Day 14 – to Sälen

I do like to play that old Steve Winwood song on my return to hills after some days on flatter ground, or gently undulating as in this case. But I’m not quite there yet, unless you can count 400 metres above sea level..

This morning we spent some time on the long distance footpath, The Miner’s Trail, or the Bergslagsleden. The section that includes the route high point, in the Kindla Nature Reserve.

The dog does not trust man-made structures..

The Reserve is roadless, but was heavily exploited by mining in the early 1800s, but since then it has been undisturbed and is hike to a number of endangered species of animals and plants, many of these thriving on the decaying and dead trees, probably the most famous being the black woodpecker, which needless to say, I did not see. It’s the lichens and mosses on those tree corpses that are the rarest in the Park. It has in effect, by accident almost, been left to rewild for 300 years, and will eventually, but sooner than similar protected areas, revert to its ancient state.

We took on a loop that gained two ‘peaks’, each of which had towers that could be climbed to get the view above the tree canopy. There were a few shelters dotted around, all equipped for overnight stays with chopped wood, fireplaces, grates for barbeques, and all impeccably clean. It’s carry the rubbish out with you of course, but with one exception, there are pit toilets. They seem to be common in wild places in the country, and though some investment is required, it means that visitors don’t just use the area 20 metres from where they sleep, or rest, which they do in many similar places.

We’d started quite early, and saw no one at all until returning to the van, where a couple of other vehicles had now parked. After lunch, I drove north for three hours. I’m keen to get into that ‘High Life Again’, that Winwood famously recited.

I’ve parked up by the Västerdalälven river just a few kilometres north of the ski town of Sälen, though there is some gentle downhill, it is cross country skiing the area is famous for. This is 400 metres above sea level now.

There’s one other guy here, a young German camping with his husky dog, who has sliced open her paws and is wearing protective boots. My German isn’t up to understanding how she cut her paws..

It’s another excellent overnight stopover, that really aren’t hard to find here.

I had thought I might need a campsite to hook up to electricity. The van was lower than usual last night. At first I blamed it on four cloudy days, but I thought about it and realised it couldn’t be that, as I’ve encountered far more than that in a row previously. Looking at the Victron app in detail, I went into Engine Charger section, and it needed a firmware update. Although the FAQ section of the Victron website said that shouldn’t affect performance, it obviously did, as this morning after half an hour driving my power went from 55% to 100%.

Good job as well, as the campsite I investigated nearby wanted 370 SEK, or £30, for a night..