Hiking in Lapland has been high on my list of ‘must go’ places for many years. I remember reading a number of articles by Chris Townsend on the area and as I also have Norwegian relatives it made sense for me to visit. Still I hadn't really looked closely at the area before April and I had absolutely no idea which route I would take. Rather than spending weeks researching hikes I did what I normally do and asked my route oracle, Christine (German Tourist). If ever I want to know anything about a route then she is where I start as there really isn't many routes that she hasn't hiked or at least knows a lot about. This proved to be the case and after a Skype session 2 routes were suggested, the Nordkalottleden, and Kungsleden Trails. The Kungsleden trail is very famous so I had some idea about that but the Nordkalottleden was new to me. Christine also hadn't hiked it yet but was interested because she will be going that way the following year. A plan was formed that would see me hiking all the Nordkalottleden and most of the Kungsleden Trails which would make a combined route of just over 1000km or around 5 weeks hiking. Perfect!
