Asparagus Aspic (aka Asparagus Ice Cream) with fresh Strawberries. Not your everyday fare, but all delicious. (Some thought the Asparagus Aspic (aka Asparagus Ice Cream) is an acquired taste.)

The next day was a short day, hiking-wise. Eight miles. It started as another cool, breezy morning walking through waving in the breeze. Shortly we were walking along the coast, through several small fishing villages and hamlets.

We took a packs down break at a place along the coast where a herd of cows were enjoying the sun and the view out over the Baltic.

While there, one of the cows started a beeline (or as much of a beeline as cows do) toward John's pack.

John got there just before the cow did and saved his pack from whatever fate the cow intended. The cow and her partner then came over to Diana and hey had a little bonding period.

In Brantevik, one of those small fishing villages, we stopped at small family fruit stand in town. We got a pint of strawberries that were picked just a little while earlier and snacked on those along the way.

At the fruit stand we ran across an indication of American culture making its way to the Nordics.

An elderly gentleman, probably the patriarch of the family was proudly wearing a red baseball cap that said in large characters: “Make Brantevik Great Again” and in smaller letters, “in a nice small way.”  

Brantevik, by the way, is another of those picturesque fishing villages we’ve passed along the way. Seems to me it’s achieved greatness already.

The short day was welcome, and we got to the Maritim Hotel in Simrishamn in the middle of the afternoon. In time for a shower and some rest.

It seems I’ve mispronounced every Swedish place name we’ve been to since Stockholm. Oddly, I’ve been pronouncing Simrishamn (Simris Harbor) correctly. It’s pronounced exactly as it’s spelled.

We ran across a great place for dinner on Storgatan (aka Main Street) in Simrishamn. We were attracted to Mans Byckare by their menu out front that included a “Mafia Burger.” We’ve had a lot of fish (albeit great fish) lately, so the notion of a slab of ground beef on a bun topped with cheese, ham, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, jalapenos, pickles, and mayo was appealing.

Another case of American ways being adopted by the Swedish. And it was good to the last, fat dripping, bite.

The walk is almost over. Another long day to finish it out, from Simrishaman to Kivik. Everyone is doing great – tired and hurting at the end of the long days, but recovered the next morning.