Well, that didn't go as planned – there were a number of plans, both beforehand and during the tour, and the statement applies to all of them. Still, I never really felt annoyed, or stressed, or foolish, or cheated out of greatness; instead I was simply happy to be out and about again, in (mostly) good or even terrific weather which beat the recent forecasts, and found ample opportunities to enjoy the tour in the way it did unfold.

The main cause of it all was, of course, the painful knee which put very tangible restrictions on what I could realistically undertake. This was not something I could have foreseen (or could I, considering something similar has happened before?), so it was all I could do to adapt to the changing circumstances as they appeared. The full circuit of the massif was simply out of the question, and judging from how the Norwegian trail to Storsylen looked from above it was certainly the right decision not to make that attempt this time around. The overly challenging ridge between 1616 and Lillsylen was a bit of a bummer, since the view from the latter summit would have been even greater, but I felt very content with what I was able to attain.

More than that, however, it was the lowlands, and their backdrop, that was the high point (as it were), offering the very best of late-summer fairness, and I got three spectacular evenings in a row. One could do worse – and I certainly have. I also felt quite good about myself having been able to ford Enan as planned (at least that one worked out!) – the landscape in the area was very much to my liking, so following the water upstream all the way to the Sylarna trail wouldn't in any way have been bad as such, but getting to the other side shortly after my visit to Sylhyddan (another high five for being able to find that point of historical significance so easily) presented a much more favorable route. That was the idea, anyway, and I can only say that it turned out to be entirely correct.

Something else that turned out to be entirely correct was the decision not to go to Sarek this time – for finding myself with a similarly afflicted knee on a longer, more arduous trek in a much more desolate area would have been considerably worse than the comparatively mild discomfort I was subjected to now. I was also testing out a new lightweight rucksack, and being only 50 liters in volume (compared to my usual 70) it would have been strained to the limit on a Sarek outing – especially since I was not entirely satisfied with how it distributed the weight, which would also have been noticeably greater than the 14.8 kg I now carried at the start. All is well that ends well, I suppose.

So, that was that, then. Just as after I had returned from Ritsem the knee went back to normal in short fashion when not subjected to daily hardships any more, so no worries there. Perhaps start more slowly (and less steeply) next time, eh?