As the inland ice mel­ted over sout­hern Swe­den, a lake was for­med by all the melt water trap­ped between the edge of the ice and a ridge of land in the south.

This was the fore­run­ner of the Bal­tic Sea, and is known as the Bal­tic Ice Lake. Sto­lan is a uni­que loca­tion whe­re the ice lake drai­ned into the North Sea about 11,600 years ago when the inland ice mel­ted and retre­a­ted. The sto­ry behind this is more dra­ma­tic than you might ima­gi­ne. Right here, at the nort­hern tip of Bil­ling­en, an enor­mous volu­me of water bro­ke through and flooded across the lands­cape to the North Sea. The water level of the ice lake fell by 25 metres wit­hin a short peri­od of time, pro­bably around 1.5 years.

In this area, the bed­rock was scou­red clean and the­re is a two-met­re-deep chan­nel in the sand­sto­ne to remind us of the del­u­ge. The easi­est way to reach this area is from Sotar­li­den, near the old Mari­estads­vä­gen road, from which the­re is a cir­cu­lar trail, or from the limesto­ne quar­ry north of Sto­ra Sto­lan. At Sotar­li­den the­re are mea­dows and pastu­res with a very diver­se flo­ra, inclu­ding the marsh fragrant orchid. The view towards Kin­ne­kul­le and Klyf­ta­mon is magnificent.

Hit­ta Hit