Stockholm’s archipelago is a joy in summer but harder to get around at other times as ferries reduce their services. But that could change with the launch of a new trail linking 21 islands

On this windless autumn Saturday, the landscape is curiously hushed. Occasionally, a tiny chorus of coal tits gathers to chat in the pines above my head, but otherwise it’s soundless, the muffled stillness willing me to slow my pace. As the track turns from soil to sand, I skitter over smooth grey rocks to reach a crescent of chalky powder. As I strip down to my swimsuit and slip into the shiveringly crisp water, the sun breaks through and I’m suddenly swimming through rhinestones, amazed to have the coastline to myself.

I’m hiking, solo, two hours south of the Swedish capital, along the Stockholm Archipelago Trail, a 167-mile (270km) path that has been gradually opening, section by section, this summer before its official launch later this month. It came about thanks to a chance conversation between Marie Östblom, a project manager for the Stockholm Business Region, and Swimrun co-founder Michael Lemmel, and when all sections are completed later this month, the trail will run between Arholma in the north and Landsort in the south, linking 21 islands.