{"id":39954,"date":"2021-10-06T18:49:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-06T16:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rendahls.se\/?p=39954"},"modified":"2024-07-24T12:45:17","modified_gmt":"2024-07-24T10:45:17","slug":"a-coughing-trip-to-the-hall-with-some-walking-and-plenty-of-treats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rendahls.se\/en\/blog\/2021\/10\/06\/en-hostresa-till-salen-med-lite-vandring-och-gott-om-godsaker\/","title":{"rendered":"An autumn trip to S\u00e4len with a little hiking and plenty of goodies"},"content":{"rendered":"

After last year's success with the hiking trip to Lake Gr\u00f6velsj\u00f6n<\/a> we decided to take a trip to S\u00e4len. We have always jokingly talked about how lucky we have been with the weather on our travels, at some point it will turn around, we said. Hiking in Sweden in October is always a bit of a gamble, but as I said, we are usually lucky with the weather...<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S\u00e4len is actually a traditional winter sports resort, but in recent years has started to profile itself as a good travel destination also in summer. This way in October, you are a bit in between the two seasons, so much was closed. However, if the purpose of the trip is hiking, it doesn't really matter, the mountain is always open.

We lived on Old farm<\/a>, a year-round hotel a few kilometers from H\u00f6gfj\u00e4llshotellet. The two hotels belong together, but Gammelg\u00e5rden is smaller and cozier. Furthermore, it is known for its good food and has been nominated for game restaurant of the year for several years.

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Classic chanterelle soup<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Reindeer trecot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Homemade ice cream<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Pilgrim clam<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Game stew<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Dig clean<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Venison meatballs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So what can you find in S\u00e4len in October?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, don't let a little rain get you down. With good rain gear and a certain amount of baldness you get really far. In addition, there are often both drying cabinets for wet clothes and saunas for wet hikers available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, the trips were not as long as we had planned. We were ready for full-day trips and had a pack full of picnic food and snacks, but we changed our minds and opted for slightly shorter trips instead.
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Well prepared joints<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Believe it or not, this is actually the hiking trail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The mountains' equivalent of a forgotten boat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Finally some break<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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One of the days we tried the \u00d6stfj\u00e4llsturen, which is part of the S\u00f6dra Kungsleden. The trip is 9 km long and partly asphalted, which is certainly comfortable but at the same time a bit boring. Up on the mountain the view is supposed to be amazing but due to the bad weather the reward was not quite what we had hoped for. When you go for a round, you clearly notice the difference when you have the wind at your back and when you turn home, it was much nicer on the way up. This is certainly a nice round otherwise and cozy with a wind shelter at the top, but I simply think we will have to come back one day with better weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, we recharged and looked forward to the last day of our trip, when SMHI had promised a break and a bit of sun. Now we would go the slightly longer Hemfj\u00e4llsturen, which is about 16 km. Both the \u00d6stfj\u00e4llsturen and the Hemfj\u00e4llsturen start from Gammelg\u00e5rden and H\u00f6gfj\u00e4llshotellet, which is nice, then you just have to go out.

The day started with a bit of sun and we strolled away, happy in the heat. After a while, however, the rain came, then the wind came and then even more rain came. We pushed on, SMHI had actually said it would be nice, we passed the Lindvallen ski area and then reached Hemfj\u00e4llsstugan. The restaurant itself was closed for the season but there was a small rest house where we could go in to warm up and make some lunch and coffee. Strengthened by the food, we set out again, the weather had not improved, and we decided to take the short way home. They usually say that shortcuts are slow paths, and maybe that was the case in this case. The short road turned out to be a snowmobile trail that had turned into a small rapid. Good hiking shoes are always important on the mountain, but now we would have actually had more use for a canoe. After just under a kilometer, I had so much water in my shoes that it splashed a long way when I walked. Luckily it wasn't that cold outside anyway and guess what, the sauna was nice then. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What else did we do then, apart from walking in the rain? We do as Rendahls always do, we eat and look for goodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The first evening in S\u00e4len we had booked a table at a fantastic Italian restaurant which is just across the road from Gammelg\u00e5rden. Restaurant Appetite<\/a> serves a real Italian menu with several dishes and which is also served with an explanation of why the Italian meal is structured the way it is. Extra fun is also that the Italian is given a Swedish touch, both lingonberry and reindeer had a place on the menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Caprese<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Saffron risotto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Pure roast beef<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Tiramisu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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An impressive Grappa collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Lunch Ragu Bolognese<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Unfortunately, the restaurant is not open every day, but we also managed to get a good lunch after our first wet hiking tour. Don't miss Appetito if you visit S\u00e4len.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just outside S\u00e4len are also some sports outlets where you can kill a couple of hours, or why not visit Experium? Most things at Experium are closed like this during the mid-season, but there is at least an adventure pool, spa and cinema as well as a nice little interior design shop. During high season, the restaurants are also open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of you may have heard of \u00c5re Choklad, but we also found Seal Chocolate<\/a> and S\u00e4len's coffee roastery<\/a>. I didn't know that S\u00e4len also had a chocolate factory and this was the place for us. Here we could both get a cup of coffee and some chocolates and some chocolate to take home. A very nice chocolatier worked in the factory and shop who told us about the chocolate making and the roastery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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During our S\u00e4lenresa, cinnamon bun day fell, this was to be celebrated! Due to our wet adventure earlier in the day, we arrived far too late Bunlan's bakery<\/a> and therefore had to content ourselves with sharing the last poor bun they had left. As compensation for the missing bun, we each treated ourselves to a giant cookie instead. However, Henrik had agonized long and hard about the choice between cookie and giant meringue, which is why it also became a to-go meringue. You don't want to risk starving to death either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So what did we think of a hiking weekend in S\u00e4len in October? Well, apart from the fact that it was terribly wet, it was still pretty cosy. We enjoyed ourselves very much at Gammelg\u00e5rden but considering that so much else was closed and that the weather was so bad, it might have been better to rent a cottage this time of year. If you have a cottage, you can be \"at home\" more and, for example, cook or curl up in front of the fire with a good book on rainy days. At the same time, it's not bad at all to sit down at a set table after a day out. Anyway, I feel pretty sure that we will go back to S\u00e4len and make another attempt at hiking, maybe in the summer though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some pictures of the cozy Gammelg\u00e5rden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is no bad weather... Or is it?<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":40592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","wds_primary_category":46,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,4,8],"tags":[287],"class_list":["post-39954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mat-och-dryck","category-sverige","category-vandring","tag-upplevelse"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rendahls.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rendahls.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rendahls.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rendahls.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rendahls.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rendahls.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rendahls.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rendahls.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rendahls.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rendahls.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}