Hallandsleden Walk #15: Oskarström-Asige-Slöinge (Monday 25/07-16)

I started off the final week for the Hallandsleden walks by going to Oskarström and tackling the longest remaining segment. The Hallandsleden part of the trail was 28km but I walked 6km extra from Ljungslätt near Asige to Slöinge in order to reach the bus back, thus I walked 34km in total. The whole walk took me 9h57min, which is very close to my most time consuming walk which is the part of Bohusleden between Kaserna (in Munkedal) and Bovik (in Uddevalla). The average speed was thus approximately 3.42km/h. Needless to say the walk was quite demanding, of course it was a quite long walk but the weather was also quite hot and I also got a bit lost at one place (due to poor maintenance of the trail).
The character of the walk was quite varied. In general it can be noted that much of it went through farm land regions and went on gravel roads, tractor roads or asphalt roads. There were some places which stood out especially, for instance Frodeparkens Nature Reserve and the small town of Asige which has many iron age graves and stone carvings. In summary it was an interesting walk but more exhausting than usual (despite not walking so fast). The photos are presented below. Enjoy!

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Nissan. Used hue restorer to remove the cyan-ish sky. Then I reduced the brightness for the non-sky parts using the curves tool.

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Maredsfors hydro power plant. This hydro power plant was built in 1983. What distinguishes Nissan from other rivers used for hydro power in Halland is that it has no dams. The hydro power is thus entirely dependent on how much water there is in Nissan at the moment.
Used hue-restorer plug-in to remove the cyan-ish sky. I also equalized the photo and darkened it slightly using the curves tool. Also rotated the photo slightly and cropped it.

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Nissan.

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An old milestone. The background was way too bright so I made it darker using the levels tool and then the curves tool.

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Drared. Brightened the non-sky parts using the levels tool. Also rotated and cropped the photo.

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This is a large stone block from the ice age. It was carried here by the ice sheet over 13000 years ago.

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Shortly after where the stone block is located the path was overgrown and the signs were missing so I managed to get lost here. Spent probably up to 20 minutes trying to find where to go.

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Altarstenen (The Altar Stone)
The mass/church service was held here during times of war.

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Döbblaån.

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Close to Stenevad the trail went through a horse paddock with two horses. I wasn't sure if it was safe to approach the horses but I did it anyways. The horses were actually more afraid of me than the other way around. This is the first of the two horses, it ran away first when I approached.
Used the hue restorer plug-in to get rid of the cyan-ish sky. Then I rotated and cropped the photo. Finally I increased the brightness for the non-sky parts using the levels tool.

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Profile view of the other horse. It got scared a short while after I took the photo and also ran away. Darkened the background slightly using the levels tool.

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The part of the trail after Almeberget is overgrown but at least there was a warning of sorts before this: To create a connected area of deciduous forest the firs are replaced with beeches and other deciduous trees.

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Kullebol. Used the hue restorer plug-in to remove the cyan-ish sky and also rotated and cropped the photo.

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Suseån.

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"Frodeparken.
Welcome to the Frodenparken Nature Reserve. Over 30 rare organisms have been found in these 200-year old beech forests. The great age of the trees and the plentiful supply of dead wood are the main explanation for the abundance of flora and fauna here. Frodeparken provides a sanctuary for many beetles, lichens, mosses and other organisms sensitive to disturbance."

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Frodeparken.

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Frodeparken.

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Suseån.

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Not far from Knobesholm there was a cow and bull standing on the gravel way. Clearly they went outside their fence. The cow actually seemed very thirsty or sick. I didn't want to go near them (since the bull especially could be dangerous) and so I tried waiting for them to go away. However they just stood there and didn't want to go away.

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After a few minutes a calf arrived. It was mooing for a while before it arrived. So, anyways, after waiting for about 15 minutes I decided to walk on the right side by the road and walked around the cow family.

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Borrsjön

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A slowworm.

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Käringasjön. Rotated and cropped the photo.

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Iron age stones near Asige.

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Iron age stone near Asige. The stone carving has a sun motive and shows six rings. Made the non-sky parts of the photo slightly darker using the curves tool.

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Another iron age stone near Asige. This one has a stone carving with a ship motive but it's very hard to see. Made the non-sky parts slightly brighter using the levels tool.

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Asige. Make the photo brighter using the levels tool.

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Asige Church
Rotated and cropped the photo. Also increased the brightness using the levels tool and further increased the brightness for the non-sky parts using the curves tool.

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The last 5km of the walk went from Asige to Slöinge. This part is characterized by large scale farm land.
Made the non-sky parts brighter using the curves tool. I also used the clone tool at one place in the background due to an artifact which occured when I brightened the non-sky parts (since the selection wasn't perfect).

Hallandsleden Walk #14: Hakestad-Haksered (Saturday 23/07-16)

If I remember correctly the day after the previous walk (i.e. on Friday) I started to plan how to finish Hallandsleden in a short time frame; I wanted to get the goal of walking Hallandsleden accomplished soon. Either way, I managed to do just that within one week, starting off on Saturday the same week and then walking on Monday to Friday the week after that.
On Saturday I took the train to Falkenberg and then I took the bus to Hakestad. From Hakestad I walked to Haksered, which is distance of roughly 26km and took me 5h51min. The average speed was thus approximately 4.44km/h, which is pretty good. Only a short part of the trail from near Åkulla to near Haksered overlaps with the E1 European long-distance path.
The character of the walk is quite different compared to most of Hallandsleden. The first part of the walk goes through farm land regions for the most part but most of the walk goes through Åkulla bokskogar (Åkulla beech forests) and there are plenty of nature reserves on the way. Pretty much all of it was quite beautiful. This was one of my favorite Hallandsleden walks. Enjoy the photos!

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Hakestad. Increased the brightness for the non-sky parts using the levels tool.

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Some of the flowers at Evas Äng.
Flowers such as St John's wort, devil's bit, Greater Yellow-Rattle and mountain tobacco grow on this wonderful summer meadow. This is thanks to that Eva and her family scythe the meadow every year. They also "fuze" the meadow, i.e. they let (bränner av) the turf at spring.

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A bunch of sheep all over the place. Equalized the histogram and darkened the image slightly using the curves tool.

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Some of the cabins at Ästad Vineyard. Rotated and cropped the photo. Then I increased the brightness using the levels tool and increased the contrast slightly.

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Byasjön. Rotated and cropped the photo. Then for the non-sky parts I increased the brightness using the levels tool and increased the contrast.

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Some perch/bass in Byasjön.

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Some common hogweed.

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"Långanskogen - Emma's House
The cottage of Långanskogen gets one of its names from Emma Henriksson, who lived here almost her whole life. Before she died in 1981 her house and personal property were conveyed to the Sibbarp-Dagsås Local Heritage Society. The house was repaired and declared a historic monument in 1991. The cottage was probably built some time around 1800 in the outlands of the village of Ästad, close to one of the few remaining beech woods in the district, which may explain the name Långanskogen or "Long Wood".
The long peace after Sweden's years as a martial power had a negative side: the population grew faster than the yield of agriculture. Country people sank deep in poverty. Even farmers' sons had to try to make a living as day labourers or crofters. Usually this proletariat had to be content with a poor patch of land that some farmer had no use for. Emigration to North America was the way out many chose. In proportion to its population, Halland had more emigrants than any other province. All the brothers and sisters in one family emigrated from Långanskogen in 1886-1895.
Långanskogen is an unusual combination of a Halland house and cottage dug into a hillside. The external dimensions are around 26 by 4 metres. The frame is of horizontal planking covered with vertical boards. The rooms are in a row, with the kitchen and bedroom in the middle. In the slope is a small byre with room for a pig, a calf, and some hens. Behind this byre is carpentry shed with walls partly of stone, dug into the slope. On the other side of the dwelling section are grain shed and the threshing barn, and higher up the slope is a stone-built earth cellar. The well is on the other side of the road, down towards Byasjön."

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Långanskogens Nature Reserve
"Långanskogen is the country's largest continuous swamp forest. A large number of springs and sources, in conjunction with the dense alder forest creates a dark and damp environment. A large number of rare species flourish here, in particular mosses and lichen. In places the area is almost impassible and extremely wet, however it does offer the well-shod a "jungle-like" experience!"

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Öströö

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Humsjön. Used the hue restorer plug-in to remove the cyan-ish sky.

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Rotated and cropped the photo.

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Kalvsjön. Increased the contrast and brightened the non-sky parts using the levels tool. Also slightly increased contrast for the sky.

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Toppabjär Nature Reserve
"Welcome to the Toppabjär Nature Reserve. Here you'll find most of the "Bexell talking stones" - stones with proverbs and names, which the landowner Alfred Bexell had inscribed in the 1880s-1890s. The reserve is home to various rare animals and plants. Many of these mosses, lichens, fungi and beetles live on and in old, dead deciduous trees. To encourage the rare animals and plants, the spruce forest in the reserve is being replaced with deciduous trees."

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"Bexells Speaking Stones
You have now come to a strange place. Look around and you will see names chiselled on into the rocks and stone blocks. This was done in the end of the 19th century by stonemasons, commissioned by Alfred Bexell, a Swedish landowner and Member of Parliament.
In the forest there are more than 150 words of wisdom and 500 names.
The names are mainly from the French Revolution and famous philosophers as well as authors."
Darkened the background using the curves tool.

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Valasjön. Rotated and cropped the photo.

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Increased the contrast slightly.

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Nice horse symmetry.

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Approaching Haksered. The lake in the background is called Haksjön. Rotated and cropped the photo.