Nordic nature is perfection for a walk on the mild side

Searching for a quieter hiking route, Rory Buccheri found tranquility on Sweden's historic Romboleden pilgrimage

- Rory Buccheri

As I pitched my tent among the toothpick-shaped trees, I thought about the words of my hiking guide. “Nature belongs to everyone in Sweden. We have a right to access and a duty to be guardians to our natural world,” he said.

It’s easy to envy that attitude, known in Swedish as “allemansrätten”. Living in England, a country where half of the landmass is owned by less than one per cent of the population, the freedom to pitch anywhere is refreshing.

And refreshing is what I was after. The Camino de Santiago, the historic Spanish pilgrimage route, is remarkably popular - more than 500,000 people walked it last year. But as global temperatures keep rising and overtourism affects Spain and Portugal, I wanted to discover an alternative.

In the footsteps of hundreds of thousands before me, I decided to walk the Romboleden, the oldest pilgrimage in the Nordics and Sweden’s longest hiking route. The 560-mile path crosses forests, lakes, villages and the open sea, connecting Trondheim, in Norway, to the Swedish town of Köping, next to Stockholm.

Swapping the sweltering Camino with its cooler, Nordic equivalent, I embarked on a journey that replaced sun-bleached cobblestones with blueberry-filled, mossy paths.

Rather than seeking an audience with the king, or praying the Gods to bless my crops (all legitimate Romboleden reasons), I walked my stress away while immersed in the gorgeous nature. Centenary woodlands, a lake carved from a meteor 377 million years ago, and even bears, were all protagonists on my journey.

Like the medieval peasants before me, I chose to focus on a section of the Romboleden that crosses my favourite region of Sweden. Aptly nicknamed “Sweden in miniature”, I started in central Dalarna, where three hiking trails converge: the Romboleden, the Fäbodleden and the Siljansleden.