Mike och Nivos på Bjänleden

Mike och Nivos vandrar Bjänleden i Östergötland

After sitting inside all week working on papers, reports and getting ready for a new semester as a PhD student, I decided that this weekend I needed some fresh air and some outdoor experience to set things off right for the next week.

Since my dog, Nivos a 5 month old Hungarian Vizsla, cannot be out too long or walk such long distances, I wanted to go somewhere close to Linköping. I was checking out several places, e.g. Omberg, Östgötaleden, but eventually found Bjänleden north of Roxen. The other two were ruled out because of a coming storm. Bjänleden seemed like an interesting choice. 8km long, 15 minutes north and quite easy to get to.

We made it out to the start, near an old mill. You go in, pay 10 kr for a map, can park there and head out for a hike. A great set up! After walking through a bit of farmland we ended up in the woods on the east side of Bjän lake. The terrain was quite varied. Lots of rocks, small hills, cliffs and unfortunately quite wet after the past weeks rain...not too wet though. We ended up walking quite a bit after our start around 5pm. Around 8 or so we stopped, set up our tent and had dinner.

Here is a pic of my own Personal Quick Cooking System. I bought a Snow Peak micro stove back in USA for like 10 bucks at an REI outlet shop. To top that off I bought a wind shield for the primus systems and put the Primus Eta Power Pot to the test. The system worked great. The shield, stove and pot with heat reflectors built in had the water boiling in like 1.5 minutes if not quicker. Awesome!

After a restless nights sleep, a tired dog wanting to climb into my small sleeping bag...., we made a good breakfast. Oatmeal, brown sugar, milk and fresh blueberries...cannot beat it! We then headed off back on the trail toward the mill to head home. The second half of the hike was a lot nicer. We went through a varied array of woods, cliffs, streams and open landscapes. It was quite challenging, but a nice 4 km hike.  

Here's a pic from one of the ascents up a nice hill on the trail. It is marked pretty well, except near the powerlines which run through the trail (where the trail is quite overgrown with difficult to see marking).

At the end we walked back through some farmland and ended up back at the car. Nivos was tired to say the least! We both got home (around lunch) and had a nice long nap!

I can highly reccommend this hike for anyone around Linköping looking to get out for an overnight trip. Its close, its nice and is the woods! Also a nice trail with descriptions and many landmarks and old foundations for cabins along the way. This was the first hiking adventure, but not the last for little Nivos!