Hjusjön, Hällefors, Vildmarkskrogen, Kindla Nature Reserve
On Saturday morning we headed off to Hjusjön church. This is a fascinating old wooden church all red and wooden shingles. Once inside the heavy doors, there is a very old panel of a wall painting that has been saved from an earlier building. There was another panel behind the pulpit from the same era – possibly earlier than 16 or 17th Century. The list of priests serving at this church begins in 1647. This church has an unusual shape, because at some stage the original church was cut in half, stretched out and a new centre knave (I think that’s what they call it) was built in the middle of it, thus forming the cross structure of the present day.
On the textile front, a series of crocheted ‘bookmarks’ was on display. They were beautifully crafted, but little detail on who, when or why. There was also a flat woven rug stretching along the centre aisle. The stain-glass window was full of strong colours that glowed in the dimly lit church. The pulpit was gilded with gold highlights and the brass lamps shone. Below the window was a very old marble font. All in all this church really felt old but well loved and treasured.
We went onto the cemetery but the chapel was closed. People were tending their family's graves, a past-time that is a regular occurrence it appears. The cemeteries we visited were all very neat and tidy with plants such as pansy and marigolds blooming. The view from this cemetery included a glittery lake – not a bad view to contemplate for eternity!
We then drove through Hällefors and onto Vildmarkskrogen which gave a wonderful (although somewhat chilly!) view over the forests and lakes of this area. From up high, one can see the lakes stretching into the distance, fringed by the thick pine and birch forests. Although there are people living out in those forests, their impact is hidden from view, leaving only a sense of dense compact and conserved forests. I think this is why Sweden still has a strong sense of wilderness. Although the forests are managed and used, they still are going strong.
We stopped at a friend’s summer cottage and collected the ladder needed by the chimney sweeps that were coming to our cottage the following week. It was interesting to see another summer cottage – this one being bigger than ours, but still without electricity. Not sure about the running water situation. The upstairs fireplace had a complicated chimney which directed the smoke from the fire around the fireplace before heading up through the chimney. Unfortunately, somewhere in the history of this cottage, the access cleaning points to this chimney have been plastered over, which makes the job of cleaning it impossible. The reason for such a complicated chimney system was two-fold, 1) to keep the heat from escaping immediately up the chimney and 2) to stop the wind blowing the smoke back into the room (well, that’s how I understood it. Please correct me if I am wrong!!)
On Sunday (6/7/08) we went for a drive to Kindla Nature Reserve. But first we went for a walk through Slotterbergets gruver – an area that was heavily mined in the mid 1880’s for iron. The trail took us past areas of deep crevasses – some over 300m deep where the miners had dug down for the ore. There were stone walls that would have housed huge wheels used to lift the ore up to the tram lines. One U-shaped stone was polished to a beautiful smooth finish. The area was rugged and from the information (with English translations) and photographs stationed along the trail, the living and working conditions for the men would have been quite harsh. It was on this walk that I saw a little wren perched cheekily on a huge moss-covered boulder. It was only there for a second, but enough for me to have a really good look at it. So I was quite thrilled about that.
We went onto Kindla Nature Reserve. This is a forest area that is being conserved. Most of the forests in Sweden are logged periodically, but Kindla is one of the few areas left that is classed as virgin forestry. A managed fire-regime is part of the conservation program. The walking path led through mossy covered boulders and there wasn’t much undergrowth. One feature was the large ant nests. Pine needles and sticks are piled into towers with large black ants scurrying around, looking quite threatening! We climbed to the top of Kindlahöjden even to the top of the tower and looked far and wide – forests and lakes of course.
