Birdsong starts at 02:00, cuckoos at 06:00. Yesterday 400 miles mostly on the 365 to Dorotea, then the weather improves, past the pretty town Sveg and on towards Mora. But it was warm, sunny even; I had not seen this for days. Most of the day it rained,lightly – not penetrating my waterproofs. As it was dried, I put on my new fur lined snow gloves, the ones with the white leather palms, already second hand and grubby. I had sung most of the day, loudly in my helmet. Something in me had shifted, the therapy of swift monotonous concentration, diving into the gap between the armco and the forty tonner thundering spray as it heads towards you on a fast bend does promote a graceful calmness combined with fear, just enough to focus on the line you take.

High woods, gravel path, time to slow and try it, a clearing, flat dry ground, remains of white loo paper, glued to the ground. Perfect. I’m not hungry, frequent 90 mile fill ups with machine made coffee and the occasional hot dog sustained and helped me keep alert that day, so no need for a big meal. Unfolding ritual; taking my time. Dried hot sour soup, rolls and tasteless fake chicken slices, with peculiar caviar flavoured cheese squeezed from a tube. They sell affordable caviar in shoe Polish sized tins up here but it must be kept chilled, s I leave that…Tea with honey on a huge flat warm rock. Bog cotton nearby in bloom. The ground a neat micro garden of a huge biodiversity, all arranged by the great other. If you are into dualism then it’s a pantheon of gardening gods or an omniscient all seeing Monty Don, or if you a non dualist it’s part of that forgetful portion of me, you know the one, the one that is writing this and will read it later, or before… If time does not exist.

My over trousers are torn with the wind, along the zip on the left calf. Should I Duck tape it up or leave it? These kind of decisions are all I have to be concerned with at the moment. Mosquito spray running out. I apply Voltaren Gel (Diclofnac cream) to my elbows and wrists. I need this stuff at my age, the ibuprofen pills not working. The cooling perfumed feeling soothes me. As the ointment does its work. Diclofnac taken orally on a long term basis has revealed a higher incidence of heart problems, if I am not mistaken. However, creams are the way forward in the modern world, apparently.

Crawled into tent after 21:00, too cold, fitful sleep. I woke at 01:00 the sun just below the trees, a lower latitude so sunset/sunrise happens for four hours during night time. I took some photos (to be uploaded). Read until two, until blackbirds and cuckoos at six.