In Skurugata, the snow can remain until midsummer and a hike through the 800-meter-long rock canyon offers its own microclimate. A perfect excursion destination for those cycling in Eksjö.
It is fascinating with geological time perspectives. The last remains of the last inland ice that started 115,000 years ago disappeared from the northern part of the country almost 10,000 years ago. Even today, the country is rising after the pressure of the ice. At the High Coast in Ångermanland, the land elevation is approximately 7 millimeters annually, in Furuögrund which is on the coast in Västerbotten it is 9 millimeters.
The traces of the inland ice can be found in many places. The pebbles are one, ice ruffles another and in the forest you can see moving blocks, that is, large stones that lie to themselves. The so-called giant pots are another spectacular result of the inland ice. They form round holes in the rock and arose because water has driven around stones that over time have dug out the hard material.
Both in the case of the moving blocks and the giant pots, the phenomenon boosted the imagination of people who blamed on trolls and giants. Another phenomenon that is probably, but not entirely certain, linked to the inland ice and which has set the imagination in motion is Skurugata in Eksjö municipality in Småland. It is a so-called rock canyon, about 800 meters long and between 7 and 24 meters wide in the mountain. The rock walls are about 35 meters high.
The legend says that once both the trolls and robbers were in Skurugata. But there were things that could scare them off. When the soldiers of Småland's grenadiers once marched through the street in the mountain with their flags on top, they disappeared forever.
A storyteller who liked Skurugata was the author and the cartoonist Albert Engström. Here he played as a child and up on the nearby mountain Skuruhatt is his memorial stone. The hat is 337 meters high and one of Småland's highest mountains.
The walk through Skurugata back to the parking lot is estimated to be about an hour. It is about 13 kilometers from Eksjö to the nature reserve where Skurugata and Skuruhatt are located. You can find more information at the municipality website.
A good bike tip in the area is Albert Engström members passing through Eksjö.
(Facts are taken from Wikipedia, Eksjo.se and Visiteksjo.se)