skip to Main Content

#011 Gustavsberg 8

Gustavsberg  8
Distance: 76km
Height: 745m
Direction: Clock wise for the west and anti-clock wise for the east.
Percentage: 60% Gravel 40% Road
Style: Gravel roads with some short single track sections

Stockholm is a port city so it’s on the coast, right? In fact, Stockholm is more inland than we think. So, what’s east of Stockholm? There’s 30 000 islands of an archipelago including the island of Värmdö. Connected to the mainland via bridges this island offers excellent gravel trails.  Michael from GRVL headed out with MTB and Gravel Bike Tour Guide, Attila Tamas, to explore more.

Because of the shape of Värmdö island our route naturally divids into two. It makes a single 75km tour crossing in the middle or 2 shorter tours skipping out the connecting Skärgårdsvägen road.

We left our cars in the parking of Grisslinge havsbad to take on the longer version. We began the tour on the east loop with easy road cycling taking us to the start of the gravel along the Strömma canal. Beautiful tracks brought us passed rock formations and through forest before we briefly pass on some asphalt and then back into the forest. After, following the gravel long the edge of Fagerdalvägen we took a detour to sample more of Värmdö best. A worthy loop. Heading back south we passed through Storskogen before stopping in at Systrarna Delselius halfway through to have our important Fika break.

I always love meeting new fellow bikers and on this tour I got to chat with Attila, a Hungarian/Swedish/Australian, and his new project. It wasn’t obvious at first but his MTB CYCLE TOURS in Transylvania and our GRVL project actually have a lot in common. We’re both trying to create a brand and offer a quality experience to the cycling community. Attila told me about his childhood memories of the beautiful mountains in Romania and as he grew up, he realised the potential for biking in the area. The style is more cross-country riding and gravel biking with his tour having an emphasis on culture, location and scenery mix in with amazing riding. And who knows, you might even get to meet Dracula when riding through the deep forests! www.mtbcycletours.com for more. It looks perfect for gravel bikers who want a little bit more.

Back on the road we were glad of the fika stop as the first section after Värmdö Köping Centrum is a little more technical. We made sure to drop into the lower handlebar position for the decent. Perfect car gravel takes you around to the Artipelag hotel and back under the 222. For those wanting just to do just the west loop an idea would be to start from Gustavsberg Centrum which was next for us on the tour. A mix of gravel and road had us up to the north of the island and to my favourite part. Sea views opened up, forests were tackled all with some interesting but very rid-able single track thrown in for good measure.

I’d recommend not your thinnest tyres for this tour as there are several single-track sections especially on the Western Loop. I ride 650b 52mm tyres and I was very comfortable on this tour. Attila had 700 which were 42mm wide and he also had no problems.

If you want to do the East Loop, then Grisslinge havsbad parking is a great starting point.
35km with 305m of climbing.
For the west you can start either in the same parking or from Gustavsberg centrum.
38km with 405m of climbing.

If you only have time for one tour the west is maybe a little better and is definitely more adventurous!

This Post Has 9 Comments

  1. Thanks for posting these! Made a run for the west loop today and had a great ride. Sweet gravel, tricky single track and an absolute mud fest over a few kms after leaving Lagnövägen.
    I met several people riding (horses, not bikes) on the dirt roads after Velamsund, so keep an eye out if you’re riding the route.

    1. Hej Simon,
      Yes, I also wasn’t expecting it to be so good the first time I rode it.
      Was the muddy part when you were cycling through the field before the slightly more technical forest?
      When I was there it was all dry, hard and fast flowing.
      The east side of the trail is also brilliant. I love the part just after the Strömma Kanal.
      Did you take any pictures when you were out?

      Michael

  2. Fina grussegment.

    Vi klev på rundan på Kummelnäsvägen och körde sen hela rundan idag . Det var i princip torrt och fint hela vägen men väldigt halt på de mindre asfaltsvägarna. Kommer definitivt att köra runda ingen.

  3. Nice route! I will do it again, but the routing at Pramhällorna (between Velamsundvägen and Sommarbovägen) I will skip/change next time. The part on the trail through the forest wasn’t rideable for me on a gravel bike.

    1. Hej Mathias,

      Sorry for the delay in answering.
      If I remember correctly the track along this section was very ride-able.
      I’d be interested in hearing more details.
      Also, I’d be interested in hearing your re-routing suggestion.

      Regards

      Michael

  4. Did the ride last Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed it, thanks for that (and for this website, will definitely try out others).
    Did it on 40 mm G-one bite tyres, which was grand, except for two steep rocky and rooty sections in the western loop. With my skill level, I would have needed my MTB with larger gearing and aggressive trail tyres to be able to ride these. But a short walk took care of that so all good!

    1. Hej Lieven,

      Thanks for the feed back. Were the difficult parts when you crossed over the Värmdöleden and then again at Kårboda skog?
      As always it can be difficult to link up gravel sections so sometimes we need to use more technical sections to make the route possible.
      Have you ridden many of the other routes on GRVL.se?
      Regards

      Michael

  5. Did the west loop yesterday. Fantastic experience! Beautiful weather a bit of mud and loads of fun!

    First gravel shortcut (clockwise towards Vikingshill) is currently closed due to road maintenance.

    Next weekend will do the East.

    1. Hej Evan,

      Thank you for the update. Good to know about Vikingshill.
      I was there a few weeks ago and it was still open. Hopefully it won’t be closed for long.
      The Gustavsberg area does have some super riding.
      The east section is easier than the west.
      Let me know how you get on.

      Michael

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back To Top