Trail running at Lovön

Excursion near Stockholm city

To visit Lovön near Drottningholm castle has been on my Stockholm bucketlist for a while. I need the right day to fulfill my small excursions and a few weeks ago I got the feeling for Lovön when I was going for a trailrun. I took the subway to Brommaplan from where I took a bus and got of at Tillflykten (Ekerö). There are several different trails and I wanted a long one so I picked the 17K circle path around Lovön and waited for my GPS to connect before I set off.

Nature reserve Lovön

There were several different routes to choose between and the trails were well marked. If you are looking for more info about different routes Naturkartan is a great source. Although it is early spring the trails were dry. The coastal route I took was rather flat and it was a good mix of forest and urban nature. Half way in I got to Norrby where Lovön vattenverk is located. From there 500 000 people in the nearby area get their fresh water from and there were also some houses where the former workers used to live. Along the route there were signposts with historical information and telling about grave settlement and history which I stopped by to read since I wasn’t in any rush.

Suitable equipment

Most of the trail was easy to run or hike forest. A pair of trail running shoes would be to prefer to get a better grip but also regular running shoes would work. Don’t bring your best pair though since they will get dirty. As always when I go for a longer run in the forest I run with a backpack where I bring water, some energy and sports tape in case you trip and get inquired. Better safe than sorry and if you sprain your wrist it is better to tape it hard right away and keep on moving forward immediately to recover faster.

If you go for a Sunday walk there are many different spots where you can do BBQ. That is a favorite of mine but this time I was out on a run so no BBQ on this occasion. But if you are out for a picknick then bring what you like to eat and drink if you don’t want to pretend you are a Robinson participant since there are no stores in the area.

The tracks

Is it only me or anyone else who think it is fun to run at the outplaced wooden paths that are laid out at wet areas? Strange thing but every time I pass one of these I feel for running over it again. 90% of the track was forest trails so I didn’t got endless of wooden paths to run at. The trail has been explored by many others before you but never the less it is not a city trail so remember that if you go there. It’s near the city but not the city.

I liked the place. It was charming and easy to access. Usually I run quite a lot at Djurgården, Brunnsviken or Ulriksdal when I want nature paths but this was good. The trail was comparable to Ursvik extreme but I liked this one better since it is nearby water and the fact I injured my foot quite bad at Ursvik once I don’t like to go there.