The visit to the nature reserve Ivö Klack was made in connection with a press trip with Visit Kristianstad, but all thoughts, images and opinions are, as usual, my own.
One early morning in early November we set off Ivön in northeastern Scania. Scania's largest island located in Scania's largest lake. Before I went here, I probably thought that Ven would be a bigger island than that Ivön. It always feels like the biggest islands should be in the sea, not in a lake. Although Ivösjön is not one of Sweden's ten largest lakes, it is not a small lake. During the Cretaceous period, Ivösjön even part of a vast sea where swan lizards, giant octopuses and sharks ran rampant. Welcome to Skåne's own fossil Jurassic park.
Ivö heel is on Ivöns northern headland and consists of a hilly primeval mountain landscape covered with a thick old beech forest and moss-covered rocks. Ivö klack rises a whopping 134 meters above sea level and around the klack there are several hiking trails with different themes.
- The Green Trail”Torprund” is 4,2 kilometers and tells the story of some of the farmers who lived out here.
- The Yellow Trail "The kaolin round” is 2,1 kilometers and tells the story of the island's limestone and kaolin mining at Blaksudden in the late 1800s.
- The Red "The wall hall loop” of 3,5 kilometers takes you around to the most powerful part of the beech forest.
- The blue loop "The top round” of 4,2 kilometers takes you up to Ivö heel's highest point.
- Last but not least, there is a white loop – ”The reserve round” – which takes you to most of the highlights of the above trails.
We decided to walk the blue Top Round up to the top. Mainly because there would be plenty of vantage points along the road, but also because it crossed the green Torprundan and the ruins of the old crofts.
We don't have time to walk many hundreds of meters before we reach the first viewpoint. Except that we can look out over the many farms and meadows along ivösjöns beach, we also look down into the old kaolin quarry. Pure kaolin is like a white clay and the raw material was shipped over Ivösjön to Ifö in Bromölla, which manufactured, among other things, porcelain. Although kaolin is no longer mined here Ivön, then the company remains. Maybe you even have a bathtub or toilet from Ifö at home?
Although relatively well marked with blue rectangles along the blue trail, the trail is under two inches of freshly fallen, crisp leaves. We actually get easily lost a few times on the way up the heel, but it's always easy to backtrack to the last blue marker and start over. Redo and do right.
It is a beautiful hike that the beech forest offers up to the top of the primeval mountain. Ferns of varying sizes intermingle with juniper bushes and moss-covered rock bumblebees. In several places we pass stone walls that once marked the border between two plots of land. The only thing we don't pass are other hikers. We are all alone.
The blue trail is the most demanding trail, with a climb of 100 meters in such a short distance. However, it is not a difficult path to walk and neither hiking boots nor a lunch bag are needed. It is rather a pleasant afternoon walk to the top of the mountain.
Finally we reach the top of the heel. Expectations were high that the top would offer a wonderful view, but all that was offered was a sign in the middle of a lot of trees. The most beautiful view was already offered just above the parking lot. The experience on Ivö heel is the hike to the top, not the top itself.
The road crosses Torpleden and we get to know Klacka-Bengta. She was born in 1850 in the croft here at Klacken and lived here her whole life. In 1872 she married the farmer Bengt (also called Klacka-Bengt) and here in the 6 (!) square meter croft lived the family with three children, Bengt's two parents and a disabled aunt.
Today it is mostly forest up here on the mountain, but in Bengta's time there were stony fields here that supported the family. When Bengta passed away in 1925, she was the last squatter at Klacken. Today, only a ruin remains as a reminder of her hard life.
In the limestone-rich rock, there are plenty of fossils from the ancient times Ivön was an island in the sea. Fossils that are 60 million years old. The time perspective is staggering. Here and now compared to millions of years ago.
During weekends with good weather, the parking lot can be full of cars. Beautiful weather is not only good for hiking, but also for fossil hunting. The coolest finds come from the big sea dragons – Mosasaurs and Plesiosaurs – but it's definitely not the norm. More common is to find "wadder jelly" - shells from an extinct species of squid and fossils of other animals with hard shells.
The way down the mountain is much faster than the way up, even if you can take it easy on the slopes. It's easy to slip on the damp leaves when the path is steep. We pass several quarries where the rocks are a little extra steep and the boulders a little bigger. Although quarries were widespread here on the heel, you don't see many traces of them today.
4,3 kilometers goes by quickly when you're having fun, but count on 1,5-2 hours if you want to stop and look at the view and take some photos along the way.
How do I find it? Ivö heel?
Ivö klack is located in the far north of Ivön, in Kristianstad municipality in northeastern Scania. To get to Ivön do you need to take a rope drive car ferry from Barum. The ferry runs 7 hours a day and takes 100 minutes. At certain times of the day you may need to call the ferry, in which case it is written on the information sign when you arrive at the quay.
It is not difficult to find Ivö klack nature reserve. When you drive off the ferry on the island, keep to the left and follow the signs. At the end of the road there is a generous car park with information about the area and where all the hiking trails in the nature reserve start.
