Why this ride
A 305 km round trip from Uppsala - roughly 5 h 40 in the saddle. The stops in between: HovgÃ¥rden, Birka and Hovgården, Birka and Royal Domain of Drottningholm.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Uppsala day out · Royal Domain of Drottningholm
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 305 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 40
- 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. Uppsala
Uppsala is a university town on the Fyris River, about seventy kilometres north of Stockholm, and its centre of gravity is the cathedral. It is the largest church in Scandinavia, with towers that rise to over a hundred metres, built of brick in a French Gothic style from the late thirteenth century onward. Swedish kings were crowned and buried in it, including Gustav Vasa, the founder of the modern kingdom, and so was the scientist and philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg. Carl Linnaeus, the man who gave plants and animals their two-part Latin names, is also buried here, and his garden, a short walk away, is kept as he planted it.
Read the complete Uppsala write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Uppsala is where the day begins. Next is Hovgården.
2. 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
HovgÃ¥rden comes up about 109 km into the recorded legs. Next is Birka and Hovgården.
3. 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
At least about 113 km into the recorded legs you reach Birka and Hovgården. Next is Birka.
4. 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
Birka, about halfway. Next is Royal Domain of Drottningholm.
5. Royal Domain of Drottningholm
The Swedish royal family does not live in Stockholm's city palace; since 1981 its home has been Drottningholm, a baroque palace on the island of Lovön in Lake Mälaren, a short ride west of the capital. The name means the queen's islet, and the present palace was begun in the 1660s for the widowed Queen Hedvig Eleonora, designed by Nicodemus Tessin the Elder and finished by his son. With its formal gardens, fountains and an English landscape park, it is often compared to Versailles, though it is far more intimate. Parts of the palace are open to visitors, and the whole royal domain is a World Heritage site.
Read the complete Royal Domain of Drottningholm write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Royal Domain of Drottningholm sits at 106 km, about halfway. Next is back through Birka.
6. 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 comes up about 194 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Birka and Hovgården.
7. 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
about 195 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Birka and Hovgården. Next is back through HovgÃ¥rden.
8. back through Hovgården
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Hovgården, late in the day. Next is Uppsala.
9. Uppsala
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Uppsala write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 305 km.
Leg by leg
Uppsala to Hovgården
Uppsala → HovgÃ¥rden is 109 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
HovgÃ¥rden to Birka and Hovgården
HovgÃ¥rden → Birka and Hovgården is 4 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Birka to Royal Domain of Drottningholm
Birka → Royal Domain of Drottningholm is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Royal Domain of Drottningholm to back through Birka
Royal Domain of Drottningholm → back through Birka is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Birka and Hovgården to back through HovgÃ¥rden
back through Birka and Hovgården → back through HovgÃ¥rden is 3 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hovgården to Uppsala
back through HovgÃ¥rden → Uppsala is 109 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.