Medstugan to Skalstugen

---

My best efforts to get away a little early were foiled. I had hoped to avoid as much traffic as I could by departing before 8:00 am even though this leg was only about 2.5 hours of walking. Suffice to say I did a complete unpack and repack of my backpack before departing.

There were magnificent views across the Medstugusjön to the mountains on the border. My guidebook suggests the taller peak is in Norway, and without any way of confirming this on a map, I accepted that. Later I found a good topographic map in the hallway where I stayed, and confirmed that all the mountains on the horizon were in Norway.

It was interesting to see that there were still a fair number of lakeside cottages. I'm not sure that i was expecting that. These, like the farming hamlets, were much further spread apart than they had been earlier in the trip. On reflection, I realized that I was following a trading route that had existed for many centuries, and where I was going to stay had once been a customs post on that route. More, the former hunting lodge where I had booked a bed had been built in the 19th Century, and wasn't some recent development. So perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised that others wanted to stay in these beautiful surroundings.

---