Day 2: Stages 4 to 6: Jonsered to Floda
Despite walking around 28 km yesterday, the Gotaleden trail does not follow a direct route to Alingsås. Jonsered is only around 10km from Gothenburg, and the train journey is short. I started stage 4 of the trek just after 9:15am.
The signage was not too bad for getting out of Jonsered. After heading uphill along a road, you quickly get to the northern shore of Aspen. It is beautiful. I took several photos, but none of them do the views justice. The trail then heads into the woods and up a mountain, Goråsbergen. This was steep, and muddy. There was also some running water on the large, slippery stones. I really wished I had walking poles at certain points.
On this section you have to pay careful attention to the signs. The Bohusleden and Gotaleden trails share signage for quite a while, from Skatås until partway through stage 4. I missed the point at which they diverge, and went up a hill that was on the Bohusleden trail. The diverging point is after crossing a small wooden footbridge over a small stream, in the middle of a forest.
I was too busy taking photos and looking around at the gorgeous, moss-covered forest to notice that the Gotaleden sign was pointing in the opposite direction. Eventually noticing that I was now following Bohusleden signs, a quick check of Rasmus’ Strava map showed that I had indeed taken a wrong turn. Thankfully it had only added about half a kilometre to the distance.
Things got rather tough for two or three kilometres after this. I slipped on a very steep, muddy downhill part and narrowly avoided sitting in mud. At this point I spied a very large, tall stick lying in the mud. It was pretty sturdy, and around shoulder height for me. I decided to use it as a walking pole. There were also ropes along certain parts of the route here as it would have been a little dangerous without them when slippy. My pace dropped to about 25 mins per km for 2 or 3 kilometres due to the trickiness of the route and my inherent cautiousness in such conditions. A woman coming other way said it was “halkig”. I knew I had used that word before, but couldn’t remember if it meant muddy, or something else. I kept forgetting to check what that meant, but it’s Swedish for slippery.
Heading down into Lugnvik, still with the wooden stick, I met a guy who had been out for a short walk. He caught up with me and said I was taking it slowly. I explained about not having walking poles, and needing the stick for balance. I stopped to take a photo and he went past. I went by him again as he was talking to one of his neighbours. The houses were really nice, and had breathtaking lake views. I ate lunch on a seat next to the lake shortly afterwards, having disposed of the stick. I found it a new home beside other sticks and tree debris so that it wouldn’t look out of place or feel lonely.
Now that I was back out in the open, and it being close to midday, it got really warm and I knew I would need to reapply sunscreen when I got to Lerum. I was happy to discover a bajamaja (portaloo) on the route near the lake, as it was the first toilet facilities I had encountered since the train. I also took advantage of the ones in the shopping centre in Lerum to check I had applied sunscreen properly. I had another short rest and ate more food as I didn’t know when I would be able to stop next.
Stage five was a mixed bag. The Lerum to Stenkullen section was okay, but a lot of it was on or near busy roads. Easy walking, but hot in the sunshine. There were some nice bridges over the river, but it got spectacular when it took you onto the riverbank. The section between Stenkullen and Floda is both easy walking and one of the nicest sections of the route. This section had more footfall than the others, and I was passed by three young guys who were kitted out for a multi-day camping trip. There was a group of hikers at the falls, so I didn’t get to rest at that spot. When I did sit down at a bench further along, I decided to charge my watch. Unfortunately, that meant it stopped the activity without warning.
I was walking without headphones in, and wasn’t using my phone other than to check on the Strava route map and my gps location to ensure they matched up. It was nice to be alone in nature (with occasional encounters with others) largely with my own thoughts. It’s nice to be fully present in the moment sometimes. I know some people find the idea of too much “alone time” horrifying. This reminds me of a line from a Bruce Springsteen song: “But it’s a sad man my friend who’s living in his own skin. And can’t stand the company.” Plenty of people can’t stand my company, but thankfully I am not one of them.
On arrival at Floda I was very happy to find proper bathroom facilities. It turned out that these were actually only for the restaurant. However, they had a separate entrance, and I didn’t realise that they weren’t meant for hikers until it was too late. There is a bajamaja a little further on, but it was nice to have a bathroom with a sink. The views of Sävelången are impressive as it gets much wider there. I took a few photos from the bridge whilst eating a delicious Almond magnum purchased from the shop. I also had to ask a random guy to open the bottle of water I had purchased, as I was now too weak and lacking in strength to even manage that.
That didn’t bode well for the next section. However, the blog I had read said stage 6 Floda to Tollered was 5,6km, so I thought there was an outside chance that I could also do stage 7 and get to Norsesund. I was keen to do this because Tollered is not on the train route. However, the walk, though easy, seemed to be taking longer than the expected 90 minutes. Partly this was because the soles of my feet were burning by this point, meaning that I sat down at almost every chance I got. But it was mainly because the route was actually 7.9km – a significant amount further than advertised.
Leaving the banks of the Sävelången, the route took us into a rather overgrown and muddy path through part of the nature reserve. After the easy miles I hadn’t been expecting this and I was tired by this point. I knew I was going to have to finish in Tollered. I had also checked the bus times, and there was only one per hour! I was worried that the harder than anticipated underfoot conditions meant I would be sitting at a bus stop in Tollered for close to an hour. Thankfully we got back onto farmland and then pavement, and I successfully marched to the bus stop with a minute to spare. I managed to catch the 7:06pm bus to Floda and didn’t have long to wait there for the train.
