winter excursion to Penåsa wilderness

But let's backtrack a bit, because the excursion actually started the day before when we went to Isgärde to buy Öland wheat to use for baking this really simple fake sourdough bread with wort that we had with us in our snack basket. We ate the bread with our favorites from the Öland delicatessen; tomato jam from Birgitta's Matbod and the cheeses Röd Alvar and Carla from Ölands Kitchen Dairy in Alby.

Isgärde is located on the road down to Stora Rör, and there you can buy Ölandsvetet and pay with Swish. Ölandsvete is extra rich in protein and nutrition, and anyone who wants can read more about Ölandsvete here on the website for Isgärde Kvarn.

Shopping at its best! Here you will find the recipe for fake sourdough bread with wort., and if you live in a part of Sweden where you can't get Öland wheat, the bread will be good with regular wheat flour too.

The next day we spread our freshly baked wort bread, poured hot mulled wine into the thermos and headed to Penåsa.

After a short walk of a few hundred meters we arrived at the rest area. There were not only nice old stone remains but also benches, a few fireplaces for grilling and a small outdoor toilet. We each found a stick to grill marshmallows over the fire.

Roasting marshmallows is part of winter!

In the US, it's common to make S'mores and put roasted marshmallows between graham crackers. We stuck freshly roasted marshmallows between two gingerbread cookies instead, and it tasted amazing!

At the old house foundations you could stand and count to twenty-four before looking for your big sister. Penåsa is really a great excursion destination for families with children. If you don't want to play hide and seek, you can walk on a balance beam on an old house foundation.

Then we continued on, towards the deserted village. The fact is that the deserted village itself is located some distance from the rest area, despite the old house foundations. The house foundations at the rest area instead originate from a railway guard's cottage from the time when Öland's railway was in operation.

With children, a dog and a picnic basket, it probably took about ten minutes to get to the deserted village from the rest area. We chose to walk through the forest, but you can also continue on the rutted road outside the rest area to get there.

The path through the forest was really nice, and we look forward to going here in the spring when the snipes are in bloom to experience the beautiful path along the stream even then. Every season has its charm, and the low winter sun spread a hazy and beautiful light over Alvaret as we walked across the small bridge.

You can have a clementine break at any time, even if you've just had a coffee. A couple of clementines later, we went home and warmed up, happy to have found a new favorite place that we'd love to go back to again soon.

You can find more tips from Helena Elm here!