Abisko to Alesjaure, two days
- Distance
- 41 km
- Ascent
- 480 m
- Time
- 2 days
- Season walked
- August
- Water
- Everywhere
The section everybody uses as a warm-up, which is exactly what I needed it for.
Flat is the wrong word — it undulates constantly — but nothing here demands anything of you. The path is wide, dry in places you expect to be wet, and boarded across the worst of the bog. For a first long walk of the season it is close to ideal: you can be careless with pace and the ground will not punish you.
Day one
Out of Abisko late, around eleven, which turned out fine because there is no reason to hurry. Birch forest for the first two hours, then it opens out and stays open. I stopped at Abiskojaure well before I needed to and spent the afternoon doing nothing, which I now think was the best decision of the trip.
Day two
Longer and more exposed. The valley widens and the wind has room to work; I walked the last two hours with the hood up in weather that had been sunshine at breakfast. Alesjaure sits above the lake with a sauna that is worth the queue.
What I would change
Carried four days of food for a two-day walk out of pure anxiety. The huts sell more than I expected. Next time: two days of food, one spare dinner, and the weight goes into a warmer sleeping bag instead.