Hårsjö to Trelleborg, total 325 km.
SL2, Northern half
We did Hårsjö to Hörby (with a little bit of SL1 at the start to get from Vittsjö to Hårsjö) in early April 2023. Started on Wednesday, finished on Easter Sunday (= 5 days). In total we walked 127.7 km.
Google maps route: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=18Su-G2nzxH0RTUs5_Lqv2izwBBw8VIo&usp=drive_link
Day 1: Vittsjö - Hörlinge
We took the morning train from Helsingborg to Vittsjö, via Hässleholm. Vittsjö is tiny, but has a small supermarket, which wasn’t the case for many other places we came through. But with our backpacks full of food anyway, we quickly turned into the forest. Laika was SO happy to be in the forest again, full on zoomies.
Some puddles along the way were still frozen. We came past some small farms with friendly and curious horses and some ruins of old mills. The forest was a mix of calming pine forest with thick moss covers, and almost autumnal-looking beech and oak forests. We only stopped briefly for lunch, because as soon as we stopped we cooled down quite quickly. Maximum temperature on day 1 was around 5 ºC. The ground was at different times saturated with water and a bit muddy.
At Aggarps skola, we climbed a steep hill with many boulders and then walked along a ridge towards Hågnarp, and then down towards Vedema with its many walking paths.
We passed some sad-looking farm ruins at Jontustorp and then left Skåneleden to reach our first destination, Hörlinge Guesthouse. The house was big and a bit cold. We cooked some dinner (tacos with re-hydrated soy-mince and sliced apples), watched an episode of Star Trek Voyager, had a shower, then cuddled up in bed and immediately fell asleep.
Day 2: Hörlinge - Hässleholm
We woke to some snow on the ground, -2ºC and sunshine.
Back on Skåneleden, we walked along a magical little forest trail, the snow twinkling in the sun, meltwater dripping from the trees, birds singing. We had a little lie-down on the moss, because it looked so inviting.
Nearing Finja, we had to cross a busy highway-like road, then find our way through some swamp area with barbed wire, then walk a kilometer along the busy road again with trucks and cars thundering past. Definitely the least pleasant part of the whole walk. We were glad when the path took us away from it again. We entered the area around Finjasjön and had lunchbreak in a wetland area on a beautifully situated but somewhat rotten wooden platform.
We walked past the oldest known human settlement in Sweden (Sveriges äldsta boplats; 14000 years ago), then had to backtrack a bit because our path was completely flooded. That happened a few more times on the track around Finjasjön, which has a large wetland area on its Northern shore.
We reached Hässleholm and had some restorative cake and iced coffee in Espresso House, before we got into our second accomodation, Kronans B&B. The landlady was very friendly and the accomodation charmingly old-fashioned and simple.
Day 3: Hässleholm - Nösdala
The way out of Hässleholm led through a nice wetland area which was originally man-made, but had been colonised very well by all kinds of local birds. It was a calm, overcast and slightly frosty early Saturday morning, and we saw different ducks, geese, swans, a cormorant, oyster catchers, a kite and all kinds of other smaller birds.
Then we walked up into the forest again, first beech then thick pine and spruce, with the occasional sad-looking clear-cut area.
We had a tea break sitting on soft moss, far away from any road noises.
Walking downwards into the little village of Tormastorp, we had hoped for the only food place along this day’s trail to be open, Pizzeria Capri. But it was closed. So we walked up the hill into the forest again and ate the last of the savoury muffins we’d brought. The long stretch along the Göinge ridge (Göingeåsen) was mostly beech forest again, with large boulders lying hapharzadly around.
At around 3 we arrived at our third accomodation, Rallahustruns, a newly opened, very nicely restored small old hostel/hotel in the middle of the forest. We cooked our pre-ordered dinner box (Pasta with tomato sauce, parmesan and artichokes) and slept in the nice soft bed.
Day 4: Nösdala - Höör
It was clearly spring now. We started walking in bright sunshine, clear blue sky, and the temperature noticebly increased during the day to around 12 ºC. At times we only walked in T-shirts and we stopped more frequently to drink water. This part of the trail was also more exposed, leading through small farm areas with alpine character - hard, rocky grassland and hundred-year-old scraggly oaks. At each farm we passed, a barking dog announced our presence to the next farm’s dog.
About 20 km into the walk, we made the decision to cut the day a bit short and take a train from Tjörnarp to Höör instead of walking another 16 km to Höör.
This was mostly due to my head hurting a bit, Laika looking a bit exhausted in the warmth and that we wanted to enjoy our next accomodation a bit, which was by far the most expensive on the whole trip - Stift Åkersberg. Somewhat disappointing though, the room was quite basic, with two single beds and a tiny bathroom without a tub. I washed my hair for the first time on the trip, because at least they had a hair dryer, and then we left Laika in the room and went to “downtown” Höör to have late lunch. Given the small size of Höör, we were quite impressed that we not only found a place with decent Neapolitain-style pizza (Bella Mozarella), but also a British pie shop (The Barking Dog Diner) and a super-cute café (Café Old Fashion).
Full of pizza and loaded up on sweets, we spent the rest of the day chilling in the bed, but went out again for an evening walk to visit Skånes geographical centre point Skånes Mitt.
Day 5: Höör - Hörby
After a nice buffet breakfast with pancakes, we started on the last leg of the hike on a circuitous route through Höör and then out into the forest again. Mostly along wider forest paths, we passed two other hikers! The most we’d seen on the whole trail so far.
Towards Fulltofta Naturreservat, the number of day walkers increased, some having picnics or barbecuing on a public grillplats. No wonder, it was sunny Easter Sunday! Parts of the trail through the nature reserve were on nice wooden walkways through wetlands and along little streams. We also saw several huge anthills.
We had a last stop in the forest to eat the pies that we had purchased the previous day and our final müsli bars. Then we walked towards Hörby, and into the town centre. The walk was officially over, we celebrated with ice cream and waited at a completely deserted bus station for our bus back to Lund.
Just when we thought that it had been quietly cancelled it turned around the corner, 8 minutes late. 45 minutes later, we got on an Öresundståg in Lund that brought us home to Helsingborg.
SL2 Southern half
Google maps route: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1SUV0DAxGlbXnKNu8h0cT2gTeBDMEdPA&usp=drive_link
Planning
20-30 km chunks with good public transport connections on either side. Do in day trips or 2-day trips from Malmö.
Day 1 Hörby - Löberöd (23 km)
Easter 2024 Bus: From Malmö C, Skåneexpressen 1 (to Kristianstad), 51 min to Hörby busstation. Train + bus: From Malmö Triangeln, train to Lund (20 min), then Skåneexpressen 2 (to Hörby), 38 min to Hörby busstation.
6 km to Ringsjöstrand 13 km Ringsjöstrang - Rövarekulan 4 km Rövarekulan - Löberöd 23 km total
We walked this bit in March 2024.
It was cool and calm, no leaves on the trees yet. The part along Ringsjö was a bit boring, because it was just straight and flat, but then a bit up and through Rövarekulan was really nice. The wild garlic was everywhere. We walked past Kungskällan and drank some water that apparently already some king hundreds of years ago had drunk. Saw animals walking past farms, including bisons and goats. Finally arrived in Löberöd, where there was an ICA that didn’t have any ice cream.
Day 2 Löberöd - Hällestad (21 km)
July 2024 Train + bus
6 km to Höghult (start of next leg) 10 km Höghult - Krankesjön (going through Harlösa) 5 km to Hällestad 21 km total
Bus + train: Bus 160 to Lund C (20 min), train to Malmö Triangeln (20 min)
On a mostly overcast and windy, therefore quite cool (20C), July day we walked from Löberöd to Hällestad. The first part of the walk threw us right into the midst of bursting ripe raspberry bushes; I could’ve spend hours there! Up and down through fields (Skåne is surprisingly hilly there) of potatoes, wheat, barley and oat, with the occasional little forest in between. A few times we had to walk through cow pastures, but they were mostly just chilling in some corner of the field. Only once did we crawl under the fence prematurily, because the whole cow herd had congregated around the stile that exists the pasture. From Harlösa church there was a view over the flatland of Vombsänkan, and we some some graceful Red Kites circling above. We walked down, and then for hours along a pretty straight path that had been a railroad line before. Paused at Krankesjön to spot some birds, then continued onwards to Hällestad. The last few kilometers were along the old railroad embankment, totally overgrown with wildflowers full of insects and butterflies. It was tough walking (also many nettles) but really nice to see so much different flora and fauna. In Hällestad we got some drinks and ice cream at a lovely little café/shop.
Day 3 Dalby - Häckeberga slott (28.3 km)
Train + bus Bus
2.8 km to Dalby Fälad No 5 21 km Knivsås -Väderkullen - Kullatorpet - near Dörred 4.5 km to Häckebergaslott (stay overnight) 28.3 km total (but could be shorter if we want to get to the hotel more direct)
Day 4 Häckeberga slott - Torup slott (bokskogen) (21.5 km)
4.15 km to where we left off from Skåneleden 2 km to start of next leg 6 km Sturup - Eksholmssjön 9 km Eksholmssjön - Torup Visit Torup slott + slottsträdgård + bokskogen 21.5 km total
Bus: Torup Bokskogen, bus 148 to Malmö Spångatan (30 min)
Day 5 Torup - Trelleborg (30 km)
Bus (30 min)
17 km Torup - Fru Alstad 13 km Trelleborg 30 km total
Train: Pågatåg to Malmö Triangeln (27 min)
Possible accomodation
Häckeberga Slott near Genarp on Häckeberga lake