Hærvejen: Denmark’s Camino

Your hiking holiday starts in Viborg, where you stay in a B&B in the town centre. Viborg is an old episcopal residence and was Jutland’s most important city during the Middle Ages. Take time to explore the old town centre and cathedral and walk down the lovely cobbled street Sct. Mogens Gade, where you will find several houses dating from the Middle Ages. You can also visit Sortebrødre Church, which is the only building remaining from the old Dominican abbey, or Søndermarks Church, where you will find a 10 m long tapestry embroidered with scenes from your upcoming hiking route Hærvejen.

Overnight: Viborg

Distance: 16 km | Ascent: 157 m | Descent: 132 m | Time: 4 hrs approx.

Leaving Viborg, you follow Hærvejen south into Liseborg Forest. For the next 8 km you will be walking along quiet forest paths through Viborg Hedeplantage, Viborg Krat and Langskov, before reaching the old inn Niels Bugges Kro, situated on the banks of Lake Hald (in Danish Hald Sø). North of Niels Bugges Kro, on a tongue of land, you can see the remains of a castle from the Middle Ages and from here there is a beautiful view over the lake. 300-400 m north of the inn you will find Hald Hovedgård, where there is an exhibition about the area’s landscape and culture. You continue about 3 km along the lake and reach the beautiful hills of Dollerup Bakker. Most of the area around Hald Sø and Dollerup Bakker is protected as an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Overnight: Dollerup Bakker

Distance: 14 km | Ascent: 108 m | Descent: 78 m | Time: 4 hrs approx.

Having enjoyed the view over Dollerup Bakker and Hald Sø, you continue through the little village of Skelhøje and along quiet forest tracks through Stendal and Havredal Plantage where you will see many protected burial mounds. You then walk along Ulvedal Plantage, where you will pass a 4000-year-old long burial tomb known as ‘The Cave of Jens Langkniv’ (Jens Langkniv was an outlaw – a Danish Robin Hood). It was in this area that the famous Danish writer Steen Steensen Blicher lived and walked around picking up stories from the local farmers. His rectory was located in Thorning, just 2 km from Hærvejen, and in the rectory there is now a museum about Blicher and the surrounding area.

You will be picked up at Ulvedal Plantage and driven to your accommodation near Thorning.

Overnight: Thorning/Karup

Distance: 18 km | Ascent: 104 m | Descent: 76 m | Time: 5 hrs approx.

From Ulvedal Plantage you continue to the Haller Å stream, where the deep tracks from old carts are still visible leading down to the stream. After a few more kilometres you reach the idyllic Grathe heath, where Svend Grathe was killed in the famous royal battle with Valdemar the Great, which marked Jutland’s victory over the armies of Skåne and Zealand. Continue through Kompedal Plantage, where conscientious objectors were once doomed to forest work. Another forest path, through the beautiful Stenholt forest, takes you toward the northern shore of Lake Bølling, where you leave Hærvejen. After a few hundred meters the route ends at Bøllingsø Camping, where you will be spending your last night. Relax with a cold drink and enjoy your achievement. If you have more energy, you can check out the nearby Klosterlund Museum with findings from some of the oldest settlements in Jutland dating back 8000 years.

Overnight: Lake Bølling

From Bøllingsø Camping there is only 3 kilometers to Engesvang Station. From here you can take a train to Silkeborg and continue your onward journey.