Southern Sweden
This was a very enjoyable few days travelling through Southern Sweden dodging the bad weather that was moving north across the country. Fortunately, the bands of thunderstorms were following quite narrow paths, and we were able to drive across them and come out at the other side.
Main Destinations
Garphyttan
Nora Kvill
Skams Gator
After a pleasant night near the border with Norway, we headed across Sweden to one of the most charming National Parks in Sweden. It would be called a Nature Reserve nowadays, as it is only 111 ha. The flower meadows on our last visit were awash with colour. This year, much later, we found they had been cut for hay. The bird life was still very good, and we heard nutcracker here again.
Nora Kvill is a rocky area of forest that was historically no use to anyone, and was left alone. Since 1927 it has also been one of Sweden’s tiny National Parks (also 111 ha, by coincidence). It is very popular, the trails were busy with visitors. The wildlife was conspicuously absent.
We crossed to the village of Sand, where a field with ancient oaks and tall junipers is a nature reserve.
Nearby, a trail to Zora Berg appealed. The wildlife was very good. We saw three species of woodpecker, for instance: Great-spotted, Black and White-backed. We took the ‘difficult’ trail to Skam’s Gator.
The Gator trail was the most entertaining in Sweden. A former hideout of a bandit, this was represented by little wooden cutouts of bandits along the trail. Skams Gator was accessd through a crevice between two enormous boulders. A cave in a cliff was the former occupants’ hideout and one fallen tree appeared to be supported by a thin little waymark post.
We wanted to revisit Store Mosse Nasjonalpark (which Google refers to as The Great Bog). We climbed the Kvarnö bird tower when we arrived and saw moose, two kestrels and several groups of cranes.
Store Mosse Nasjonalpark does very well at engaging people with the wild lands of Sweden, even when the land is flat and wet. The visitor centre was one of the best for children and families. It was very busy. The main bird tower not only gives great views of the huge flat expanse, it also served very good coffee and waffles!
Store Mosse is not all about bird towers, but they make good photo subjects. Lastly, we had a peaceful walk around Lövö before heading south for our ferry port of Helsingborg.
The next adventures were in Denmark.
Exploring Norway 