Cycle through Småland farming villages.
The Emigration Trail runs through Småland, the very heartland of the Swedish emigration era. You cycle along winding country roads, both on gravel and asphalt. There are nice places to stay along the way, nice sights and an exciting history. Korrö crafts village, the judge's ring in Flåboda with at least 1500 years on its neck and the remains of Modala Glassworks where the village's great writer Vilhelm Moberg worked in his youth are some tips along the way.
Emigration to America from Sweden took off in the 1860s, peaked in the 1880s and slowed in the 1920s. In total, around 1.5 million Swedes left their homeland during this period, with the vast majority making their way across the Atlantic to America. You may have read Vilhelm Moberg's gripping books about the Emigrants, or seen Jan Troell's film adaptation starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullman as Karl-Oskar and Kristina.
On the Emigrant Trail, you cycle right through the original settings of this amazing story. Here the farmers worked hard with stony fields and those who stayed behind read the letters from the new country with great fascination. Stop at the memorial stone in Påvemåla and reflect on the fact that here was the soldier's hut 135 where Vilhelm Moberg grew up at the turn of the last century.
Some stretches are the same for hiking and biking trails. The bike trail is marked with red signs, orange signs are for the hiking trail.
