The wind pulled at the tent and another day along the Swedish coast was waiting. The kayak was loaded at the water's edge, packed with everything she needed — maps, food, safety equipment. Victoria Bergmark zipped the dry bag, looked toward the horizon, and took her first paddle strokes into the sea. One of roughly eighty paddling days that together would make up her great adventure: kayaking Havsbandsleden along Sweden's entire coastline — the so-called blue band.
A childhood reader, not a hiker
Rewind and the picture looks completely different. As a child Victoria was anything but an outdoor enthusiast. She moved from Uppsala to a small inland village in Västerbotten at age ten or eleven. Despite the beautiful nature around her, she wasn't the least bit interested. Mosquitoes, rain, teenage attitude — no thanks. What she did do was read. Books about solo sailors circumnavigating the globe, about adventurers venturing into the unknown. She was fascinated by the stories, even if she didn't sail herself.
Real interest in the outdoors came as an adult, perhaps the last ten to fifteen years before the adventure. It was when she started kayaking that something clicked. "When I started paddling I immediately felt — yes, this is something. I'm home here." She had always loved the sea, and now she'd found her way to be near it.
A seed planted by books
Then came the books by Jim Danielsson and Bengt Larsson — paddlers who had completed Havsbandsleden and written about it. She started following people on social media who were doing the same paddle. A small seed was planted: she couldn't sail, but she could paddle. As early as 2016 she wrote on Facebook about following others' adventures and that she might one day do something similar.
But the dream took its time. The children needed to get older. Her youngest daughter was still in secondary school. Around 2020 or 2021 she realised the timing had finally lined up — the children could look after themselves.
The birthday book
The decisive moment came unexpectedly. Someone gave her a book as a birthday gift — no connection to paddling, but with a simple inscription: "Happy birthday. Don't forget to follow your dreams." And Victoria thought: right. Now I'm deciding.
"Making the decision is the most important step. Once you've decided, it doesn't matter if it's a year away or three — you're on your way. You've set your sights."
The arm injury — and the unexpected partner
Summer 2022. The plan was to paddle solo. Then an arm inflammation threatened to end everything just days in. Another paddler, Jonna Ingvaldsson, reached out — her own travel companion had split from the group and she needed company. Victoria hesitated, but they tried paddling together. It worked. The arm improved. A third paddler joined along the way. All three crossed the finish line together: 88 days, the full Swedish coastline.
The most important preparation, Victoria emphasised, was mental. Packing equipment was the easy part. "There's no real difference between being out for two months and a shorter trip — you're just doing the same things 80 more times."
