Why this ride
From Stenhamra it runs 196 km to Stenhamra; allow about 4 h 15 of riding. On the way it passes Royal Domain of Drottningholm, Skogskyrkogården, back through Royal Domain of Drottningholm and back through Skogskyrkogården.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Birka and Skogskyrkogården
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 196 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 15
- 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. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Royal Domain of Drottningholm.
2. 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 comes up about 40 km into the recorded legs. Next is Skogskyrkogården.
3. Skogskyrkogården
The best cemetery in the world is not a bad claim to make for a forest on the southern edge of Stockholm. Skogskyrkogarden, the Woodland Cemetery, was designed by two young architects, Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz, who won a competition in 1915 with a plan that used the existing pine forest and a gravel pit as the starting point. They built it in stages over the next twenty-five years, and it was inscribed on the World Heritage list in 1994 as a masterpiece of twentieth-century landscape design. The idea was that death should not be shown as a dark hole, but as a return to nature.
Read the complete Skogskyrkogården write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 59 km into the recorded legs you reach Skogskyrkogården.
4. Royal Domain of Drottningholm
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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, about halfway.
5. Skogskyrkogården
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Skogskyrkogården write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Skogskyrkogården sits at 80 km, about halfway. Next is back through Royal Domain of Drottningholm.
6. back through Royal Domain of Drottningholm
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Royal Domain of Drottningholm comes up about 118 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Skogskyrkogården.
7. back through Skogskyrkogården
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Skogskyrkogården write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 137 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Skogskyrkogården.
8. back through Royal Domain of Drottningholm
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Royal Domain of Drottningholm, late in the day. Next is Birka.
9. 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
The route ends here after 196 km.
Leg by leg
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 Skogskyrkogården
Royal Domain of Drottningholm → Skogskyrkogården is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Skogskyrkogården to Royal Domain of Drottningholm
Skogskyrkogården → Royal Domain of Drottningholm is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Skogskyrkogården to back through Royal Domain of Drottningholm
Skogskyrkogården → back through Royal Domain of Drottningholm is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Royal Domain of Drottningholm to back through Skogskyrkogården
back through Royal Domain of Drottningholm → back through Skogskyrkogården is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Skogskyrkogården to back through Royal Domain of Drottningholm
back through Skogskyrkogården → back through Royal Domain of Drottningholm is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Royal Domain of Drottningholm to Birka
back through Royal Domain of Drottningholm → Birka is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
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- Skogskyrkogården and Birka and Hovgården · 118 km