| The Vaksala Trail |
On this map you can see how Linnaeus walked the trail.
Go to the
website of the city of Uppsala to see how you can walk the trail
today.
Map from Linnaean Landscapes
© Copyright: Lantmäteriet, the National Land Survey of Sweden |
Good to know |
The entire distance from Nyby to Törnby is 7.8 km, which can
be divided up thus:
Nyby to Ekensberg: 3.2 km.
Ekensberg to Jälla: 1 km.
Jälla to Törnby: 3.6 km.
Public Transport
For information about buses along the trail, see Upplands
Lokaltrafik and Linnébussen. |
Vaksala tull |
| During the 1740s, Carl Linnaeus introduced highly popular excursions
into his teaching, which he entitled Herbationes Upsalienses. Vaksala
tull was the start of Herbatio Waxalensis. Linnaeus took his students
over hills and meadows out to Eke and Jälla. The trail concluded
in Törnby. |
Nyby |
| Today's trail starts in Nyby, since the land around Uppsala has
been altered by such things as the new motorway. It links up with
the historical stretch later on instead. Linnaeus himself rambled
along Vaksalagatan past Gränby, where his daughter would later
live. She is buried at Vaksala church and in the space by her estate
is now the Gränby Linnaeus memorial, a monument to Linnaeus's
daughters and female botanists of the 18th century. |
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| Eke and Jälla meadows |
| Eke meadow was in the marsh where the new E4 freeway now passes,
north of the Östhammar road. At Eke meadow is the water division
to Samnan, which runs out into the River Funboån and River Fyrisån.
The Jälla meadow starts from here. In those days, these were
wetlands where hay was made for animals. Today they have been drained
as arable land. |
Törnby |
| Törnby grove is chiefly known as Linnaeus's classic site for
studying plants and insects. Linnaeus had his prebendary estate at
Törnby. A prebendary estate is an estate whose income finances
a professor's salary. This led to Törnby grove being amongst
the areas around Uppsala which are best researched. West of the estate,
a pronounced slope rises up with a prominent bedrock structure. This
slope is called Hinhålesträdan and consists of Uppsala
granite with typical banking with the various banks looking like "the
ridges of a newly ploughed patch". Its folk name means that none
other than Hinhåle (the devil) could have ploughed these furrows.
"Träda" is Swedish for a field in its fallow year. |
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