Day 3: Stages 7 to 9: Tollered to Alingsås
After around 5 hours sleep, I thought that waking up early would get me to Tollered for a reasonable start time. In the end, I missed the 8:10am train, due to having to go back to the apartment to collect my charger and replace a blister plaster. This meant I had to hang out in Floda for around 45 minutes waiting on a bus. At least I knew where the bajamaja was.
A nice lady spoke to me when leaving the train station, asking if I was hiking the Gotaleden too. I suspect my hiking boots and mud-stained trouser cuffs gave it away. I explained I was, but was getting the bus to Tollered. However, I walked with her to the badplats/ bajamaja. She worked out pretty quickly that I wasn’t Swedish, and said she had a neighbour from Newcastle. She was German but has lived here for 26 years. She was only doing the Floda to Tollered section and has done other sections, but not on consecutive days. She was wearing hiking boots and a skirt, which would work for some stages of the trail but might not be the best choice for all stages. We had a nice conversation in Swedish (I generally feel more comfortable speaking Swedish with other non-native speakers). She asked if she should wait on me when I said I was heading to the bajamaja. It would have been nice to have kept company with her for a while longer, but unfortunately there wasn’t time for me to redo a section and my feet wouldn’t forgive me. I hope she had a nice walk. I headed back to the station and waited for the bus. I finally got started on stage 7 at 10:10am.
Stage 7 Tollered to Norsesund had been advertised as Moderate. Given how difficult and muddy some parts of the “easy to moderate” Kåsjön to Jonsered section had been, I was worried I might have a very late finish in Alingsås. However, the route turned out to be much easier than I was worried about, asides from a few overgrown areas and muddy woodland sections, and I made good time. I met a guy on a road section, probably in Gårdshult. He was just popping across to a neighbours and said “Damerna först”. I said tack, but wondered if I was looking really old (Dam is like saying lady rather than woman, and is sometimes reserved for ladies over a certain age).
The route took us through some farms and I got what I thought was a first glimpse of Mjörn, but turned out to be Sävelången. The route takes you along the edge of it for a while, and I stopped for lunch (and toilet facilities), at a boat club on the edge of the lake with picnic tables and stunning views. It may only have been for members, but I didn’t see that sign until after I left as it was on the side heading out towards Norsesund.
The route takes you to the edge of Norsesund but doesn’t go into the town, instead heading right. I was a bit concerned about this as I was running low on water, but didn’t want to make a detour. I was now on stage 8, with no clear sign to indicate this demarcation. Heading along quiet roads with large houses, I encountered two young girls at what turned out to be Västra Brodarna. One was on the phone and said (in Swedish) that there was a woman and she was walking. I looked over as I was clearly being spoken about (nobody else was around). I continued walking but the other girl shouted “Ursäkta” and said her friend’s mum wanted to speak to me as they had gone out alone and got lost.
My first thought was “Oh no.” because I dislike speaking on the phone in Swedish. My listening comprehension is poorest on the phone. My second thought was “Is this going to turn into an escort quest.”[1] I explained that Swedish wasn’t my native language, and I hadn’t been here before, so I was unsure how much help I could be. Thankfully she was driving along the road I had just turned into the street from (from the opposite direction to me) and she found us within 30 seconds. Happy in the knowledge that the girls were now reunited with their responsible adult, I continued on and was very happy to find a bench to sit on. I checked the map and discovered I had pretty much completed Stage 8. Again there was no indication that this was the case on any of the signs. I ate a sandwich, drank some by now severely rationed water, and reapplied sunscreen. The lake views were now of Mjörn, and it was stunning. The shade provided by trees and the breeze were also very welcome. It was the first bench I had encountered in a couple of hours and my feet were screaming for a rest. I had made good time to this point, so I took a bit longer to give them a break.
Stage 9 was also listed as moderate, but had a lot of walking on roads in the summer heat. I was very glad that I had reapplied sunscreen even though I couldn’t see how streaky my face was. It was a relief to get back into a forest, until it turned into The Blair Witch Project. A guy in trainers, shorts, and a small backpack who was clearly only doing a small section, went past me very sure footedly and quickly. I thought I would never see him again, but then 5 minutes later, there he was. He said the signs had run out. They hadn’t. I checked the Strava map again. I was convinced that the U we had gone around in was a detour and we needed to turn off to the right. We ended up going around in a circle. I thought things looked familiar, but was hoping it was just because forest scenery can get quite samey. Unfortunately the déjà vu was because we had gone round in a circle. The guy came back towards me and said “We’ve been here before.” I said we needed to keep going that way, but turn off to the right somewhere. Eventually, after meeting 3 times, we found the way out. My feet did not appreciate the extra kilometre or so that this added, and I sat on a fallen tree to eat a protein bar. It was not very comfortable, but I had to take the weight off my feet in case I never made it out of the forest.
After another kilometre of forest, we were back onto roads. I headed into the campsite at Lövekulle. There the signage abruptly disappeared. I sat at a picnic bench and tried to work out where to go. I retraced my steps, and it seemed as though I had followed the signs correctly but maybe from the wrong direction. At least there were toilets and a beautiful beach, but also lots of campers. After bouncing between signs, I decided to ignore the signs and walk towards town. All of a sudden there were signs again and I found the trail. I spent a bit of time on a bench at Mjörnstranden and ate my final sandwich. I was, perhaps unsurprisingly, the only person on the beach wearing hiking boots. The route then takes you past the allotments and swimming pool. There was an incident at the pool involving police, ambulance, and a helicopter. When I eventually remembered to check for news about the incident, I was sad to discover that they had evacuated a teenage boy but were unsuccessful in resuscitating him.
I had been fantasising about having a Bastard Burger in Alingsås to celebrate finishing. But at this point the soles of both feet were burning so badly that I didn’t want to add a single additional step trying to find somewhere to eat. Also, it turned out that Alingsås doesn’t have a Bastard Burger restaurant, so that would have been a futile quest. The signage abruptly ended and I walked further than I needed to, past where it would have made sense to turn right and head for the train station. I’d been concentrating on signs so much that I didn’t see the tourist information centre where it ends. I headed to the train station, and bought a bottle of fizzy raspberry flavoured water. It was the best thing I have ever tasted.
Final thoughts
I’m very glad that I did this hike, and I will revisit sections, but I probably will never do the full route in one go again. My feet would not thank me. It has also made me less keen to do a multi-week hike such as Gröna Bandet, which my former Head of Division hiked last summer. Given how sore my feet got after only 3 days, and my ability to be scared by what was, at worst, a wild boar, I’m not sure how I would cope with a 7 week hike. I do think that most people could do this hike in 3 or 4 days with an average level of fitness, no mobility impairments, and a decent pair of hiking boots. Walking poles would also make a few sections easier. You may want to avoid Goråsbergen (part of stage 4) if you have issues with vertigo or serious balance issues, and you might want to jump on a train or bus to avoid a few of the connecting sections which are in towns or on roads, rather than in nature. Skipping stage 1 is also a good move if you don’t feel a compulsion to complete the full route, as it is quite boring until the turn off into the forest around Skatås, and is not the best terrain for hiking boots. I think that asides from these sections mentioned, the route is stunning and worth the effort. If you like walking holidays, this is one worth considering. If you live in the area, most of the sections are worth exploring whenever you have the time on a nice day. I’ll definitely revisit some of them once my right foot has recovered.
[1] If you play a lot of video games you have probably experienced several of these. They tend to be boring.They can also involve fighting off enemies looking to attack the people you are escorting, and I had surrendered my stick several miles back.
