The Shin-Thing

Mile 181 / KM 292 (+ 47 km for the Kebnekaise detour)

Kvikkjokk - Jäkkvik

Audiobook of the week: 'The Sun Also Rises' by Ernest Hemingway

Song stuck in my head: 'The Bigger The Pile' by Neutral Zone

I miss: My injury-free body


"You just missed the boat," said Mrs. Johansson while sitting in her tiny windowless office and those weren't the news we’d been hoping for. "The next one will leave at 5 p.m." It was 10:30 a.m. and we had only done 10km when we realized we would basically lose a full day of hiking because of that boat transfer. At first, I was bummed because I had wanted to take a zero-day in Jäkkvik, where there was a hostel and shop, but after accepting the news the place turned out to be perfect. The sun was out, Mrs. Johansson offered us pizza and beer and we were allowed to hang out on the deck, where Mr. Johansson was chatting with us while prepping his water-plane for a grocery run. We did our laundry, swam in the ice cold water and waited for the time to pass.

At 5 p.m. Mr. Johansson finally gave the signal that he was ready to go, so we all hopped on board and headed south across the lake. Once on the other side, we had 18km to go and we figured we'd make it to Jäkkvik anyways, so the five of us started hiking as fast as we could. After 13 km we had to cross yet another lake, but this time we'd have to row. There's this thing here where there always needs to be a rowing boat on either side of the lake, so sometimes you end up rowing across the lake three times to make sure that's the case. Exactly what we had to do. Luckily we had some strong company with us, so Laura and I just ended up sitting in one of the boats like queens, while our gondoliere Marian was rowing us from shore to shore.

'5km to Jäkkvik' showed the sign on the other side. I took a few steps when I noticed a sharp pain in my right shin. I knew exactly what it meant. There's one thing you do not want to get while thru-hiking: shin-splints. It's the worst thing there is, because there is nothing you can do about it other than rest. It hurts like hell and it gets worse fast if you keep going. I've seen many hikers quit because of shin-splints and I was afraid I would have to do the same. I've never quit a trail because of an injury. It would take a lot for me to do that, but this pain wasn't fun. I took an ibuprofen and kept on hiking. Slower than the others, but I had to make it to Jäkkvik one way or the other. The sun had just set and the pain killer had kicked in when I made it to 'town'. Town meaning a shop, a hostel, a gas station, and four tiny houses.

The Jäkkvik hostel is a great place though. Clean and full of nice people to chat with. We had a late dinner and I was hoping the shin-thing would disappear overnight. Sadly that wasn't the case, so we decided to take a rest day to avoid making things worse.

On the bright side, we ran into some Finnish fishermen this morning and after asking them for some fresh fish, they handed us two huge trouts which we'll have for dinner. They said they had gone out fishing the night before and had caught forty (40!) fish between the four of them in two (2!) hours. Trout party tonight!

In other news, we finally managed to find a laundry machine. Something that makes me very, very happy. They also sell deodorants at the shop which makes me even happier. Less smelly times ahead!

Size 37 vs. 51

Laura finally found her prince.

Laundry Day

Heaven on earth.

Mr. Johansson

Mrs. Magnusson

Downtown Jäkkvik.

Off-Day vibes