Northern Europe: Vasaloppsleden

Mora was my next rest day which I spent in a nice AirBnB place. Although the infection in my leg had disappeared the wound itself took a long time to heal. It was very deep and animal bites never get stitches. Whenever I squatted down the wound opened up again - and it was still festering. When I left Mora I decided to buy hydrogen peroxide in order to clean the wound daily. Of course by the time I wanted to leave town almost all pharmacies had closed and I had to hike a three kilometre detour to find one in a big shopping mall. And to my utter surprise I had to learn that hydrogen peroxide is not available in Sweden at all! I bought another desinfectant which did the trick eventually.
 

Idyllic location in the forest

The Vasaloppsleden is only 90 kilometres long and can be used by hikers, cyclist and skiers - sometimes on different route variants. The world famous Vasoloppet ski race takes place here in winter and there are summer races as well. I saw very few other hikers there which meant that I had all the wonderful huts to myself! And this is the biggest advantage of this sweet little trail: There are huts every 10 - 15 kilometres which only cost as little as five EUR per night! Plus there are plenty of shelters along the trail for rest breaks. The huts are located at some really idyllic spots and are equipped with beds, stove and fire wood! I just loved them - and their prices!

Inside one of the huts

It rained cats and dogs on day two on the Vasaloppsleden. Unfortunately water got into my Garmin GPS and after drying the "joystick" stopped working. Although this was bad news it did not come as a big surprise: I had been using the GPS for years now! But how to get a replacement? I ordered one from Amazon to a postoffice in Storlien which was about 2 weeks ahead. The rainy day though had a wonderful ending: I reached one of the huts which was located right next to a lake, took an evening swim and dried all my clothes overnight inside. Altough the huts are well equipped most of them don't have electricity - therefore it came as a nice surprise that right before the end of the Vasaloppsleden I came across a "race centre" which is used in winter time by the organizers. There was electricity and even a water kettle and a kitchen! Nice place for an early lunch and recharging my phone!

Wonderful hut location right next to a lake