John Bauer leden (The John Bauer Trail) is named after a famous Swedish artist who came from Jönköping and was inspired by these forests. It is part of Smålandsleden (The Småland trail)
Tuesday at 10am I walk out from Huskvarna station and start this trail in a sunny warm weather. I walk through some neighborhoods until I reach the Husqvarna old factory, where the path starts go up the Huskvarna mountain.
At the beginning of my walk the sound of the city (Huskvarna and Jönköping) is intense, but slowly fading, until after 2-3 hours walk it is finally gone. This first part seems like a local recreational area, where people come for the views, or mountain biking, or just having a small barbeque.
As I get more north small farms start to appear and I turn direction toward east, and for the first time of the day I have to cross a fenced meadow with possible livestock inside. The meadows here are rocky, often with trees standing in groups or alone.
This is my first glimpse of the trail which has similarities along the path. Sometimes walking through meadows, next walking along small forest paths.
It takes some time before I actually meet some cows, which are standing behind a fence. At that point I feel lucky theres a fence between us. Cows might be friendly, but they are awfully big, I feel a bit anxious about having them coming close to me to rub against me 🙂
Passing windmills.
Finally I reach the lake, but the shelter, which looks cozy and have what looks like a small bathing bridge, is occupied. I continue along the narrow trail in hope of finding a spot to setup my tent, and finds a small one right next to the lake and kinda in the middle of the track, but, its 5am, and I dont expect any hikers will pass at this hour, and I havent seen any all day.
Unfortunately I’m not far enough away from one of the windmills, and I can hear it summing all night, which a little bit spoils the nature experience. The lakeside is full of insects, and sounds like there’s fish in the water, and I can hear woodpeckers and other birds, and I see squirrels. This relatively small lake seems like an oasis for animal life.
In the morning I dare to take some water from the lake which I filter and then boil for coffee. There is no weird taste. This turns out to be last place to find water though until Brun, unless you knock on a door some place and ask for it.
As I continue my walk passing the lake it doesnt take long before I reach this sort of plateu with small trees and lots of heather and other flowers, and full of bees and butterflies. As I cross it I pass a nice looking shelter, and then through grass and flowers where I constantly see 10 butterflies swirling in front of me. It feels amazing, and I wish I could stay here half a day just to enjoy it, but, with limited water the nature of this route is you need progress.
The lake … is not a very spectacular experience. First I walk along it on a forest road 50 meters steep up, until I reach the end of the lake and for a short moment am right down at it, but then continue away and toward farmhouses and a road north.
This paved road continues for maybe 1km and there is no markings at all, so at one point I stop to check the map on my mobile, but yes, its the correct way. Further ahead I reach some houses, passes them and enter into small forest paths again.
Before Bunn there is a water outlet in a small summerhouse area. It is clearly marked from the trail and inside the area. When I reach Bunn I stop at a bus waiting “hall”. Its a small wood building with an opening and benches inside. Next to the door opening I discover an electricity outlet and use it to charge my phone.
After Bunn the trail goes up and through forest for around 1 kilometer until I reach a small road passing meadows and farms, until I reach a paved road again walking with fields on the sides and passing small clusters or houses.
At this time in the afternoon I am getting tired and start look for places to camp, but there aint any until I walk further and again reach a forest section. Here I find a spot next to the path where someone have camped before, there is stones forming a fireplace.
The next morning it doesn’t take long before I get out of the forest, after which rest of the path towards the lake is a mix of countryside roads, farms, passing fields and small snippets of forest. This part of the route is not particular interesting. It had been raining in the morning, and even I was hiding under my tent I get soaking wet when I continue walking through overgrown paths, so, I don’t take a lot of photos this morning.
Finally I cross under the e4 highway, and enter the natural park along side the lake and the highway. There is a steep walk down, until I am right next to the lake and the trail becomes easy soft forest track, going a bit up and down, but pleasant to walk on. Its nice walking there with the lake to my left, though the noise from the road kind of ruins the idyllic feeling.
I reach the small down of …. after which rest of the trail to Granna is a smaller paved road with fields and houses, and a lot of apple trees, on both sides.
When I reach Garna it feels like I reached civilization again. There is shops, many tourist shops, many restaurants, many visitors, a bit too many cars. There is busses towards Jonkøbing around every half hour, but before I start my trip home I eat in a restaurant and drink a well deserved draft beer.
Conclussion
The John Bauer leden is the hardest trail I tried. It feels like it goes up and down and up and down, and the warm weather and high sun didn’t make it easier. According the Alltrails the route has about 1500 meters elevation, though, since I started down at Huskvarna station and had some detours my guess is more like 1700 meters.
Other problem is the lack of water sources: One can probably walk the trail in smaller steps, but then you run out of water, unless you want carry 10 liter water with you. Obviously if one can walk parts of it without a backpack it will be easier.
None the less I highly recommend the John Bauer Trail. Its versatile, full of flowers, insects, cows, and nice paths.
The marking is fairly decent, though I missed the route on several occasions and had to turn to the map on my mobile phone to get back on track.
If you want walk this with backpack, I recommend you get into training walking up and down with 10 kilos on your back a month in advance.
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