The land around Härnösand is still rising. When the ice sheet that covered Scandinavia melted at the end of the last ice age, the earth's crust, freed from the weight, began to spring back, and here on the High Coast it has risen by almost three hundred metres, the greatest such uplift known anywhere. That is why the High Coast, which starts just north of town, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site: ancient beaches and shorelines now lie high on the hillsides, far above the sea, and the land is still rising by almost a centimetre a year.
Härnösand itself is a small, handsome city of about eighteen thousand people, one of the oldest towns in Norrland, the vast northern half of Sweden. It is a diocese and was for a long time an administrative centre, and the old town has fine stone buildings and a white cathedral on a hill. The Murberget open-air museum, above the town, gathers old farmhouses, churches and other buildings from across the region. The town is partly built on an island, Härnön, linked by bridges to the mainland.
For riders heading north on the High Coast Route, the landmark is the High Coast Bridge, which carries the E4 over the mouth of the Ångerman River just north of Härnösand. When it opened in the 1990s it was one of the longest suspension bridges in the world, and crossing it, high above the water with the forested hills on either side, is a moment to savour. Beyond it, the old coast road leaves the E4 and winds through the villages, forests and fjords of the High Coast, with steep climbs and wonderful views over the sea and the islands.
Härnösand has fuel, food and accommodation, and it is a good place to fill up before heading into the High Coast, where services are fewer. The summers are short but light, with long evenings and midnight sun not far to the north, and the sea is cold even in July. Watch for moose and reindeer on the roads, especially at dawn and dusk, and expect cool, changeable weather, with rain and wind from the Gulf of Bothnia.