Rickard Dahl's Blog: Gislavedsleden Walk #2: Gislaved-Isaberg-Hestra (Wednesday 21/09-16)

A week passed before I went on the next walk. I think the main reason it took a week was because I got busy with school. Either way, I took the train to Hestra and from there I took the bus to Gislaved. Actually according to the timetable I was supposed to wait for the bus in Hestra for almost an hour, however, I managed to get on the earlier bus, which enabled me to start the walk roughly one hour earlier (more specifically as early as 07:57). From Gislaved I walked first the 5km segment of Gislavedsleden which connects to the rest of the trail. But actually after leaving the bus stop I went in the wrong direction and lost about 18 minutes trying to find where this connecting segment starts. Either way, once I've walked the 5km and reached the rest of the Gislavedsleden trail I went in the northeast direction until I reached Isaberg where Gislavedsleden ends and Järnbärarleden begins. It was unclear where Gislavedsleden ends and Järnbärarleden begins so I probably went further when I should have. Also I then went in the wrong direction but I eventually found a way to get back to Hestra to get on time for the train back home. In fact I ran the last kilometer or so. I thought that a train ticket would be easy to buy in Hestra but it turned out that they don't sell train tickets there and that I needed to buy a ticket by phone, which I did. The only reason I managed to get on the train on time was because it was late by 5 minutes. Long story short: it was quite a messy situation but the alternative would mean I would be home 3 hours later than I was. Either way, the walk was in total roughly 27km and took 6h4mins. My average speed was thus 4.45km/h, which is relatively fast.
Although there was a bit of unplanned mess, this is my favorite Gislavedsleden walk and maybe even one of my overall favorites. It was the first walk in 2016 in which I really felt it was autumn. Although it was autumn, the weather was pretty good. The morning was a bit cool but it was pretty warm during the middle of the day when I was walking the last few kilometers. The character of the walk shifts a bit but two general characteristics is that it goes through idyllically located villages and it feels really "Småland" and that there are mostly coniferous forests full of common heather, blueberry and cowberry bushes.

Hemgårdsgatan in Gislaved. Used the hue restorer plug-in to get rid of a small part of the sky color that was cyan-ish. Also rotated the photo slightly and cropped it.

Used hue restorer plug-in to get rid of the cyan-ish sky color. Also brightened the non-sky parts slightly using the curves tool.

Moasjön. Rotated the photo slightly and cropped it. Also increased the contrast slightly.

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

Sharpened the photo slightly using unsharp mask.

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

Båraryd. Rotated and cropped the photo.

Kyrkesjön. Rotated and cropped the photo. Also increased the contrast slightly.

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Båraryds church. Rotated the photo slightly and cropped it.

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

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Sebjörnarp. Rotated and cropped the photo.

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Slätteryd. Brightened the photo using the levels tool.

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Stenhestra

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Slowworm

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Flankabäcken

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

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Rotated the photo slightly and cropped it.

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Rotated and cropped the photo. Also used the hue restorer plug-in to get rid of the cyan-ish sky color.

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Used the hue restorer plug-in to get rid of the cyan-ish sky color. Slightly darkened the sky and the non-sky parts separately (using curves tool).

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The railway embankment between Hestra and Gislaved. Although this is a cycle path now, it used to be the railroad track. This line was frequented between 1915 and 1962.

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