#throwback – June 8, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In paradise, I wake up to a bird concert right in my windowsill. A sweet little bird is singing its heart out. The silence is gone, but the alternative is just as beautiful. I wash my face with water from the lake. Just beneath the surface, a little crayfish is enjoying the warm rays of the sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As beautiful as the day began, it didn\u2019t stay that way. Soon it turned cloudy and drizzly. The route was incredibly tough and I made slow progress. I walked the entire day but only managed to cover 15 kilometers. Those last few hundred meters were killing me. I had seen on the app that the shelter couldn\u2019t be far, and when I turned a corner, there it was. I let out a primal scream\u2014absurdly loud and dramatic. A man came running out of the hut, startled. He thought I had fallen and asked if I was okay. Yes, yes, I\u2019m fine\u2014I\u2019m just so happy to have arrived. I was mortified, thinking I was alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He introduced himself as David John from Stockholm. He gave me a warm welcome; he had already built up the fire. Although the huts are supposed to be open to anyone as long as there\u2019s space, I still asked if he minded me staying. I really had no energy left to continue. He had no problem with it, and unlike my previous experiences, he wasn\u2019t surprised to have company. Apparently that\u2019s more common on weekends. We exchanged insights about hiking routes and countries we\u2019d visited. It was cool to see that he also walked in barefoot shoes. Like me, he had great experiences with this way of walking and no longer had knee problems. He was the first person I\u2019d seen barefoot in Sweden\u2014which made sense, he said, because it\u2019s still in its (barefoot) infancy here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
David John ate his freeze-dried hiker\u2019s food straight from the bag, while I had fresh vegetables and meat. He was a bit jealous and said it smelled amazing. We shared my chocolate over a cup of tea, and by half past eight he was already asleep. I followed his lead, though I couldn\u2019t fall asleep right away. But after some reading, I drifted into a deep sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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