On the last day of the last weekend that this nature reserve would be open (until next fall), Tina and I decided to walk out to Måkläppen to see the seals. It's one of those things that the Swedes in the area do (or say they're going to do if they ever get around to it.) And if you walk the whole thing (like I did), it's about 15.5 km — there and back — (a little under 10 miles) without a single Starbucks in sight.

We started at the Flommens golf course in Falsterbo (see the beginning of the red dots at the top). And then you walk along the beach. And walk, and walk, and walk...

Here's Tina (on her birthday) next to the lighthouse (the yellow square I put in the satellite picture above).

And me. We're bundled up, wearing long johns and scarves. We stayed warm too.

Ooh, look! Swans! Two of 'em!

We kept walking and soon(-ish) that lighthouse was behind us. Can you see it in the center of this picture?

And then you get to this thing. What is it?

Looking back the way we came again.

And then we saw some seals. This picture doesn't do them justice (I don't have the camera for that). But I saw at least ten of these guys out along this part of the coastline. Their heads would pop up, check you out for a few seconds, then pop back under. One such seal I saw as close as about 20 meters.

Soon after spotting a few seals, Tina thought she'd double back and walk out the other way (not yet realizing that the land is not attached at the far tip (end of the red dots). I said no, we should continue on. Tina said she'd meet me coming the other direction. So, because we are both equally stubborn, we split up. Perhaps we would have benefitted from looking up the satellite view before we set out on our trip. Ya think?

This is where I started rounding the bend (bottom of satellite pic). You can see some people walking out on the inner frozen part of the water. It wasn't all frozen though. By this point I'd seen at least ten different seals. They were all off this western coast (including a pair swimming together).

Walking toward the tip was bleaker looking, windier too. The waves were choppy on this Baltic side and I didn't see any seals on this part.

This is what the tip looked like. This pic is actually stolen from my friend Niclas who had taken this shot some days earlier when he had decided to run the whole way out and back. Yes, run. Yes, I know, these Swedes are crazy. (My camera battery was pretty much dead at this point.)

It was here that I saw Tina waving at me from the other side. "Sorry!" she yelled. "I'll meet you in the car!" Okay, then.

Well.

I'm not walking through there. The water would be at least up to my knees. At this point I realized I was exactly halfway done with my walk.

So I headed back.

Along the way I was stopped by two older gentlemen toting large cameras. They'd seen me (and waved to me) when I was on the tip and they too were on the other side. They thought I was making good time. A little bit later, another Swede asked if I'd seen any seals (she asked in Swedish, I answered in English). I told her the dozen I'd seen by now were all along this coast. Still later I ran into Niclas and his family. It was then he said he'd clocked the distance when he'd run it some days previously.

Trudge, trudge, trudge.

Two and a half hours after we'd started, I met Tina back at the car.

Back at the house we had a birthday cake for her with Mormor and Morfar.

So now I can say I did Måkläppen. The whole thing!