I went for another walk. This time I chose the nice, prepared trail between Porsön and Gammelstad. It's about 7km and I've walked there a few times before. The start is at the end of the 4 and 5 bus lines, right behind the bus drivers' toilet (nice starting point! but it gets better...). I remembered to bring the right gear: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/VK/VK.jpg I did *not* remember that the first kilometer or so is very wet: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/036.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/040.jpg I had my nice black shoes on. Oh, well... Others have been here before, in the same situation, and there are usually little alternative side paths in the worst places: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/041.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/042.jpg These are not my foot prints: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/045.jpg I was looking out for some nice little information signs that I remembered reading along this road. There's one that explains how this is a 200-300-year-old road built by some rich man who hired beggars and paid them with alcohol. I guessed that they had been removed (they must have been ancient, and probably unreadable by now, they could use an update). Argh! More mud: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/046.jpg Good thing there are those side paths! Well... this one was as bad as the main road: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/047.jpg One soaked foot! http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/049.jpg (no green muck this time though) Remembering being here in the past I started to think about a lake on the left of the path. I should be getting closer to it. There were some old (ca WWII?) wooden barges stuck in the mud on the beach (except I only ever saw one). I should get a picture of that to show the flonkers! Look! The road goes up, towards the dryer part. Just that one water hole to pass and then the rest of the road will be OK: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/050.jpg It got better, and then: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/051.jpg A bit later: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/054.jpg The side paths are as wet as the road. The only way to get past here is that tree on the ground. One can grab the stump that's standing next to it (in the middle of the picture) for support about half way, but it's a couple of meters of balancing before and after that! This is the same place, before crossing (the "bridge" tree is that wooden detail on the left). This is not my foot print either: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/055.jpg I made it across, and was rewarded: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/060.jpg Finally dry ground! Bird Street 27 has a leaky roof. I hope the landlord fixes it soon: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/061.jpg Then I found a place where there was a road to the left. That must be the one to the barge(s)! I walked there, and found the lake, but no boat(s). Oh, well, maybe they finally disappeared for good. I saw some birds on the lake but they took off quickly when they saw me. I only got this picture of them: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/062.jpg Ah! I have now left the dry part of my walk and have reached a wet spot where some helpful people have put out planks to walk on: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/063.jpg (I hope you heard the sarcasm/irony/whatever in that last comment. This part of the path is quite dry.) Then I found the first information sign: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/065.jpg It was readable: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/064.jpg It's the explanation about the building of the road that I have just walked on. You're supposed to read the sign before walking there. Apparently I'm walking in the "wrong" direction (and yes, I remember that feeling from walking here before). Near that first ("last"?) sign is the sign about the barges: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/066.jpg They were two "cow ferries", used as late as the 1950s. I was just a bit impatient when I went to that other place. This path is tiny: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/068.jpg Sometimes barely visible under the blueberry [bushes? plants?]: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/072.jpg And there's Mother Nature's version of one of those gates that don't really stop people from going on certain roads: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/067.jpg Somebody had pooped on the road: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/069.jpg Then I found the boat(s). Again, I only saw one. I took two pictures, from slightly different angles, and they turned out surprisingly different: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/070.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/071.jpg Back on the road. Another kind of sign: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/074.jpg I found gold!!!1! http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/076.jpg Now comes the *real* wet part of the walk. This one is almost *in* the lake for a couple of km before and after the tower, so the planks are motivated: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/077.jpg The bird watching tower: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/078.jpg This is a Proper Tourist Place. There's an information sign: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/sign/map.html (I made an imagemap of it, so you can read the text. Yes, there's an English version, and yes, I forgot to take pictures of the photos at the top.) There's also a toilet and a woodshed: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/113.jpg And two grill places: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/114.jpg I'm sorry. I meant three. There's one over there as well: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/116.jpg Rules of the tower: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/117.jpg (Underlined: "Enter at your own risk.") Of course I entered. Here's a view from the top: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/118.jpg And the view one climbs up there to see, the lake: left: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/121.jpg middle: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/122.jpg right: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/120.jpg I was annoyed with how messy this turned out, so I experimented a little with my camera and made this film: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/004.mp4 Climbing back down. There's a room under the top platform: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/123.jpg Put the door back (felt like closing a coffin lid above myself!): http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/124.jpg Inside the room in the tower: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/125.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/126.jpg Somebody left a little souvenir in the corner: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/127.jpg Looking down: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/128.jpg Looking up: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/129.jpg Then I drank the water in my water bottle, and wished I had brought more. It was a warm day, and the mosquitoes were everywhere. I really couldn't take off my jacket, and gloves, and hat! http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/VK/a_bird_in_the_hand.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/VK/213.jpg Leaving the tower I noticed that Bird Street 14 seems to have trouble with its foundation. Missing: one tree. http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/130.jpg More planks: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/132.jpg I tried to take pictures to show how many ants were on the wood, but they seemed to disappear when I aimed my camera at them. I managed to take a picture of a huge beetle though: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/135.jpg Another bird house (I didn't go close enough to see if it had a number): http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/136.jpg Something Bad happened to this sign: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/137.jpg But it was readable: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/138.jpg No snow mobiles! http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/139.jpg Anther bird house: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/141.jpg If I remembered/understood (some now missing sign) correctly this big rock used to be almost under water (about 500-600 years ago) and this was the place in Luleå harbour where the big ships would stop. Now the path is below the rock and the city has moved many km closer to the sea). http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/142.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/143.jpg Look! The sign explaining the harbour thing wasn't missing! It's just that I'm walking "in the wrong direction" (again! *grrr*). http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/144.jpg More pictures of that big rock: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/146.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/148.jpg A dead tree: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/147.jpg This used to be a nice little bridge. Then it got scary. It was leaning in different directions, and IIRC, some planks were broken. They are not broken now, but it still leans, and now the forest seems to want to go for a walk on it too: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/149.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/150.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/151.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/152.jpg Another sign. This one is partly unreadable: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/153.jpg An arrow! Pointing in the direction I'm going! http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/155.jpg There are very few markings to help people walking here, and many little wrong paths to get confused by. It helps to have been here before. There are some orange markings, but they are not enough to prevent confusion: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/156.jpg How nice of them to put a bridge over the wet place so I can go across without getting my feet wet. Now, how do I get to the bridge without getting my feet wet?! http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/159.jpg Under the bridge is - another bridge! http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/162.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/163.jpg (Did I go wrong somewhere and accidentally end up in Ankh-Morpork?) This bit is fun! It has always been this bad! Every time I've been here. Basically, you're supposed to walk across open water (with lots of grass-ish stuff growing in it, but still *water*) on these narrow planks. Miss just a little and you're *soaked*!!!!2! http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/164.jpg *brrr!* http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/167.jpg A sign, but the info is missing. http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/168.jpg (The first time I found this path I was on my bike, on a big road, which then turned into a smaller road, which then became a dirt road, which became two tire tracks with grass between, which became a barely visible single path in the grass, which eventually led to the forest on the other side of those planks. I dragged my bike over the planks, and then all the way back to the road sign with the arrow to "Parkering". There I went for the parkering and from there back to the big road.) A nice, sturdy bridge. http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/170.jpg On the other side is some rotting rubbish. Maybe what's left of some older bridge? http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/171.jpg Look! Mud! http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/173.jpg And a side path: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/174.jpg In several places along the road I've seen something that looks like a bike (moped? motorcycle?) track: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/178.jpg (If you go back and check the muddiest pictures you'll see it in some of them too.) Wasn't this supposed to be a "protected" area? http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/179.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/180.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/181.jpg Yet another scary bridge, or, from this perspective, tunnel: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/182.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/183.jpg Inside: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/184.jpg Without flash: the light at the end of the tunnel!!!3! http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/185.jpg At the other end: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/186.jpg A giant snake! http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/187.jpg More "protection": http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/188.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/189.jpg And more mud: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/190.jpg One of those little sheds the locals insist on calling "barns" can be seen on the other side of some nasty-looking mud: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/191.jpg Why do I get the feeling that there used to be planks here? Could it be because there are some planks here, but, have some of them disappeared? http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/193.jpg The barn, from different angles: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/194.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/195.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/196.jpg And .... more mud: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/197.jpg Another *lovely* little bridge: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/198.jpg This *is* my footprint: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/199.jpg I stepped on a reasonably solid-looking piece of wood, but it was rotten and my foot went right through it as if it wasn't even there! The water did not reach the top of my right shoe though: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/200.jpg Another fallen sign with the info stuff missing: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/201.jpg I wonder if maybe this was the one that explained that this part of the path is an old railway? It's fairly straight and wide. Nice to walk on. http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/202.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/203.jpg Except, it's not. It's as wet as the rest of the road. And here's yet another "bridge" that's hard to get close to without sinking into the mud: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/204.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/205.jpg MUD! http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/207.jpg Do not depart from the path: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/208.jpg (I'm not going to try. The ditches on the sides are even worse than the road.) Another confidence-inspiring bridge: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/209.jpg (Actually, this one turned out to be one of the most solid bridges of this entire adventure! Those planks were nice and thick!) As I was walking and noticing how much maintenance this place needed I was constantly worried that I would come across one bridge that could not be crossed, and that I'd have to turn back all the way to Porsön. The further I got the more likely it seemed. Another interesting dead tree: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/210.jpg More mud (I was beginning to get bored with this road now): http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/211.jpg Getting closer to civilization! The uninformative signs now have graffiti on them! http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/214.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/220.jpg Well, some of them do. Some don't. http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/215.jpg More motorcycle-or-whatever tracks: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/216.jpg A place to grill hot dogs and spend the night: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/217.jpg (There were people there, so I didn't go up, but I suspect the site has been chosen because of the view.) Another numberless villa on Bird Street. This one needs straightening up. Nice view from the balcony, but being right next to a garbage can can't be good for property values: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/219.jpg It's not obvious from the pictures but these road signs are standing (leaning) in the middle of the water, and pointing out over the water. They are for snowmobiles, but it looks a bit silly in the summer. http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/223.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/229.jpg More mud: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/224.jpg (The wide open area on the right is a part of the lake. This part of the railroad goes right across it.) On the left is a view of the lake: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/226.jpg (Can you tell it's a lake? Try stepping in it!) Some water is visible: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/227.jpg http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/228.jpg THIS is the light at the end of the tunnel! I can see the church in Gammelstad!!!67890! http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/239.jpg With maximum zoom: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/231.jpg Apparently I have walked 6 km. It seems like much more. http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/233.jpg Just as I got to Gammelstad it started to rain. I got on a bus and went home. Oh, and I did see a couple of horses on this walk too: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~vk/pics/photo/2010/06_Porson_Gammelstad/VK/horses.jpg