Exercising outdoor in Docksta, connecting with the High Coast Nature

If you like the idea to exercise outdoor, the area of the Skuleberget in Docksta delivers many training "playgrounds": you will see how is simple to really re-connect your body with the Nature!

What means to train in an outdoor natural setting

You can walk, run or swim in the Nature of the Höga Kusten - in some cases even cross it by bicycle (many dirt roads pass through woods and natural areas), or do your phisical exercise sessions as well.

Outdoor, you can bring with you a pair of nordic walking poles, a rubber band or your TRX straps, but you will hardly be able to carry into the woods that pair of kettlebells you use at home or your barbell. And you won't really need it.

Here we are talking about using for training the outdoor space and above all what it contains - stones, rocks, trees or logs.

These outdoors opportunities will break your indoor workout routines, putting your exercising easily out of your comfort zones: be prepared to adapt your workouts to the different environments, weather, temperature and terrain but also to definitely live memorable sessions and to have great rewards!

Green exercising in a nutshell

No gym floor (except for the naked earth), no pumping music (except for the song of the birds or the rustle of the leaves with the wind), no artificial lights (except for sunshine or moonlight), no air conditioner (except for a fresh northerly breeze): what seems to be missing is there.

A creek is your motivator, a steep hill is your opponent, the forest sets your circuit training, the soft sand of a beach challenges your body's movements.

These natural settings will let body enters into its own dimension, taking out what's inside and what is really able to do.

Look around and activate your fantasy because it is plenty of natural objects you can utilize:

• grass, or sand on which to exercise or lay down

• stones of different sizes and weight to lift

• rocks to climb

• tree branches to pull yourself up or trunks to carry…

  …use all them and you will transform the ways and the tools you exercise with!

Take good care of the natural environment when you’re training, respecting flora and fauna but the environment as a whole too.

View fullsize

View fullsize

To know more

Re-energize your body in the Höga Kusten. Strictly outdoor.

If you're based in Docksta, there are spots that are perfect to set your outdoor training sessions in the Nature one step away from your front door (and from the piers of the Marina, too).

Start from the basics

View fullsize

View fullsize

•

#POWERWALKING #NORDICWALKING #JOGGING

There is no better ways to improve your fitness than a brisk walk in the wood. From the old church at Vibyggerå, a couple of kilometers along the trail to south that follows the Höga Kusten Leden will bring you to a beautiful view point over the Dockstafjärden. At the Per Olsbo's shelter you will have a perfect spot to enjoy your set of bodyweight movements and to rest for a pause. On the way out, the path in the forest is slightly sloping. On the way back, we bet you'll want to jog along it! (Start planning your walk there: FREE DOWNLOAD info & map to reach the shelter from Docksta)

View fullsize

View fullsize

•

#CYCLING #MTB

Enjoy cycling following the sunny terrain road that leads you by the seaside along the Dockstafjärden and the feet of the Vårdkallberget mountain. It’s hilly but enjoyable: it will challenge your legs without being a strenuous phisical activity.

View fullsize

View fullsize

•

#GROUNDING #EARTHING

Combine your outdoor training activities with sessions to re-ground yourself in the nature walking barefoot: why grounding will boost your body energy in discovering 7 wild spots around Docksta >

View fullsize

View fullsize

BOOST your fitness at an higher level

•

#HIKING #TRAILRUNNING

Whether you’re hiking or trail running lover, there are so many paths at Skuleberget that will attract you like magnets training outdoors.

Start exploring these 5 big trails to reach the summit of the mountain and stop to enjoy a total body workout session along the way.

Enjoy the wildside of the Skuleberget but remember that you are a “guest” in a protected natural area. Respect its rules: i.e. here is not the place to lift and move stones and pay attention to don't damage the natural ground of the forest or its plants and bushes, neither to interfere with fauna’s lifes. Live the mountain but have care of its beauty :)

Photo: copyright © Marcus Lindberg Höga Kusten Träning

•

#WORKOUT #CIRCUITTRAINING

Every Monday and Wednesday - all year long and any weather conditions - you can commit to the outdoor phisical exercising classes by Marcus Lindberg (Instagram @marcuslindberghkt) in Berg (Docksta). It's circuit training, it's group, it's functional full body workout and absolutely… the sessions aren't held in an ordinary fitness playground but it is quality training over the top standards. You will practice with the elastic hooked to an old tractor or a bulldozer, moving stones, carrying heavy hoses of fire hydrants, lifting long iron pipes planted in the sand but also using dumbbells and kettlebells under the careful and expert guidance of Marcus. 100% outdoor and extra-fun for everyone at any fitness level and abilities!

Photo: courtesy & copyright © Marcus Lindberg Höga Kusten Träning

Hiking, grounding, trail running, exercising in the High Coast are instants mood boosters: all you have to do is get out and go to re-charge your body spending time in Nature

SHARE YOUR #DOCKSTASTYLE PASSION:

sale

#DOCKSTA Höga Kusten

Sale Price:€18.00 Original Price:€20.00

[ HIKING #TAGMUG ]

Quantity:

Add To Cart

"DOCKSTA #OUTDOORS"

€22.00

[ HÖGA KUSTEN MAP POSTER ]

Quantity:

Add To Cart

Re-connect with nature: ground your bare feet in the Höga Kusten

The Höga Kusten in Sweden is an amazing destination to re-connect your body (and mind) with the Nature.

It will be beautiful to spend more time outdoor and, if you need a recharging power break, to boost all its benefits with an effective practice that you can easily combine with your walks, hikes or runs.

That practice is named grounding your body: it is simple, anyone can do it almost anywhere, and requires no special skills.

Grounding is highly recommended for everyone and particularly to whom spends a lot of the life in artificial environments.

(Sailors are included since spending most of their holiday time on a floating boat and very little time walking on dry land :)

Why grounding

When you walk barefoot on the Earth, you start an effective antioxidant process with health benefits: through your feet resting on the ground, you absorb free negative electrons from the Earth. You are “grounding” (or earthing) your body.

Research supports re-grounding practices as an essential element for boosting our overall health and well-being, improving sleep, and decrease stress.

If you spend much time indoors, the more you can walk barefoot on the ground in Nature, the better.

TO LEARN MORE

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

How grounding

The sand - or the stones of a beach close to the water, the grass covered with dew, the hard surface of a rock, even soil or mud are ideal to walk barefoot.

Asphalt, wood, plastic (as the rubber or plastic soles of your shoes) are not suitable since they will not allow the electrons to pass through.

Take off your hiking shoes and socks: let the skin of your feet come into contact with a natural surface of the ground

Practice it by standing barefoot, walking few steps or laying: anything that allows your body to connect directly with on a natural ground.

Grounding technique in a nutshell: kick off your shoes, put your feet down and put pressure on the ground, take few steps.

Pay attention to the sensations that the feet transmit to the body: how it feels to put your foot on the ground and then lift it again.

How does your body feel with each movement and when your feet touch the ground?

Stop and stand up, maintaining a conscious contact with the ground.

How does the surface feel against your feet?

Give your feet a variety of sensory inputs, even walking on different natural surfaces or moving on surfaces that have different temperatures.

Be mindful with your breathing, keep it slow and silent, shut your mouth and breathe through the nostrils only, prolong a bit your exhales. Calm your mind and relax your body. You’re there and now.

What means grounding in the High Coast

View fullsize

Enjoy every step re-grounding yourself into the amazing Höga Kusten outdoors

Get rid of your shoes and walk barefoot, or even just put your feet on the bare earth where it uplift the most.

Take your time for your own grounding session when you go hiking one of your favorite trails at the Skuleberget mountain, or have a stop to enjoy it while you're running in a cozy forest along the Höga Kusten Leden, or simply laying on that sunny beach close to the southern entrance of the Skuleskogen national park. You can find a place for grounding almost everywhere.

7 suggestions for stunning wild grounding spots around Docksta:

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Earthing where the sea meets the shore

1. Laying on the rocks at the summit of Vårdkallberget that you reached after a beautiful walk in the forest (get the map here).

2. Walking on the wide and smooth rocks of the Slåttdalsberget mountain within the Skuleskogen national park.

3. Grounding with a great view on the red Nordingrå granite rocks along the southerly sunny segments of the Höga Kusten Stigen at Skuleberget (get the map here).

4. Again at the Skuleberget, taking a pause at the shelter facing to south that you find along the Kalottastigen path on the summit (it’s marked with red dots).

5. Hike along the segment of the Höga Kusten Leden two kilometers south of the old church in Docksta, and enjoy a mindful session with a fantastic view over the Dockstafjärden at the Per Olsbo's shelter (get the map here).

6. Bury your feet a little beneath the sand’s surface of the beaches you find at the Kälaviken bay (Skuleskogen) or at the Storsand beach (Nörrfallsviken)

7. Simply find a tree and hug it or snuggle up in its roots.

SHARE YOUR #OUTDOORS PASSION:

HÖGA KUSTEN SOUVENIRS

🧭

HÖGA KUSTEN SOUVENIRS 🧭

Sailing + hiking to the top of Mjältön island, in the High Coast

photo: courtesy of S/Y Dolphin Dance

High Coast sailors are lucky sailors. Why to choose between the sea and the mountains when you can enjoy both?

In the Höga Kusten, sailing and hiking are perfectly mixed up.

During their cruising, sailors head to the heart of the High Coast to hike the most stunning mountain peaks: Skuleberget, Mjältön and the trails of Skuleskogen national park are three of the top hiking destinations in the UNESCO world heritage.

Mjältön is easy to reach by the sea for sailors cruising on the coastline: coming from north, i.e. from Trysunda, the stunning island of the archipelago outside the national park of Skuleskogen or coming from south, from Bönhamn or after a visit of the natural area of Nörrfallsviken. Mjältön is just in front of the west entrance of the harbour of Ulvön, where the deep fjord that brings to Docksta (Ullångersfjärden) opens into the sea.

Mjältön island, in the High Coast world heritage

 

Baggviken, Mjältön
GPS position: 63°2,14 N 18°32,4 E

Sailors are usual to moor into the natural harbour named Baggviken and from there to start walking the paths that bring to the peak of the mountain and a small lake. If you're cruising during the summer around the island, you will enjoy also many beaches and small bays around the natural coastline of Mjältön.

HerE are some videos made by sailors in mjältön:

•

Drone footage of Mjältön peak and the boats in Baggviken natural harbour

The video is powered by Ottiliana Sailing team and shared after their summer cruising into the Höga Kusten. We already published a blog post about these Finnish sailors and their wooden boat, with great videos that report also their sailing to Docksta and, starting from the pier of Docksta Havet guest harbour, their experiences of hiking to the top of Skuleberget on the new path "Höga Kusten Stigen".

•

Sailor vlogger Mia Wålsten hiking to the top of the highest island in Sweden

The tradition to bring a small stone on the top started during the Sixties and sailors are still doing this to mark the climbing to the peak of Mjältön at 236m over the sea level.

"In this episode I visit the highest island in Sweden, Mjältön, where I climb to the top. It is a stunning view, but my question is why we all carry a stone to the top? Who started this tradition and why? Maybe every person have a different and unique explanation, what do you think? Anyway, a nice place to visit, I highly reccomend it to everyone!"

FOLLOW MIA WÅLSTEN VLOGGER: S/Y ATLA3 (ON YOUTUBE)

•

High Coast Sailors, Patricia & Christoffer show us their sailing to Mjältön and walking to the top

Sailors head to the heart of the High Coast world Heritage to hike the most stunning mountain peaks

What's your favorite adventure during your cruising the High Coast? Nature or mix nature and outdoor activities?

Hiking and walking are probably the most favorite activities that engage sailors outdoor involving sport and fitness attitudes. They usually head to the most internal coast to experience the outstanding views from Skuleberget and the trails around Docksta that bring to some of the most stunning peaks of the High Coast archipelago, like Vårdkallberget or Skovedsberget. The area of Docksta is becoming the "outdoor Mecca": did you know that there are at least 4 paths to hike up to Skuleberget? (and 5 to climb it!).

Hang your #HÖGAKUSTEN passion on a wall:

"MJÄLTÖN #EXPLORING"

€22.00

[ HÖGA KUSTEN MAP POSTER ]

Quantity:

Add To Cart

"ULVÖN, TRYSUNDA, MJÄLTÖN #EXPLORING"

€22.00

[ HÖGA KUSTEN MAP POSTER ]

Quantity:

Add To Cart

THESE BLOGPOST ARE WRITTEN BY HIGH COAST SAILORS AND HIGHLIGHTED FOR HIGH COAST SAILORS:

• AUSTRALIAN SAILORS ENJOY THE HIGH COAST SAILING EVEN LATE IN THE SEASON >

• "A GREAT PLACE FOR SOLO SAILORS CRUISING IN THE HIGH COAST" >

• FINNISH SAILORS (ON A BEAUTIFUL BOAT) CRUISING THE HIGH COAST [VIDEO] >

• NORDIC WALKING IS A FUN FITNESS ACTIVITY FOR SAILORS IN THE HIGH COAST >

• "WINTER WONDERLAND" RECALLS THE PERFECT HÖGA KUSTEN SAILING MEMORIES >

Sailing to Skuleskogen: the National Park between land and sea

One of the best green breaks, in your cruise discovering the High Coast, is a visit to the National Park of Skuleskogen.

The National Park designation is the best a nature area can receive, as well as unique locations of outstanding natural beauty which ensure that nature can be fully experienced.

Skuleskogen is close to Docksta Havet Base Camp so - by bus, or walking/biking from the piers - it's a fantastic destination after your days of serious sailing around the coast!
 

Suggestions for cruising in the High Coast:
Sailing to Skuleskogen National Park to enjoy its stunning natural beauty

Sights:

• The views over undulating forest and the sea.

• Slåttdalsskreven.

• The Kalottbergen mountains and their forested peaks and bare slopes.

• The flora.

• The Bronze Age barrows.

Area: 2,360 hectares. 
Established: 1984, extended 1989. 
 

Location: Approximately 40 kilometres south of Örnsköldsvik in Örnsköldsvik and Kramfors municipalities, Västernorrland County.

Visiting Skuleskogen: Signs on European Highway E4 show the way to the national park. There is an access road from the south via Käl, and from the north via Näske. The High Coast Visitor's Center (Naturum Höga Kusten) provides an introduction to the park´s human and natural history. There are 30 kilometres of hiking trails, as well as three sleeping cabins and two shelters that are open year around.

Skuleskogen National Park is a wild and majestic section of Ångermanland’s “High Coast”, where the rolling hills of the Norrland forest meet the northern Baltic Sea. This roadless wilderness offers the visitor magnificent views over sea and forest, beautiful lakes, verdant spruce-clad valleys, and fascinating geological formations which, more clearly than anywhere else, demonstrate how much of modern Sweden has risen from the ancient sea.

This national park is a heavily undulating rift valley adjoining the coast, featuring forest and outcrops of flat bedrock, in untouched condition where vegetation and animals have been able to develop freely. This area will offer the visitor the opportunity of enjoying fabulous experiences of unspoilt nature. Features especially worth seeing are Slåttdalsskreven, a gorge, 200m long, 40m deep and 7 metres wide, the bronze age cairn, extensive shingle fields, interesting vegetation and, not least, magnificent views of the archipelago. There is a total of thirty kms of marked trails which offer the hiker several alternative circular routes. The High Coast trail crosses the national park. Overnight cabins are located at Skrattaborrtjärn, Lillruten, Tärnättvattnet and Näskebodarna. (Font: www.y.lst.se)

HIGH COAST SAILOR'S TIPS:

Sailing to the heart of the World Heritage: experience Skuleberget and Skuleskogen National Park >

Skuleskogen National Park (1984) and Nordingrå Nature Conservation Area (1983) are classified Category V - Protected Landscape/Seascape: protected area managed mainly for landscape/seascape conservation and recreation - and defined as "Area of land, with coast and sea as appropriate, where the interaction of people and nature over time has produced an area of distinct character with significant aesthetic, ecological and/or cultural value, and often with high biological diversity. Safeguarding the integrity of this traditional interaction is vital to the protection, maintenance and evolution of such an area."

The purpose of Skuleskogen National Park is to preserve in unspoiled condition a coastal landscape of forest, rocky terrain, fissure valleys and steep rolling hills where plant and animal life may develop naturally. (Font: www.naturvardsverket.se)

Skuleskogen is a stupendous area. It combines high mountains, ancient forest and sea coast in a landscape which is without equal in Sweden. Pronounced peaks covered with windswept rocky pine forest are divided by deep rift valleys sculpted by the sea and the inland ice.

There are, in spite of the deserted appearance, traces of human habitation. The oldest of these are Bronze Age burial cairns. The inland ice was unusually heavy here, and pressed the mountains down under sea level. The country has been rising from the sea ever since, to reach today's level of almost 300 metres above sea level. There are also bare boulder fields, swamps and tarns in the park.

The fertile stream valleys are home to many species of bird, such as the very rare grey-headed woodpecker. Several Swedish plants have their most northerly limit in Skuleskogen, for example the decidious trees maple, lime and hazel. The trees are probably relics from warmer ages when deciduous forest was found this far north.

The foremost sights of Skuleskogen are the views of the rolling forest and the sea, Slåttdalsskrevan ravine, Kalottberget mountain with its forested top and treeless slopes, the flora and the Bronze Age burial cairns.

(Font: www.naturvardsverket.se and www.y.lst.se)

Free download the map of the Skuleskogen National Park (.pdf) >

Your boat safely moored to start exploring Skuleskogen and Skuleberget

The Sailor’s Base Camp in the heart of the High Coast >

Nordic walking is a fun fitness activity for sailors in the High Coast

Nordic walking is a fun and effective fitness activity that crews can integrate into their existing nature walks during their summer cruise on the High Coast

Walking is especially important to rebalance the many hours we spend sitting, working, driving or at home. And of course, after a few days of sailing, a refreshing nature walk can be a great opportunity to "break" the routine aboard. The crews of boats that target the High Coast summer, usually plan several day trips or walks on the beautiful shorelines during a cruise.

Many boats choose to stop a couple of nights in Docksta just for the opportunity to explore Skuleberget mountain. A hike to the top or to the cave, a visit the Naturum Höga Kusten Museum and the area south of Skuleskogen National Park or just the discovering of the surrounding area of Docksta are an excellent opportunity to involve the crew and the family in a different and exciting afternoon.

We noticed that some crews, particularly from Finland, integrate this technique of Nordic Walking into their nature walks, making use of the poles similar to those used in skiing.

Nordic Walking is a form of aerobic training of great effectiveness, which involves much of the upper-body muscles as well as a great overall cardiovascular workout. It activates more core muscles than normal walking, automatically enhancing the strength, muscle power, balance, stability and increased endurance by using the poles.

The technique involves "just" the inclusion of poles in the normal and natural walking. On YouTube you find several videos which - at various levels - illustrate the Nordic Walking technique and how you can experience it.

The specific poles for Nordic Walking are very lightweight and come in two types; one piece non-adjustable version and telescopic adjustable versions. The telescopic poles are adjustable in length according to your height and thus can be easily placed on board. The appropriate equipment should include: the poles, normal hiking shoes and outdoor clothes for walking or trekking.

The possibility to choose the intensity and difficulty of routes makes it an activity suitable for people of all ages and fitness levels. There are several opportunities to practice nordic walking in the surroundings of Docksta so... it's time to moore the boat and take a (nordic) walk! :)