Rickard Dahl's Blog: januari 2017

After the first Skåneleden walk I got a bit tired and wanted to rest for a couple of days. Nevertheless, soon after the walk I started planning for how to walk the entire Sjuhäradsleden (which is 140km and is part of E1 European Long-distance Path). I think the reason it took until the Tuesday for me to start with Sjuhäradsleden was because the buses go more often on weekdays than on weekends and also because I was waiting for good weather. Either way, I decided to start off by tackling the longest part I've planned, namely the walk between Dalum and Mullsjö, which in total was roughly 40km (out of which the first 4km were needed to get from the bus station in Dalum to the trail at Böne Kyrka and the last 2km were needed to walk from the end of Sjuhäradsleden at Hotell Mullsjö to the train station in Mullsjö). In total the walk took 9h46min and my average speed was thus roughly 4.10km/h.
I enjoyed the walk very much (it is one of my favorite walks). The walk goes for the most part on asphalt and gravel roads and passes through many idyllic villages and near several large lakes. Near the end, the trail goes through Mullsjö friluftsområde(resort region), which is also a very interesting part of the walk. Another reason I enjoyed the walk so much was because it was 40km and it felt good to traverse such a long distance, especially since I made sure walk pretty relaxed (not rushing it). Despite walking such a long distance I didn't feel too tired (I've felt more tired during some of my shorter walks). Finally, the weather was almost perfect (sunny and good temperature).
There were a few minor things that were not as perfect. Near the end of the walk (when going through the Mullsjö resort area), the camera battery was running out. However, that did not stop me from still taking many photos (despite the risk that battery would run out). I think that it was after this walk that I started thinking about buying extra batteries for my camera but it ended up taking until a few days before I did the Gislavedsleden walk between Fegen and Burseryd (i.e. roughly 1.5 months later) before I had ordered the extra camera batteries and received them. It feels good to carry around extra batteries (and for that matter using a 128GB memory card (which is also something I ordered and received around that time) instead of a 8GB memory card). For the last part of the walk going through Mullsjö resort area I also had a bit of a hurry to make it on time to the train from Mullsjö train station and I also had to make it on time before it got dark. I arrived at the train station when the sun had almost set down. Furthermore I got a few mosquito bites when walking near the lake Stråken. Either way, I didn't let these things stop me from enjoying the last few kms of the walk and I still didn't rush things.
So, without further ado I present a selection of the photos. Enjoy!

In Dalum.

A milestone in Dalum. Rotated and cropped the photo.

Dalum church. Rotated and cropped the photo.

Böne church.

The photo was too bright (overexposed) so I equalized the histogram.

Ätran (in Knätte).

Knätte church.

10.

Knätte Bygdegård. Rotated and cropped the photo.

11.

12.

13.

14.

Jogen. For the non-sky parts I increased the brightness first using the curves tool and then the levels tool. Then I rotated and cropped the photo.

15.

Jogen. The cloud formation is nice. Rotated and cropped the photo. Then for the non-sky parts I increased the brightness using the curves tool and levels tool, and also increased the contrast.

16.

View across the Jogen. Liared church can be seen in the background. Rotated the photo slightly and then cropped it. Then I brightened the photo slightly using the levels tool.

17.

18.

"Årås Mill and STF Youth Hostel
Local heritage museum and youth hostel housed in unique buildings with their own special charm. There is a mill and two annexes in which the youth hostel is located. In summer, a café is open on Sundays, and there is a programme of many other activities."
Rotated and cropped the photo. Also used hue restorer plug-in to make one small part of the sky less cyan-ish.

19.

Vållern

20.

"Stone road markers
There are three types of road markers; mile stones, guide stones and road maintenance stones. These stones are located along roads to show distance, direction and road maintenance. Guide stones were erected at crossroads. These are usually made of granite and cut square. At least a couple of the sides would have arrows and named carved into them."
Rotated and cropped the photo.

21.

Approaching Kölingared. I really like this photo (the sky is nice and the color combination is nice, in fact when I was looking through the photos from this walk my reaction to this photo was that it's quite epic (maybe a bit silly to think that but nevertheless)). Rotated and cropped the photo.

22.

Kölingared church. Used the hue restorer plug-in to get rid of the slightly cyan-ish parts of the sky. I also brightened the non-sky parts using the levels tool.

23.

"Ice cream factory
EJ Farm sells homemade ice cream made from milk produced by the neighbour's cows, eggs from the farm's free-range hens and fruit and berries when in season. A small farm shop with ice cream parlour."
Used the hue restorer plug-in to get rid of the cyan-ish sky parts. Also rotated the photo slightly and cropped it.

24.

Used the hue restorer plug-in to get rid of the cyan-ish sky parts. Also rotated and cropped the photo.

25.

26.

27.

28.

Brängen. Rotated and cropped the photo.

29.

Brängen. Near Brängen I actually got a bit lost. I got distracted and went in the direction of Hiared (south) instead of towards Sandvik (east). When I realized I was going in the wrong direction I ran back to the intersection where I got lost. Rotated and cropped the photo.

30.

Used the hue restorer plug-in to get rid of the cyan-ish sky parts.

31.

32.

Ersereds Soldattorp (1678-1959). Sharpened the photo using unsharp mask.

33.

"Ryfors
A former iron foundry dating back from 1742, in the ownership of the Sager family for four generations. It has been brought back to life after being mothballed for a long period of time in the 1960s an 1970s. The buildings are again being used. These include the English Villa which is now an excellent hotel, golf and conference facility, a skittle alley which is once again available to players, a dairy which houses the golf course offices, and a power station which has provided the residents of Mullsjö with electricity for almost 100 years."
Used the hue restorer plug-in to get rid of the cyan-ish sky parts.

34.

35.

Sharpened the photo using unsharp mask.

36.

Stråken. Used hue restorer plug-in to get rid of the cyan-ish sky parts.

37.

Trollsjön. Used hue restorer to get rid of the cyan-ish sky.

38.

Stråken. Rotated and cropped the photo.

39.

Stråken. Rotated and cropped the photo.

40.

Used hue restorer plug-in to get rid of the cyan-ish sky color.

41.

Rotated and cropped the photo.

42.

Hotell Mullsjö. Used hue restorer plug-in to get rid of the cyan-ish sky color.

43.

In Mullsjö, not far from the train station. The lake in the background is called Mullsjön. Used hue restorer plug-in to get rid of the cyan-ish sky color.

On Wednesday was the last day my Hallandstrafiken monthly card was valid and therefore on Tuesday I thought about how to make use of it in the best possible way. At first I thought about for instance going to Malmö or even Köpenhamn (the card would be valid until Laholm and I would need to buy an extra ticket for the remaining part). However, instead I decided that I walk a part of Skåneleden which overlaps with E6 European Long-Distance Path. Specifically I went to Ängelholm (bought an extra ticket from Laholm to Ängelholm) by train and then to Åsljunga by bus (in total the travel time was roughly 4h). From Åsljunga I went 21.7km to reach Koarp and then went 7.2km extra to get to the closest bus which is in Våxtorp (and there I waited for the bus 1h and it took a bit more than 3h to travel home). In total the 28.9km took 7h15min and my average speed was thus 3.99km/h.
With the exception of the long travel time and the 7.2km of walking from Koarp to Våxtorp (for the 2nd time (see Hallandsleden Walk #7 which went from Våxtorp to Koarp and then back to Våxtorp)), it was a really interesting walk. The walk partially went through sparsely populated areas with some farm land and some forestry, and in-between those parts it went through beautiful beech forests. It wasn't only beautiful in general but there were also several highlights such as the large bog after Anneberg, Stora Ömosse, Snibe Stue and the Björsåkra-Bölinge nature reserve. Of note is also that the trail partially goes through Hallandsåsen. Either way, there are plenty things to show and I took plenty of photos which ended up being pretty good, so without further ado I present some of the photos. Enjoy!

In Åsljunga. Used the hue restorer plug-in to get rid of the cyan-ish sky. Then I rotated and cropped the photo.

View from a gazebo near Åsljunga.

Shortly after Anneberg the trail goes through a large and beautiful bog.

I brightened the non-sky parts and the sky part separately using the levels tool. Then I used the hue restorer plug-in to get rid of the cyan-ish parts of the sky.

Rotated the photo slightly and then cropped it. Also slightly increased the brightness for the non-sky parts using the curves tool.

Rotated the photo slightly and then cropped it.

Stora Ömosse
At Stora Ömosse one sees clear signs of peat mining. Slabsided peat graves and left behind peat enbankments are located near the trail. The top peat layer was used as litter for the animals, while the more compact peat was used as fuel for heating.

10.

Stora Ömosse. Used the hue restorer plug-in to make a part of the sky less cyan-ish. Also increased the contrast for the non-sky parts slightly.

11.

In the village Lemmeshult there's a milestone from 1764 and it indicates that it's 1/2 old Swedish miles (10668m*1/2) to the nearest hostelry, which is in this case happened to be in Örkelljunga. Rotated and cropped the photo.

12.

13.

House ruins.

14.

Quite a popular spot for butterflies.

15.

Sharpened the photo using unsharp mask.

16.

View from near a power line. Too bad the windmills are obstructing the view.

17.

Snibe Stue
Snibe Stue is a mountain formation whose southern part is split into large pieces.
According to Eric Tundel's geographical work from the 1700s, 20 to 30 people were hiding in a cave here!
In the beginning of the 1800s the cave fell apart. Something similar will happen in the future.
Stories about the giant Snibbe and his wife Kitta have existed for many hundred years. The giants found the church bells on the Laholm plain to be very disturbing (there wasn't much forest around the cave back then) and they tried silencing the church bells by throwing large stone blocks (Kitta supposedly did this by creating a "slingshot" using her supporter/garter).
You can still find the stone blocks today! One of the stone blocks is located in Stäme and is called "Bockasten". Another is located in Veinge village and is called "Dövre sten" or "Dövra sten". A third stone block is located in Kårarp and is called "Silverstenen".
Once the giants got tired, the trolls moved into the cave instead! The giants were nice and helpful but could turn cruel if they were teased.
The snapphane guerilla living in the caves at the end of the 1600s is another tale regarding Snibe Stua.
You can read more about that in the book "Korpen kraxar över Åsen" by Jan Mellhed.

18.

19.

Snibe Stua

20.

21.

Björsåkra-Bölinge nature reserve
The nature reserve is a remainder of the once very vast heather moorlands in Halland. Most of the reserve is covered by open heather moorland. In the dips there are marsh patches with crossleaved heath and bog asphodel. In the southernmost part (in Turfarahultet) a sparse beech forest is growing. The beeches here have multiple steps just like candelabras, this is an appearance which beeches have when growing in open landscapes. The trees' way of growth witness the fact that the beech forest was earlier used as pastureland.

22.