Central part of Sweden

Färnebofjärden

I arrived late afternoon at the park, very early in the season, with no people around yet. We were allowed to put up our little tent on the beach (an advantage of travelling off season), from where we had the most beautiful views over the waters of the Dalälven and Färnebofjärden National Park. The sun was going down, turning the sky into a work of art, but there was still enough light and time for a short walk along the shores.

While walking on the beach we could see a deer quickly making its way over one of the wetlands, we heard the cry of a bird in the distance and the sound of a woodpecker in the tree above. The water was washing gently up the shore, the glittering of the sun in the water, a soft breeze, and the wonderful sound of 'silence'. This is how I remember Färnebofjärden, and how I liked it at its best.

Färnebofjärden is all about aquatic landcape: the park covers 100 square kilometers, of which around 40% (41 square kilometers) is aquatic. It is a floodplain of the river "Nedre Dalälven" and there are more than 200 islands, islets and skerries here.

An interesting fact is that the natural border between the environments of the northern part of Sweden and the south is at the park. This border is called the "limes norrlandicus" (named by the famous Swedish botanist Carl Linneaus).

And this has created an interesting biosphere where species of both the flora and the fauna from north and south meet. The western part of the national park contains mires and coniferous forests of a northern character. Down the river the landscape is more lush, with old deciduous trees like oak and lime.

Equisetum sylvaticum / Skogsfräken /
wood horsetail

The name "Färnebofjärden" always intrigued me, and have always wondered where the name comes from. So I tried to dissect this name:
• Simply put the name means "fjärd of Färnebo".
• The Swedish word fjärd has the same etymology as the Norwegian word fjord, both of these words mean "an expanse of water in a channel" / "a large open space of water between groups of islands or mainland in archipelagos"
• The name Fjärnebo is the ancient name of the village near to the park.

• But you can dissect the name of the village even more:
•  The name of the village means: habitation ("bo") next to the fjärd of horsetails ("Fjärne"). The plantname "fräken" in Swedish (which became the word "Färne") is in english the plant "Horsetails". See photo to the right.

• So simply put "Färnebofjärden" means something like:
A habitat near to an expanse of water, where the Horsetails grow :-)

It turned out that we had the beach location all to ourselves, and we enjoyed a lazy morning on the beach, taking in the views and the sounds of Färnebofjärden.

But one cannot be lazy all the time, so it was time to discover a bit more of the park and do one of the shorter hikes through the forest and more bog-like areas of the national park.

So time to pack up the tent, and do some exploring, before returning home!

Before we drove home we took a quick stop at Gysinge, located just outside of the National Park. It's an intresting place to visit as you can still see the historic buildings att Gysinge Bruk.

Gysinge was founded in 1668, during the development of the iron mining industri. The forests around were exploited to feed the water-powered forges, and Gysinge was one of the most important forges in the area.