Trip Ref #10167
DURATION
3 nights
LOCATION
Sweden
ANNUAL LEAVE
2 days off work
SEASON
October
GROUP SIZE
Up to 8 people
MEETING POINT
Västerås, Sweden
ACCOMMODATION
Cabin
OVERALL RATING
0.0
DIFFICULTY
Easy
This trip is all about learning the skills to help you thrive in the wilderness.
Discover Nature's larder as you learn all about the flora, forage for mushrooms and berries, or fish for perch
Learn how to build a fire to keep you warm all night, cook gourmet meals on an open flame, or carve beautiful tools from wood
Get into a hunter gatherer state of mind as you relax in total isolation in a beautiful pine forest accessible only by foot or canoe
Day 1
Head into the wilderness
You'll be picked up at either 10.00 in Västerås or 11.00 in Söderbärke and head to a beautiful deep pine forest in central Sweden. It’s located in a vast wooded region full of lakes, hills and mires. A short hike takes you to rustic wooden shelters by a pristine forest lake. Your bushcraft guide will be waiting with a pot full of warming stew, stacks and stacks of firewood and all kinds of tools and natural materials for crafting projects.
Each day from your base in the forest you chose the projects which you enjoy the most, and it's very flexible to both your personal and the group’s preferences.
Day 2
Cook, forage, craft
Over the next few days you’ll cook, craft, build, forage and explore together. Learn how to build fires for cooking, use embers for baking and make setups for smoking foods. The group will build a nice solid prep table learning rope lashing techniques that you can use to build almost anything. When darkness falls you'll use different techniques with bigger logs to keep comfy all night long.
Each day there are options for hikes to see what you can find in the forest: October is an abundant time for mushroom and berries. Some wild ingredients are used in cooking delicious dishes, others you will be taught the uses and applications for.
Day 3
Carving, canoes and more cooking
If you chose, you can spend a lot of time around the fire working on craft projects to bring home. It’s completely up to you how long you wish to spend and the level of difficulty. Your bushcraft guide will assist every step of the way. Some of the options include:
- Carving a handle for a knife out of birch wood, treating it with pine oil and attaching a great quality blade
- Making a handle for your farro rod out of reindeer antlers and a lanyard
- Producing pine tar from fatwood and use to make birch bark cups.
There also are a couple of canoes for excursions on the water or peaceful angling for perch. The forest and lake is also full of wildlife and you may spot moose, roe deer, foxes, hares, badgers and birds like herons and cranes.
Day 4
Hone your craft
There is time for one last hike, and to finish of your carving before getting packed up and ensuring you leave no trace. Fill your rucksack with crafts and head back out of the forest with a whole array of new bushcrafting skills you can take with you onto your next adventure.
Included
Bushcraft Guide
You'll have an expert guide to teach you Bushcraft skills
Accommodation
Sleep in open-sided woodland shelters or in tents
Meals
Delicious fresh food cooked on an open fire
Equipment
All camping equipment, plus materials for craft projects to bring home
Transfers
Pick-up and drop-off in Söderbärke or Västerås
Not Included
Travel to and from the start point
Flights to and from the meeting point
Travel insurance
Personal expenses
Day 1
Cabin · Mixed dorm
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 2 – Day 3
Cabin · Mixed dorm
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 4
Departure day
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
What is the food like?
The pine forest at this time of year offers up a wide variety of mushrooms, juniper berries, lichens, heather and other plants. You will also taste and learn about wild ingredients that can be foraged during other seasons and preserved to be used all year long.
A few of the dishes you'll make are:
- Fire-roasted whole trout with potatoes, Jåamoe cream and pesto of garlic mustard, wild onion, sorrel & nettles.
- Slow-cooked lamb stew with foraged mushrooms. Cast-iron baked bread and smoked lichen butter.
- Juniper marinated venison with smashed root vegetables, spiced caramelised wild apples with spruce salt and pickled spruce tips & young cones.
- Thin sautéed slices of reindeer with smoked mashed potatoes and juniper sweet pickled lingonberries.
- A taste of spring! Pears poached with plum blossom sugar, flambeed in rhubarb snaps and drizzled with birch syrup.
All soft drinks are included and alcoholic drinks can be pre-ordered in advance from your host.
Given the culinary nature of this trip in such a remote location, it can challenging to accommodate alternative dietary requirements. Please get in touch with your local host before booking to discuss.
What is the accommodation like?
Wooden Shelters or Tents
You'll be sleeping in shared open-faced wooden shelters which sleep 4/5 people each. The shelters are rustic but comfortable with warm sleeping bags and inflatable matresses. If you prefer a little more privacy, you can request your own Hilleberg tent for solos or pairs, for no extra charge.
The Area
Logistics
Starts
Västerås: either the train station or your hotel
10.00 on Day 1
Ends
Västerås : either the train station or your hotel
17:00 on Day 4
Transfers
You can be picked up either from your hotel/Airbnb, or directly from Västerås Train Station at around 10:00 on Day 1 - the major hub of the area. Alternatively you can also be picked up at Söderbärke Train Station at 11:00.
At the end, you'll be dropped back in Västerås at around 17:00 either for your onward journey, or at your accommodation for the night.
Travel options
You can fly to Stockholm Arlanda and get the train to Västerås Station for the 10:00 pick-up. The train takes 1 hr 50 mins. If you're combining it with a visit to Stockholm, then take the Arlanda Express to the city, which takes 20 mins. The train from Stockholm Central to Västerås then takes 55 mins. You can check out train options here
There is time to catch a late evening flight home Stockholm Arlanda any time from 21:00 onwards, or depart the next day.
You can also fly direct to Stockholm Västerås airport, although there are more limited fights.
Enjoy 12.5% Off Outdoor Gear
In need of a few more items? All bookings receive a 12.5% discount to use at Cotswold Outdoor, Snow + Rock and Runner's Need.
What's Included
Top quality equipment, warm sleeping bags, inflatable matress.
What you need to bring
Hiking or trekking boots Backpack for your personal items Waterproof shell jacket and trousers suitable for autumn temps Warm sweaters Sturdy outdoor type trousers Base layers Wool socks Beanie Gloves Normal shoes Cozy clothing for sleeping Towel Sunglasses, sun block & toiletries Camera/phone
No optional extras are available for this trip.
We’re still waiting to collect any reviews from other travellers on this trip. However, all our hosts go through an extensive vetting process to ensure that your adventure is awesome.
We've crunched the numbers to work out the total carbon footprint of this trip, and plant enough trees to suck 2x as much back out the atmosphere.
What's the number?
It works out on average at 58kg of CO2 emissions per person, including all local transport, accommodation, food, activities, guides, staff and office operations.
The only thing it doesn’t include right now is flights and travel to the destination. We do make an overall estimate across all our customers separately, but as we don’t book flights, have customers from all corners of the world, and no way of reliably knowing their travel plans, we simply can’t include an individual number in the figure on display here. We’ve got a goal for 2023 to fix that, so that when you book, there is a way to measure and mitigate the carbon emitted by your flight too.
But what does the number mean?
Yep, hard to picture eh? To give you an idea:
- Driving 1000miles/1609km would be approx. 281kg of CO2 in an average car (or 140.5kg per person if there was 2 of you in it).
- A return economy class flight London - New York would be approx. 1,619kg (1.66 tonnes) per person.
- 10 trees in a temperate forest are estimated to remove approx. 250kg of CO2 from the air in a period of 5-10 years.
What are we doing about it?
Our trips are relatively low-carbon by design, and we're working with all our hosts to develop long term carbon reduction plans. For every person booked with us since 2016 we’re planting enough trees to suck at least 2x more carbon out the atmosphere than is emitted by their trips. All native trees, as part of amazing projects that are re-foresting degraded land, tackling the biodiversity crisis and supporting local communities at the same time. We go further than that too, also funding re-wilding projects worldwide to help protect important keystone species from extinction. See the reforestation and re-wilding schemes we support. See our carbon action plan.
Want to know more?
Amazingly, no international travel company has ever publicly published their carbon measurements before, as far as we know. We believe that must change, quickly. So we’re openly sharing the method we used in the hope that other companies will be able to more easily follow suit and build on what we've done so far. You'll find it all here.
No previous experience of any kind required and the hikes can be a short or long as you like. The days can be flexible to suit your preferences.
Sure can! Over 50% of our travellers travel solo, it’s a great way to meet like-minded people.
Temperatures are likely around 7-13 degrees during the day and 3-8 degrees at night. It's a beautiful time of year to visit the forests.
Our recommended travel insurance provider is Campbell Irvine.
Travel insurance is compulsory on all of our adventures. Your insurance should include adequate protection for overseas medical treatment, evacuation/repatriation, your baggage and equipment and the specific activities involved on your adventure.
Your insurance policy should also include specific Covid-19 cover, including cancellation and curtailment cover if you, your travel companion or a close relative are diagnosed with Covid-19.
We fully endorse Campbell Irvine as their insurance offers all of the above, so get in touch with them or call on 020 7938 1734 to get your insurance sorted. We suggest that you book travel insurance as soon as you book your adventure, just to cover you for any last minute life changes. We know you’re an active lot and injuries do happen!
We automatically convert prices from the local currency that a host receives to your chosen currency. We update our exchange rates on a daily basis so this does mean that prices displayed on the site are subject to currency fluctuations, which is why you may see them change over time.
If you wish to change the currency you pay in, head to the bottom of the page.
All of our group adventures are specially designed for adults to enjoy (18+) as we want these adventures to bring together outdoorsy people who are truly like-minded. Children can be accommodated on some private departures.
You're in good company. Our adventures are typically made up of a mix of solo travellers and small groups of two or three friends who simply love adventure, pushing themselves and meeting awesome like-minded people. See here for more info about our lovely bunch of Much Better Adventurers.
Want to book a private trip? Just tap ‘Private Group’ in the dates and prices tab.
Your trip is led by carefully curated local hosts and expert guides. See here for more info about the guides we work with.
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