Svarteström – Lunds by – Valstad kvarn, Tjustleden etapp 3

**The third stage is about 20 km long and runs through forests, clearings and on mountain ridges, passing several large ancient monuments.

Stage description 3, from south to north:

The stage is about 18 kilometers long and starts at Svarteström's shelter. Near the start, the connecting loop to Ankarsrum is passed (see stage 2). The main trail continues to the NE and on the ridge there is a rest area with a nice view of St. Flugen. The trail continues in varying terrain and after about 3 kilometers reaches the torp ruin Fagertorp. After another 3 km you reach the farm Ekenäs between Ekenässjön and Tjursbosjön. Where the Tjust Trail passes closest to Tjursbosjön there are Bronze Age cairns, where it is also good to rest. The trail continues north to Smedjemåla, after which it continues on the road up to Käringryggen's waste mines. On the top of the mountain near the high mast there is a rest area with information about former mining activities and the cleanup after it. You can take a closer look at the mine holes along the fence that surrounds them.

Käringryggen's mines consist of three elongated fields; the Ryss mine field, the 275 meter long Holländare field and the Sohlberg field. The mine dates back to the 1520s, when the Dutch were authorized to mine iron. Later, copper ore was mined by various miners. In 1763, the mine was purchased by P.C. Cederbaum, who, among other things, built a tunnel into the mountain, called "St. Pehr's key". In 1777, cobalt minerals were discovered and mined until 1891. The mine was then the most important cobalt producer in the country. The mine holes are at most about 110 m deep, about 75 meters below the water surface of Lake Tjursbo!

From Käringryggen the trail continues to the SW to Lund village. The village consists of eight houses around a square. The lower floors in most cases date from the 18th century, while the upper floors were added in the 19th century. The buildings did not have to be moved at the time of the legal change, which was normal, but were retained as a Småland family village. Lund means that there was a sacrificial grove here, but later a vicarage. In 1686, Karl XI gave the homestead to the farmer Per Olsson as a memorial gift for having been a godfather at Prince Karl Gustav's baptism. He became the ancestor of the village, which now, in 2017, is owned by the 12th generation! Lund's village was required to have an inn and a shooting range, a law that ended in 1933! The reason was, among other things, that the national highway, now E 22, and a major local road went through the village. North of Lund village, the trail passes near a rare rock carving consisting of foot soles and bowl pits currently overgrown.

Tjustleden crosses road 40 and then there is about 4 kilometers to the stage goal at Valstads kvarn. The shelter is located below the mill buildings near the river. Valstads kvarn is owned and managed by Västerviks Museum. The mill was operated until the 1970s before it was donated to Västervik Museum. This mill museum is beautifully situated in the Verkebäcksdal corridor, where the water forms a beautiful meander landscape downstream to the outlet into the Baltic Sea at Verkebäck.