Götene - Kinnekulle

After breakfast we start a little sightseeing tour today in the area around Götene. First we drive to Silverfallet, which lives up to its name. It is a river with several waterfalls, each of which carries very little water. Because of this gentle flow, the water looks like streaks of silver falling elegantly and leisurely to the ground. We take a lot of photos. Luckily we have tripods and ND filters with us, which allow us to get great photos of these waterfalls.

After a short snack break with bananas and TUC crackers we move on. The next spot is a well-kept secret that is not described in any travel guide. Tourism is not promoted there. On the contrary, it is a place that should simply be forgotten.

It is the “Oljekoken Gössätter”, which is found quite well hidden in a forest. It consists of the ruins of a so-called “oil cooker”, a plant for extracting oil from alum shale, which was built in 1890. In the final phase of the First World War the navy could no longer import oil to power its ships. So they wanted to extract oil from the local alum shale deposits. An attempt was made to build a gigantic oil-cooking plant here in the forest. But strikes soon broke out and the money ran out. The project went bankrupt in 1920, before a single drop of oil could be extracted. Today nature is doing its best to win the site back, which results in these abandoned, overgrown ruins that seem eerie. We use this “lost place” to live out our photographic creativity (only partly hampered by mosquitoes).

Our next stop is Munkängarna Kinnekulle. The forests we see there are among the healthiest and most beautiful we have ever seen. The trees are strong and in full glory, and the ground is completely overgrown with wild garlic, moss and flowers. Here too we take a lot of photos and get back into our car exhausted but happy.

In the evening we work out and after a first cold shower it’s off to the sauna! Later we treat ourselves to an aperitif again on our terrace in the evening sun. For dinner there are excellent one-pot Älplermagronen with apple sauce and of course salad.