Törnsfall – Almvik – Hallingeberg, Tjustleden etapp 5

Stage 5 crosses over between two northwest/southeast rift valleys. At the beginning and end of the stage, you therefore pass open, built-up cultural land at, for example, Blekhem, while the middle part consists of large unbroken forest areas where you hardly see any buildings until you approach Hallingeberg.

The stage starts at the shelter northwest of Törnsfall church. After going very close to Lake Ödingen, the road crosses towards Blackstad and the trail seeks up over Borgareberget. As the name suggests, this is one of the ancient castles in Tjust. The mountain also offers nice views. The descent from Borgareberget passes through a nature conservation area with deciduous forest, before heading north towards Blekhem Castle. Before the castle, the trail turns northeast on a path along Lake Bleken.

In Gustaf Vasa's land registers from the 16th century, the Blekhem estate is listed as the king's private property. The manor's current buildings were built by Johan Nordenfalk in the 1830s, based on the royal Rosendal. The unique architecture has come to be known as the Tjustempir. At Blekens outlet you get a good overview of the beautiful location by the lake.

Blekhem ran a brickworks in Almvik until 1970. The clay for the brickworks was taken from Lake Bleken and transported on a cable car over the E22 to Almvik. The brickworks has been restored to a nice brickworks museum, well worth a visit.

After the trail passes the houses at Sylltorp, you have a view of Kålåkerskärret from the road. Moose often graze there at dusk and the area is also home to an interesting bird fauna. The beautiful buildings in Kålåker inspired Anna Maria Roos when she painted the well-known Sörgården in her folk school books. Further away in the valley is a burial ground with mighty cairns. The largest is 22 meters in diameter. In addition, there is a stone setting and erected stones from the Iron Age. Read more on the information board!

The trail continues a little further along the valley's pastures before it enters the forest. It first goes over planted pasture and then climbs over a rock to get down to Norra Hällsjön where it is excellent to rest and maybe swim.

The trail then runs through extensive woodland, along the parish boundaries Gamleby-Törnsfall and Gamleby-Hallingeberg. You can see several large boundary cairns. A long walk has been made through a marsh. In some glades, you can see the red flowers of the thistle on bare twigs in early spring. These are excellent mushroom fields. At Bredgöl, the trail runs close to the southern shore of the lake.

The trail then goes up over some mountains in the forest. You can see Lortbrokärr, walk through vast woodlands that in the fall are excellent berry and mushroom fields.

Hökgöl is glimpsed on a couple of occasions and you see cairns in the forest, traces of old farmland. Northwest of the lake, high on a mountain ridge, you can rest. After the forest walk, you arrive at Hallingeberg, a beautiful open village in the valley. Hallingebergsån is crossed on a small bridge. Then make a small detour up to the church. Note the many beautifully molded grave crosses and do not miss the well-preserved church stables south of the church.

The last part to the stage goal in the exception cottage Källtorp runs parallel to the highway in beautiful pastures. This path can be used if grazing animals are close by! Before the IOGT premises, a road goes west to the croft where you can rest. Sleeping bags are required for overnight stays.