Tornbergets Utsiktstorn

The hike to Tornbergets utsiktstorn was an even split of good and bad luck. We boarded the train and I realised my phone had restarted — a problem because my sim adds a passcode lock after restart. I didn’t have the passcode to hand so we ended up finding a Pressbyrån at our stop and borrowing a sim card ejector. Luckily they had one or I would have been stuffed. Phone sorted, we were ready to roll again.

Hiking through the forest to a lookout tower on Tornberget (Stockholm’s highest natural mountain) was the mission of the day. This location was home to a military air surveillance tower and a civillian observation tower in WW2. Both were demolished in the 1980’s and the contruction of a new wooden tower was completed in 2018. On a clear day, Katarina Church tower can be seen 20km away in central Stockholm!

Most of the blueberries were starting to shrivel but we ate them anway — they still had plenty of blueberry flavour. We struck gold about an hour into the hike when we stumbled upon a huge patch of plump blueberries and ripe lingonberries. It was also the point I lost my sunglasses in the bushes and didn’t realise until we were too far away to turn back.

A single blueberry fell into my boot and it caused a real mess. It stained my boots, socks and skin! The staining on my hands was from shovelling bluebrries into my mouth like a hungry bear.

This little nook overlooking a lake was an absolutely amazing lunch spot. Hands down the best one we’ve found so far.

There were no other people in sight, the sun was shining and we were tucked right down next to the water. I repeadly twisted my ankle the weekend before and my ankle tendon was feeling very unhappy by this point, so it felt to take off my boots and rest for a while. It would have been nice to stay longer but there was further to go and more to see.

Dark clouds gathered as we came within fifteen minutes of Tornberget tower. We picked up the pace with the aim of getting there while it was still dry, debating the ‘least bad’ option between standing in a tall structure or amongst tall trees if the clouds were carrying a storm. We made it to the tower just as the rain arrived!

Every side was open and rain poured through the gaps in the floor planks. It was basically still raining inside. I put the camera in a plastic bag and we tried to use a picnic blanket as a wind break. That was as effective as you’d imagine.

I’d packed a light jacket but it wasn’t waterproof (we hadn’t got around to buying new jackets at that point) so I just accepted the soaking. I shouted out “it’s raining so hard in here, it’s running through my cleavage”. Scott looked at me with a comical look on his face, pointing down. There were people sheltering on the level below. Oops.

Blue skies rolled in and we set off again. The sun shone hard, our clothes slowly dried and it was like nothing had happened.

Our final slice of luck was stepping foot on both trains home with seconds to spare! Maybe we’ll go back to Tornberget one day and spend more time at the top of the tower without the rain lashing across our faces.