Hiking Holavedsleden (59km) from Tranås to Gränna in the last days of April. The numbers and letters showing up through out the video are map reference markers.
Pleasant walk but a lot of roads and not enough trails through the forests. Water was an issue at times but not so much that it was holding me back.
Number of ticks attached, four. A few crawlers too.
For maps and more info about Holavedsleden click here.
Coming full circle on this trail or rather where we ended a trip 4 years ago down from Omberg to Gränna. Click this for the old reports, check the ones posted 2013. Them backpacks back then, pew, 25-ish kilos! I could wear about three backpacks now to get to that weight 🙂
It was a good trip with superb weather, 26-28 degrees Celsius and a light breeze. But from a scenic point of view only the first 5-8km from the start (south section) is worth while and the last section (north section) is good for the most part, especially the last bit when you get the view of lake Vättern.
Ticks loves this trail, or me, I had 19 of them but only two attached. Jon got away with two… Lucky.
The majority of my hikes are shorter weekend trips on any of the trails close to my hometown. It’s only during my summer holidays that I have time for week long journeys to places like Norway and northern Sweden. With this in mind I have started to work on a lighter kit custom tailored for the needs I have on my shorter trips in the woods around Jönköping. So after spending the spring purchasing new equipment it was now time for a first trip trying to go SUL – Super Ultra Light that is 🙂
In this post i will do a short trip report and also try to sum up the experience of my new kit and talk through some of the new items i used.
Västanåleden is a short round trip hike in the beech forest south of Gränna. The trail shares tracks with John Bauerleden that connects all the way down to Jönköping. Both of these trails are familiar to me and just last year me and André took a short overnight trip at this trail. I decided to walk the southern part of the trail as these are the ones I like most. As this would be a rather short route I would also have time for some detours along any of the other trails crossing my path.
I started out just outside the small village of Röttle and decided to take a short walk down to the harbour. On my way I passed the waterfalls and the remains of the old Jerusalem mill. Down by the harbour I took a small pause and then headed back up to the trail.
Röttle river waterfalls and the remains of Jerusalem Mill
Last summer we did a three day trip but we ended it early due to a big thunderstorm that came in over us. We were quite happy that we didn’t sleep in a tent that night because it caused massive problems with flooding etc. So this time we went on an overnighter to complete the last leg, the last 16km. Västanåleden – click to see trail info and maps.
Pre-planning and packing. Big thanks to Jon that helped with the pack and some other stuff as my calendar has been packed.
We started on Friday as soon as I came off work and we drove to Gränna north of Jönköping (Sweden). After unpacking the car and doing some last minute adjustments and distributed a few things to balance the loads we started walking. It was now a few minutes past five. At this point we had about 2,5 hours of light before the sun set.
The small village of Röttle hosts a many treats like this waterfall and the Jerusalem mill.
Jerusalems mill in Röttle.
And the beech forrest.
About one hour in we took a short break making some coffee as the sun was going down in the background.
One of the missions on this overnighter was to see how much fuel the Primus Omnilite TI burner used for a days worth of cooking. We found that three meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner with an additional three boils for coffee water we used about 1dl of fuel. We used Primus Power Fuel and the temperature were between 0 degrees Celsius and +12 on the last day. We didn’t really go all in on saving fuel – our thoughts were rather:
– If we do this as comfortable as possible how much fuel will we spend?”
Trying out a new concept for us – Freeze bag cooking! Worked like a charm! Couscous with cheese.
As soon as the sun set it got dark really fast and we had to pitch the tent in the dark. But with our headlamps on but it worked great. Team work pays out!
Saturday morning – waking up around 06.30 – rise and shine!
Heading down the steep slopes to get water for cooking and the morning coffee.
Filling up the Platypus bottles.
Jon is happy in his Arc’Teryx down jacket – cozy and warm.
After breakfast we took off quickly again to gain some momentum and getting warm as it was quite cold this morning.
Taking a quick breather after gaining some altitude.
Back in Röttle for a quick coffee before moving on again further north.
A light breeze strikes the water – It’s all warm and nice, feels just like a summers day.
Shoes off! Waiting for the freeze dried food to get ready.
End of the line – back where we ended our trip the last time when the thunderstorm came in on us. A great two days of walking!
Lighter Packs 