(I have blurred out their faces as I don't know whether they would want their photos on the internet.)
Supplies:
Stay Curious: Misc Mixed Media Paperie by Rachel Jefferies
Roam by Rachel Jefferies & Sahin Designs
Journaling:
When Liam and I were hiking in the north of Sweden in 2019, one of our days on the trail became longer than planned. It was already our longest day - about 23 km - and it also turned out to be the hottest. It was 27°C during most of the day, which doesn't sound like much, but when you are on the mountain in the baking sun and there are literally no trees, it does make the walking harder. So when we passed Kebnekaise fjällstation at 2 in the afternoon, we decided to stay indoors for two hours and have some rest until the worst of the heat passed, and then countinue walking into the night.
(The thing about hiking in the North in the summer is, of course, that it never gets dark. This was in July, so then sun wasn't up above the horizon all night, but it only ever gets to dusk before it turns directly into dawn. And we already knew that the weather would be good. So there was no danger in being out on the mountain late.)
So we walked on and had a beautiful hike for the rest of the evening. It was past 11 in the evening when we made it to the Singi huts. We weren't expecting a hut warden to be awake at that time, but knew we could take any available beds and pay for them in the morning.
As luck would have it, when we approached the nearest hut, a lady opened the door and stepped out. She greeted me in English, so I answered her in English, and she exclaimed "oh, are you British?!". "No, but he is!" I said, smiled and pointed at Liam (very pleased at the compliment that I sound like a native English speaker!). The lady explained that she's not the hut warden, she was just stepping out to the loo, but that there were two available beds in the room where she slept. So we snuck in as quietly as possible, got ready for the night and had a good night's sleep.
In the morning we were able to chat more and it turned out that Claire and her partner Andrew are lovely people - and so interesting! Andrew had, funnily enough, lived in Sweden back in the 70s and 80s, while Claire had lived and been married in Japan (!) when she was younger. The stories they could tell about their travels! Both of them having been in romantic relationships with someone from a different country before, they were of course interested to hear about me and Liam, and Liam's at the time very recent move to Sweden. Culture and cultural similarities and differences - so much to talk about!
We were all hiking to the same hut that day, so while they left a bit earlier than us (we were very slow in the morning since we got in so late), we did get to have dinner together and talk more that evening in the next hut. After that we parted ways, but we're friends on facebook and I always love seeing Claire's photos and updates from their life in the UK. This is just one of many examples I have of delightful connections in the mountains - there's something magical about the people you meet in the wilderness!
