torsdag 11 januari 2018

Skåneleden Walk #4: Löberöd-Veberöd (Friday 28/07-17)

The next day I once again had hoped to walk between Åsljunga and Bjärnum but in the morning the weather prognosis showed that it was going to rain in that region in the evening. Instead I decided to travel to Löberöd and walk to Veberöd. This was segment 3 of 8 of Skåneleden in the south to north direction (according to how I planned). In either case the travel time from the hostel in Malmö to Löberöd was only 1h10mins. The travel back from Veberöd on the other hand took slightly longer: 1h38mins.
The walk was in total 34.8km out of which the last 2km were needed to reach Veberöd (the path to Veberöd is part of Skåneleden but not part of the E6 European long-distance path). In total the duration for the walk was 10h45mins (which was the longest duration for the Skåneleden walks). My average speed was thus approximately 3.24km/h (which was also the slowest average speed for the Skåneleden walks).
This might very well be my favorite Skåneleden walk and includes some of the most beautiful parts of the Skåneleden walks. There is a large variety of terrains but the trail is mostly dominated by farm land and meadows. The walk felt like quite a journey both because of the variety of terrains and because of the long duration for the walk. In the blog post for Skåneleden Walk #2 between Löberöd and Ludvigsborg I noted that Löberöd is a lovely small town. However, this walk also goes through two other lovely small towns: Harlösa and Veberöd. Both Harlösa and Veberöd are idyllically located and have some beautiful buildings. The trail also goes through Hällestad but only tangentially (on the outskirts of the town) and through Björnstorp. There are also a couple of lakes and rivers on the path, including the beautiful Kävlinge river (Kävlinge ån) and the ornithologically interesting Krankesjön. As I've mentioned before above the landscape is dominated by farm land and meadows but there are also a couple of small forest regions, including the beautiful beech forest in the Torna-Hällestad nature reserve and the forest covering Romelaåsen (which is near the end of the walk). The farm land regions and the meadows also tend to be very beautiful.
Before I present the photos (which will describe the character of the walk in a much better way than my words can and show some of the highlights (including ones I haven't mentioned above)) I will note a few other things. Firstly, I was very lucky with regards to the weather. The sky was clear most of the day and there was only minor cloudiness. It might have been the walk with the best weather among all of the Skåneleden walks (certainly among the four walks I went on during my first visit to the hostel in Malmö). Secondly, I saw two hares in one location near the start of the walk and a squirrel later. However, I only managed to get two pretty bad photos of the hares and a bad photo of the squirrel. It can also be noted that as usual I got wet shoes (due to wet grass) and had to change my socks a couple of times. Furthermore, when I was taking a break near Hällestad I managed to lose the description and the map for stage 13 between Krankesjön and Väderkullen (I was sitting down and it must have fallen out of my pocket, I didn't notice it until a bit later). Well, it wasn't too big of a loss since I've already had walked about half of stage 13 and because stage 13 can be seen on the map for stage 14. Nonetheless, it was a bit of an annoyance. A more significant annoyance was how tired I was during the day. The lack of sleep due to the noisiness in the dormitory at the hostel combined with waking up early in the mornings and falling asleep late in the evenings had taken its toll.
Enjoy the photos!


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A house/building in Löberöd in a style I've mostly seen in small farming towns. Rotated the photo slightly and cropped it.

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Cropped the photo a bit.

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Brightened the non-sky parts slightly using the levels tool.

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For the non-sky parts I used the brightness-contrast tool to slightly increase the contrast, the levels tool to slightly increase the brightness and unsharp mask to slightly increase the sharpness. I also darkened the sky slightly using the levels tool.

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Hjularöd Castle
Hjularöd Castle was built between 1894-97 and is Skåne's most recently built castle. The chivalric romance had swept across Europe and the castle was built with feelings rather than defense in mind.
Rotated the photo slightly and cropped it. Also equalized the histogram for the non-sky parts which gave far more natural colors.

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"The stone-arch bridge
In 1752, a Royal Command ordered that all new bridges in Scania (Skåne), Småland and Östergötland be built of stone, partly in order to restrain the exploitation of the forests. Stone constructions were expensive to build, however, and there were places where people went on using wood for bridges. This stone-arch bridge was constructed as a "dry wall", which means that it was built without mortar, the arch itself consists of wedged stone. The span is about 2.5 metres (just over 8ft) wide. At the northwestern end of the bridge, the inscription "CEIVIL 1759" probably refers to the builder (it may be his name or initials) and to the year in which the bridge was completed. This is the oldest dated bridge in Scania, and it is a good representative of the stone bridges of the 18 century. It is likely to have been built in response to the Royal Command of 1752."

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Meadow shortly before Harlösa. Used the levels tool to brighten the photo slightly. Also decreased the contrast slightly using the brightness-contrast tool.

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Nice view of Harlösa and the surrounding landscape. Rotated the photo slightly and cropped it. Also used the hue restorer plug-in to reduce the cyan-ish sky color.

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"The donation house
The building was erected in 1823-24 to serve as an old people's home for the estate's servants and workers, and it was in use until 1968. The house was designed and built as a perfectly symmetrical square divided into four small apartments, each consisting of an ante-room, a room and a chamber, grouped around a central stove. Originally the apartments had separate entrances; they were later replaced by two main doors facing east and west. The building, with walls of plastered brick granite foundation, is virtually unchanged.
At first the roof consisted of shingles; tiles were placed on top of them. In 1987 the donation house was listed as a building of historical interest because of its distinctive shape, its location in the village environment close to the church and the vicarage, and the sociohistorical context to which it belongs."

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Harlösa Church

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Library in Harlösa. Used the hue restorer plug-in to reduce the cyan-ish sky color. Also rotated the photo slightly and cropped it.

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Railway bridge over Kävlingeån and view of Harlösa. Brightened the non-sky parts slightly using the levels tool.

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View of Krankesjön from a bird tower. Rotated the photo slightly and cropped it. Also brightened the non-sky parts slightly using the levels tool.

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Rotated the photo slightly and cropped it. Also brightened the photo slightly using the levels tool.

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I don't know why exactly but this photo looks strangely artistic to me.

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Before Torna-Hällestad the trail goes on a series of boulder-ridges. This part of the walk was pretty unique. Increased the contrast for the non-sky parts slightly using the brightness-contrast tool. Also darkened the sky slightly using the levels tool.

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Sharpened the photo slightly using unsharp mask.

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Remains of the Torna-Hällestad train station.

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In the Torna-Hällestad nature reserve.

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Pasture in the Knivsås-Borelund nature reserve. Sharpened the photo slightly using unsharp mask.

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Beech forest in the Knivsås-Borelund nature reserve.

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This "lake" in the Knivsås-Borelund nature reserve was created by filling the stone pit with clear and clean water. The stone pit was in use until 1958. Reddish gneiss was mined here.
I used the levels tool to slightly increase the brightness and contrast for the non-sky parts.

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Stone houses of this type seem to be uncommon in Sweden outside of Skåne. Increased the contrast slightly using the brightness-contrast tool.

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In the Högebjär nature reserve. Rotated the photo slightly and cropped it. I've also sharpened the photo slightly using unsharp mask.

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Old train tracks in Björnstorp. Although there are no trains going here nowadays, one can go draisine cycling on these train tracks.

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View from Väderkullen. Used the hue restorer plug-in to reduce the cyan-ish sky color.

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View of Veberöd from Romeleåsen.

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Going up to Gökabacken. At Gökabacken, Skåneleden is split between the 2km part going to Veberöd and the rest of Skåneleden going south.

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Sharpened the photo slightly using unsharp mask.

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View of Veberöd. Rotated the photo slightly and cropped it.

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In Veberöd.

fredag 29 december 2017

Skåneleden Walk #3: Hässleholm-Bjärnum (Thursday 27/07-17)

The next day I continued Skåneleden by walking from Hässleholm to Bjärnum which is the Skåneleden segment 7 of 8 in the south to north direction (according to how I divided it). Once again it wasn't my intention to walk this part of Skåneleden at this point in time as I had planned to go to Åsljunga and walk to Bjärnum (which is segment 8 of 8, in other words the northernmost remaining part). Strangely enough what happened was that on the train to Ängelholm there was a violent woman and the train personnel stopped the train in Lund to wait for the police to arrive. Well, due to the delay it caused there was no way for me to get to Åsljunga on time as planned. Well, I took another train to Helsingborg (which I didn't have to do I think as I probably could have taken a train to Hässleholm directly but at that point I wasn't entirely sure what to do) and from there I took the train to Hässleholm. Unfortunately the train arrived at Hässleholm 6 minutes late and I wasn't entirely sure where Fisktorget in Hässleholm was and so I didn't make it on time for the bus there. Thus I waited for the next bus for almost 30 minutes. From Fisktorget I took city bus 3 to Södra Kringelvägen where I started my walk. The total duration for the travel from the hostel in Malmö was 3h25mins due to all the delays.
From Södra Kringelvägen in the southern part of Hässleholm I walked about 30.3km of the Skåneleden trail to reach Hågnarp west of Bjärnum. Then I walked 4.8km extra to reach the train stop in Bjärnum. Thus in total the walk was 35.1km, i.e. not much shorter than the previous walk (almost all of the Skåneleden walks ended up being about 30km or above 30km long). The total duration for the walk was 9h44mins. Therefore, the average speed for the walk was approximately 3.61km/h, which was slightly faster than the previous walk (where the average speed was approximately 3.46km/h). As usual I didn't want to rush things since I wanted to take many photos. I walked a bit faster on the asphalt road from Hågnarp to Bjärnum.
To travel back to the hostel I first took train to Hässleholm and in Hässleholm I switched to the train in Malmö. From Malmö Triangeln I then traveled by city buses to the hostel. The duration for the travel back was 1h47mins in total.
Anyways, it was yet another interesting Skåneleden walk but it had less variety in terms of the terrain; in fact the walk went to a large extent through deciduous forests (and to a lesser extent through coniferous forests) and there was barely any farm land on the path. There were however a couple of towns on the path, more specifically: Hässleholm (although the trail went through an uninteresting part of Hässleholm), Finja (which is a small town located near Hässleholm, it's more of a suburb) and Bjärnum. Between Finja and Bjärnum there are only a number of small villages on the path and some parts feel quite desolated. The trail goes next to only a couple of lakes: Finjasjön, Barsjön and a couple of ponds. The trail went to a large extent on footpaths but there were also some segments going on asphalt, gravel or tractor roads. Rather than trying to describe the general characteristics (which I find difficult to describe well) in more detail I will mention some of the highlights.
As I've mentioned before the trail goes through an uninteresting part of Hässleholm but it does go next to Hässleholmsgården which is an interesting looking mansion. After Hässleholmsgården the trail continues through the open air region near Finjasjön. Not only are the forests here pretty interesting but the Mölleröd castle ruin can be found here. The trail doesn't go close to Finjasjön but the lake can seen from a distance. After crossing national highway 21 shortly after Finja and until Vedema the trail goes to a significant extent on gravel or tractor roads and through less interesting forests. There are mostly a couple of villages or croft ruins here. In Vedema strövområde (area for country walks) the forests are more interesting and both Hörlingeån and Barsjön can be found here. After Vedema strövområde and until the asphalt road going from Hågnarp to Bjärnum there are several villages and interesting forest segments. This part of the trail has a feeling of desolation to it and the cloudy weather made the atmosphere more interesting. The asphalt road between Hågnarp and Bjärnum isn't that interesting. Bjärnum itself doesn't seem to be very interesting, but then again I only saw a small part of the town.
As for the weather it can be noted that the during the start of the walk it was somewhat cloudy but as the day continued it got cloudier and cloudier. Shortly before I reached Aggarp it started raining but only for a short moment. The real rainfall came when I was in Bjärnum waiting for the train. My rain cape got very wet as a consequence.
Enjoy the photos!


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

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The second location in Skåne where I saw giant hogweed.

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Hässleholmsgården (main building)

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Hässleholmsgården (side building)

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Hässleholmsgården (stable). Used the hue restorer plug-in to reduce the cyan-ish sky color. Brightened the sky slightly using the curves tool.

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"The ruins of castle Mölleröd
All that remains of Castle Mölleröd today is a ruin. It did not have a long history - less than a hundred years. In 1601, Beate Hultfeldt received what was then a crown estate as a gift from King Christian IV. She caused an entirely new complex to be built on her freshly acquired property. The new house was, however, burnt to the ground in August 1678, during the Scanian Wars (the armed struggle for Skåne between Denmark and Sweden, a short time after the province as ceded to Sweden following the Thirty Years War). The fortress was never rebuilt. It was constructed on a long rise by River Alma. Water was channeled into moats around the square external fortifications, whose corner bastions were made of granite. The stone house had three storeys, with two wings extending southwards. The main entrance was in the octagonal staircase tower on the south side. There were vaulted cellars beneath the entire building, whose walls were made of rough blocks of hewn granite. Brick was put to good use in the staircase tower and gable constructions. The stone house of Mölleröd was an austere variant of a more refined type of Renaissance castle. Its closest counterpart is Castle Lystrup on Zealand. In 1680 Mölleröd was appropriated by the Swedish Crown, becoming a royal estate and the residence of the local cavalry captain. The present main building was erected in 1837. The two barns were probably in existence back in Beate Huldfeldt's time. The ruin was restored in 1964."

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Almaån (Alma Stream)
"One of the prettiest streams in Skåne.
Sourcing at the outflow of Finja Lake it joins the Helge south of Knislinge and debouches in the Bay of Hanö.
The endangered thick-shelled river mussel breeds in the sand and gravel bed of the Alma. A filtrator, it lives on organic particles.
Alma has a very interesting fauna rich in fish species. Downstream at Spånga - one of the best fish sites in Skåne - you find 17 species. Worth protecting is the stone loach, gudgeon, chub and salmon.
Often you can see the rare blue kingfisher sitting on a tree looking for fish.
The Alma has been nominated a SSSI by the Swedish EPA."

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Finjasjön. Rotated the photo slightly and cropped it. Also used the brightness-contrast tool to slightly increase the brightness and contrast.

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Finja Bygdegård (rustic community center). Rotated the photo slightly and cropped it.

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Fish pond

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Sharpened the photo slightly using unsharp mask.

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Rotated the photo slightly and cropped it. Also used the hue restorer plug-in to remove the cyan-ish sky color. Then I darkened the sky using the levels tool. Finally I used the brightness-contrast tool to slightly increase the contrast for the non-sky parts.

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An old milestone. Rotated the photo slightly and cropped it.

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Hörlingeån. Sharpened the photo slightly using unsharp mask. Also increased the contrast slightly using the brightness-contrast tool.

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Embankment field (jordvallsgärde). Increased the contrast slightly using the brightness-contrast tool.

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Barsjön. Increased the contrast slightly using the brightness-contrast tool.

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Vedema strövområde (area for country walks). Sharpened the photo slightly using unsharp mask. Also rotated the photo slightly and cropped it.

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Sharpened the photo slightly using unsharp mask.

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Sharpened the photo slightly using unsharp mask.

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This dark forest near Aggarp was certainly one of my favorite parts of the walk. The cloudy weather certainly added to the atmosphere. Sharpened the photo slightly using unsharp mask.

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Sharpened the photo slightly using unsharp mask.

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Sharpened the photo slightly using unsharp mask.

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Hörlingeån can be seen in the background. Sharpened the photo slightly using unsharp mask.

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Sharpened the photo slightly using unsharp mask.

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A pond in Bjärnum. Sharpened the photo slightly using unsharp mask.