Ballonghallen

We're rather blessed to be living in our town. With 30,000 people there's enough of an intrastructure to supply pretty much everything you need and there is a city of 100,000 people just 20 minutes drive up the motorway. So we kind of get the best of both worlds. The big big plus for me is the wonderful nature surrounding the town. Within a 5 minute walk from anywhere in town you'll be by a lake or river. 5 minutes further and you're in the forests. That's something I began to miss terribly during the last years living in a densly builtup residential area of a city, and I've really tried to make the most of it. The rural areas around me today are very well maintained with excellent roads and walking trails. My favourite place to go for a run is to take a trip up the hill to Ballonghallen. Ballonghallen translates literally to Balloon Hall, and it's an accurate description. Nestled amongst the dense trees at the top of a steep hill is a redundant military building, about the size of an aircraft hanger. It's a rather pretty red timber building, despite it's practical purpose. It's quiet well known as a building and there are a number of photos on-line. Back in the days when Sweden was a bit worried about invasions and the protection of their mining infrastructure, they built significant defence fortifications and facilities. While not in use today, the mountain fortresses and hidden bunkers are still fascinating. Some of the bunkers are really clever and you would think that you were looking at a large boulder until you spot the little door at the back. Ballonghallen housed hot air "spotter" balloons, designed to give fore warning of a potential attack, and to help guide the big artillery guns from the fortresses. It's all very fascinating stuff. There are even a couple of stretches of highway which look innocent enough when you're driving along them but they are actually alternative landing strips for fighter jets. No wonder that no one attacked Sweden, they were certainly well prepared.

Back to Ballonghallen. Twenty years ago, when running was fashionable, there were a couple of training circuits used by the "serious" runners in the area. Ballonghallen is one of those. Not many people know about it today, but it's become a Right of Passage in our family to run Ballonghallen. It's a loop course of between 11 and 12km, 8km of which is on gravel roads through the heart of the forest. The heart of it is, of course the Ballonghallen hill. A killer 1km long stretch which climbs about 80m. It's tough going but once you reach the top, you've covered exactly half the distance and then it's mostly a gentle downhill slope for the rest of the loop. It's a really hard climb, but you get a real rush when you finally make it to the top. Knocking off Ballonghallen is one that you don't forget.

I don't run that route every week, but I try to at least once a month. It's a bit hard to go up there during the winter. It's not too bad underfoot, but suckng in all that extra air on the way up isn't good for the lungs when it's -15 deg C or colder. After a bit of preparation training, my wife has become the latest member of the "Ballonghallen Club". These days it's a pretty exclusive club. In the probably 3 years that I've been running the route I think I've only ever met one other person up there. He was an older gentleman, also fighting his way up. We didn't say anything when we met, but we both knew.

There are a couple of extensions to the Ballonghallen route, which I take from time to time. One extends the run out to about 14km, while the other to around 18km. They both have their merits (I only tackle the 18km hill run a couple of times a season) but the orginal route is still the one that counts for me. If it's not to windy (although that helps with the mosquitos) this weekend then it might be time to pay an old friend a visit again.