Vicks Torp to Saro: Escaping Ting

I had kept trying to leave Ting and continue my journey but everyday something kept me.
Days at Ting could be spent in the forests, lake of water lillies, doing workshops on meditation, Sin Do, Tai Chi and so on. It was totally inspiring. The Forest at Ting had glades of Moss so thick it felt like you were lying on a duvet. You could easily go here during the heat of the day and fall asleep.
Evenings involved a group helping to prepare the dinner which was then eaten in a large circle in a forest clearing this was then followed by announcements, thoughts, songs and music.
Anybody could adress the Ting by taking hold of stick from the centre of the circle next to a fire. The music was incredible. A mass rhythm section accompanied a harmonica, accordian, violin, guitar the list goes on in long renditions of everything from Nordic folk songs to Thriller, each rising to an ecstatic often improvised crescendo! These setions lasted long into the night and dotted around the lake and forest were many smaller fires each with their own groups, stories and dreams.
Ting is very small festival. Only 160 people attend and you quickly get to know everyone. It is not an architypal 'hippy' gathering either. Drugs and alcohol are banned and the the people that attend range from the quitly counter-cultural to magnificently eccentric.
One of the highlights for me at Ting was going into Gothenburg to busk with the musical group. 14 of us squeezed into the back of a windowless van in the baking heat and drove for 45 minutes to the city centre. We warmed up on the way, a cozy experience to say the least. The hippy's had come to Gothenburg and everyone stared mouths open, laughing as we made our way down the main boulevard, semi naked and unwashed playing multi-instrumental Nordic folk, our hearts blazing. We set down our pitch in the main square, an 18 strong ensemble of jugglers, dancers and musicians and set about energising the experience of those passing by. I was playing two logs and a saucepan! We were well recieved, made lots of money and quite a few passers by joined in. It was the first time I had ever busked and it was a real privilige to support such accomplised musicians.
When I left Ting, Emma gave me a beautiful necklace she had carved out of an avacado seed of a tree with the hammock in it.
I felt horrendous as I made my way west to the coast, it was so strange being back in the 'real' world.

Pictured here is the sunset over Saro on the coast. Saro was the residency of the Swedish Royal family in the 18th century and the cycle route there follows the railway line they had specially built to take them there from Gothenburg. The place is now full of mansions and tennis courts.