Out of my comfort zone

They all say that sometime you have to go outside your comfort zone. Well, I tried it on Saturday. Båstad Hiking Weekend is an annual event, which we tried out last year. They offer around 15 hiking tours with different themes. This year we choose an adventure theme; In the Foot Steps of the 'Snapphanar'. The following from Wikipedia on what a 'snapphane' is.

"A snapphane was a member of a 17th-century pro-Danish guerrilla organisation that fought against the Swedes in the Second Northern and Scanian Wars, primarily in the former eastern Danish provinces which in the course of these wars became southern Sweden. Many pro-Danish guerrilla fighters referred to themselves as friskydter, i.e. volunteer militiamen. During the Scanian War, many Scanians who lived in the western part of Scania could quite easily join the regular Danish army, after the 1676 Danish re-conquest of the province. But in the North (closer to Sweden), this was more difficult. Instead, this partisan movement was the most common way to support the Danish. The movement did also return during the 1711 Danish attempt to regain Scania.

The term snapphane, which was used as a pejorative term by the Swedes to describe the pro-Danish rebels, was originally a word for gangs of bandits that lived in the woods. When Scanian exiled peasants were organised by the Danish king into bands that fought the Swedes with guerrilla methods, they were called Snapphane too."

The Swedes fought them brutally, and if caught, usually executed in a brutal manner. It is hard to believe the cruelties, when you today walk the forests where they were hiding. Beautiful paths, small creeks and trees giving a magic light. I expected a short historical background to 'Snapphanarna', but unfortunately there was not so much of that.

More though of something else. We were treated to try out rappelling, which means going down a cliff on a rope, and archery. We were all quite excited. Seeing the cliff (it was only 15 m down, but it looked like more, and I don't really like heights!) I was hesitating whether I should really do it or not. However, I remembered the notion that from time to time one should go outside ones own comfort zone...and so I did it. It was really great fun and not so difficult as I thought it was. I would have liked to try another time, but there was no time for it. Something to keep for another time.

The archery was also fun. Difficult to aim, difficult for the fingers that were going to press back the string and let it go. However, proud of myself, I was one of the very few to hit the middle, yellow point. YAY! 

All in all it was a wonderful day in nature. Magic to walk around in the deep forest and think of all the snapphanar that once hid here. It must have been a very difficult life. Today, it is a peaceful, beautiful place where one can enjoy pure nature. We ran into some Danes who has come to this place since 1985 to camp. Imagine! The mushroom lovers had a big day as well, filling their bags with lots of chantarelles. Maybe they enjoyed them later on in the evening, fried in butter on toast.