Why this ride
A 110 km round trip from Stockholm - roughly 2 h 33 in the saddle. It goes by way of Birka and Hovgården, Birka, HovgÃ¥rden and back through Birka.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Stockholm afternoon · HovgÃ¥rden
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 110 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 33
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Stockholm
Stockholm is built on fourteen islands where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic, and water is always in view. The old town, Gamla Stan, sits on a small island at the centre, a knot of cobbled lanes, ochre and red façades and narrow courtyards that dates back to the thirteenth century, with the huge royal palace and the cathedral at its heart. In 1520 the Danish king had dozens of Swedish nobles beheaded in the main square, the Stockholm Bloodbath, and the event helped to spark the rebellion that placed Gustav Vasa on the throne. These days the square is a pretty place for coffee, and the shop windows are full of Dala horses and candles.
Read the complete Stockholm write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Stockholm is where the day begins. Next is Birka and Hovgården.
2. Birka and Hovgården
Before Stockholm existed, there was Birka. In the eighth century, on a small island called Bjorko in Lake Malaren, a few kilometres west of the modern city, traders and craftsmen set up a market town, and for about two hundred years it was the most important trading centre in Sweden. Merchants brought furs, iron and slaves, and carried back silver, glass, silk and spices. Coins from Arabia and swords from the Rhineland have turned up in the graves, and a Christian missionary, Ansgar, came here around 830 to preach, with limited success. By the end of the tenth century the town had been abandoned, perhaps because the lake had become too shallow for ships as the land slowly rose after the ice age.
Read the complete Birka and Hovgården write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Birka and Hovgården comes up about 51 km into the recorded legs. Next is Birka.
3. Birka
A thousand years ago, you could have bought a silk scarf, a bag of silver coins and a slave on a small island in Lake Malaren, and a visitor from Byzantium would have felt at home. Birka, on the island of Bjorko, west of Stockholm, was the first real town in Sweden, founded around 750 and abandoned about two centuries later, and it was a market where Vikings met traders from the Frankish lands, the Baltic and as far away as the Arab world. Archaeologists have found coins from the Caliphate, beads from the east and glass from the Rhineland. Several thousand graves lie on the hillsides around the site, most of them simple mounds in the grass, and more of them have been opened than you might think.
Read the complete Birka write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 52 km into the recorded legs you reach Birka. Next is Hovgården.
4. Hovgården
The kings of the Svear lived here, on the island of Adelso in Lake Malaren, and their hall stood on a ridge from which they could watch the water traffic to Birka. Hovgarden means the court farm, and the name hints at what it was: a royal manor, the seat of power for the region in the Viking Age, set directly across a narrow channel from the island that held the trading town. The site is known today for the Kungshogarna, the royal mounds, a row of large grave mounds along the ridge, from the Iron Age and Viking Age, which are among the most visible reminders of Sweden's early kings, and for a runestone and a medieval church, built in the twelfth century, that stands on the highest point.
Read the complete Hovgården write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hovgården, about halfway. Next is back through Birka.
5. back through Birka
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Birka write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Birka sits at 59 km, about halfway. Next is back through Birka and Hovgården.
6. back through Birka and Hovgården
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Birka and Hovgården write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Birka and Hovgården comes up about 60 km into the recorded legs. Next is Stockholm.
7. Stockholm
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stockholm write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Stockholm closes the day.
Leg by leg
Stockholm to Birka and Hovgården
Stockholm → Birka and Hovgården is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Birka to Hovgården
Birka → HovgÃ¥rden is 3 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hovgården to back through Birka
HovgÃ¥rden → back through Birka is 4 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Birka and Hovgården to Stockholm
back through Birka and Hovgården → Stockholm is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.