Go north from Gesunda towards Ryssa. After a few kilometers you pass a beautiful milestone on the left side. A small monument with an interesting history.
There are milestones in several places along the roads in the parish. Milestones were set according to the 1649 transport and inn ordinance when the road network was measured and the transport network was arranged. They were erected along public roads at each
¼ (= 2,672 m), ½ (= 5,344 m) and complete (= 10,688 m) old Swedish miles. The milestones bore years and often the name of the governor and sometimes the king's name cipher. They were a tool for building confidence in travelers that the length of the road was properly measured. There was no GPS at that time.
Highest coastline
Another interesting story is that the road to Russia follows the "highest coastline". Many thousands of years ago, Scandinavia was covered by a 3,000-meter-thick ice sheet. As you know, the ice began to melt and the ice edge shrank
north. Around 6,500 BC, Siljan was a sea bay to the then Baltic Sea. Havsfjärden reached a level of about 210 m above today's sea surface and covered Sollerön and large parts of Siljansdalen. As the land uplift progressed, Sollerön began to become visible. The water depth became smaller and smaller and eventually Siljan was cut off from the sea and became a lake. When you travel towards Ryssa, you go on the highest shoreline of the sea bay. Siljan is thus not only geologically interesting for the large meteorite impact for 377
million years ago.
Ryssa - homestead and harbor
Idylliska Ryssa was home to Sollerön and Mora already in Gustav Vasa's time.
The fishing in Siljan and Ryssån has always played a big role for the village and the fishing tradition lives on. Russians are often at the top in ice fishing and angling competitions. The fish Russian (whitefish) has given the village its name.
Ryssa has an interesting history in that the village was the port of embarkation and shipping to Siljansfors Järnbruk. From here went the famous "Havsgatan" - a winter road that connected Siljan with Västerdalarna via Siljansfors. It is mentioned as early as 1440.
During the years 1738–1876, "Havsgatan" was of great importance to Järnbruket. Steamboats with barges from Leksand and Insjön unloaded iron ore which was placed in a depot in the harbor. In winter, the ore was transported by horse-drawn carriage 8.5 km up to Järnbruket. In the opposite direction, the mill's products such as bar iron, bundle iron, nails, etc. were transported for further transport to the world market. The total amount of transport during January-March 1848 amounted to at least 6,000 horse loads of 450 kg.
The Russian sow was formerly used for floating. Today, the river has two power plants with dams and canals. Feel free to do a little sightseeing on the small roads that go on each side of the river whose dark water provides a magical setting. Nature offers both moose and beaver if you are lucky. Along the river down to Siljan there is an abandoned brickyard and by Siljan there is a beautiful bathing place with a view of the archipelago. »BromanGard Bed & Breakfast Ateljécafé« and Ryssa Allianskapell are centrally located in the village which today has about 150 residents.
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