As I’m about to head back to the UK in time for the milder weather, I thought I’d share some photos from my walks here in snowy Småland, in southestern Sweden. It’s been mostly -7 to -10*C although a few days at around -16*C. Mostly I’ve been out for 1-2 h at a time and in ankle- to shin-deep snow. It’s been glorious even when the sky was completely overcast. The forests here are very blocky and often inundated by water, so it’s been nice to be able to take shortcuts over the frozen water where you’d normally have to go a long detour to get from one road to another.
My favourite place here is a small lake a few kilometers away that is home to the local swimming spot. The light is always amazing and it’s a lovely walk though the blueberry forest in all seasons. In the beginning of the week the ice was still quite weak, but yesterday people had been out skiing on it, hugging the shoreline.
Since there has been so much talking about cold weather clothes on the forum recently, I though I’d report on that too. As I kept moving for most of the time, not much extra clothes were needed - apart from synthetic midweigh long johns, warm Hesta mittens over thin knitted gloves. I got an Arc’teryx Atom LT Hoody jacket for my birthday in the summer that I have been pretty much living in it since early November (old cold stone house, rainy walks etc) and it’s been sufficient here as well, with a gortex jacket over top and a warm layer underneath. The only time I resorted to my bigger down jacket was taking the recycling to the recycling point one evening when it was really cold and windy.
My favourite place here is a small lake a few kilometers away that is home to the local swimming spot. The light is always amazing and it’s a lovely walk though the blueberry forest in all seasons. In the beginning of the week the ice was still quite weak, but yesterday people had been out skiing on it, hugging the shoreline.
Since there has been so much talking about cold weather clothes on the forum recently, I though I’d report on that too. As I kept moving for most of the time, not much extra clothes were needed - apart from synthetic midweigh long johns, warm Hesta mittens over thin knitted gloves. I got an Arc’teryx Atom LT Hoody jacket for my birthday in the summer that I have been pretty much living in it since early November (old cold stone house, rainy walks etc) and it’s been sufficient here as well, with a gortex jacket over top and a warm layer underneath. The only time I resorted to my bigger down jacket was taking the recycling to the recycling point one evening when it was really cold and windy.
