Tiveden National Park

Tiveden was the forest between Vastergotland and Narke that travellers avoided, a byword for wild country and robbers in the old sources, and the ground explains why: the ice left a chaos of granite blocks the size of houses piled across the slopes, with pine growing out of the gaps and paths that squeeze between and under them. Trollkyrka, the troll church, is a rock formation where illicit gatherings are said to have been held. Stenkalleget is the densest block field. The park is small at about twenty square kilometres but the walking is slow because of the terrain. Vitsand at the northern end has a sand beach on a clear lake.

Background

The park was set up in 1983 with an area of 1,350 hectares, and an extension in 2017 brought it to 2,030 hectares, of which 1800 hectares is land. It lies in the Tiveden forest, split between the municipalities of Laxå in Örebro County and Karlsborg in Västra Götaland County, inside the historical province of Västergötland. Naturvårdsverket manages it together with the county of Örebro. The ground is rugged and covered in wild forest. Among the boulders is the Junker Jägare's stone, a single block 15 metres tall.

Source: Wikipedia, "Tiveden National Park"

What's there

• Granite blocks the size of houses - piled across the slopes.
• Paths squeezing between boulders - slow going by design.
• Trollkyrka rock formation - with the stories attached.
• Vitsand beach - sand on a clear lake at the north end.

When to go

May to October; autumn is quieter. A full day.

Practical notes

Trails are genuinely rough - scrambling over and between rock, not walking. Summer weekends fill the car parks. Distances look short on the map and take much longer. Mosquitoes in early summer.

Nearby

Karlsborg and Vattern are south; Askersund is north.

Key facts