Gladhammarslederna, röd led

**The three Gladhammar trails, which total around 28 km, start from Lund village. The red trail is a historical trail to Gladhammar's deserted mines, the blue and green trails are nature walks with historical elements.

The red trail runs from the parking lot in Lund village across the river and up towards the Käring Ridge mines. Mining started early with iron ore, but the copper content was too high and until the second half of the 18th century copper was mined instead. Cobalt was then found and the Gladhammar mines became Sweden's largest deposit of cobalt ore, which was used in the glass and paint industries. Wooden wedges found that were used in mining have been dated to the 12th century. Sampling of lake sediments has shown that the metal content of the sediments increased already around the year 750 and shows that mining activities may have been in operation already then. The mines may therefore be some of the oldest in the country.

There are a large number of mine holes spread over three fields. The oldest and largest is the Holländare field, located at the top of the mountain. The others are the Ryssgruve-Sohlberg fields. All are fenced off with security fences. Large amounts of slag and scrap rock piles have been found in the area. All old slag and warp have now been disposed of for environmental reasons and the area was cleaned up in 2010-2011 by Västervik municipality with grants and support from the County Administrative Board of Kalmar County and the Environmental Protection Agency. At the rest area at the top of the mine area there is a detailed description with pictures of the cleanup work. This is one of the oldest industrial environments in Kalmar County.

If you walk a bit on Tjustleden down towards Tjursbosjön, you can see the remains of the opening to the gallery "Sancte Pehrs nyckel" which was driven into the rock in the 1760s. The tunnel is now sealed to prevent the escape of heavy metals from the mine. On the way up from the lake, you can see the only remaining workers' dwelling. The trail then goes back to Lund village.