Torekov

The pilot's hut by Torekov harbour

Today we are on a tour of the Bjäre Peninsular, starting from Vejbystrand, where we are staying with Lars and Kerstin. Our first stop is the the village of Torekov in the extreme west. We gather from Lars that it is popular with the CEO's of Sweden's largest companies and that summer house prices here are extremely high. We park behind the harbour and off to the right is the pleasant beach and a sheltered bay. As our walk yesterday suggested, such bays are rare on this section of coast.

We walked round the small harbour, where the main boat traffic is over to Hallands Väderö, deserted islands where there is nature reserve. To the left of the harbour is the Pilot's Hut, which seems to be a symbol of the village, certainly fridge magnet images of it were available in the Tourist Office, which in Sweden also seems to be a souvenir shop.

We walked along the coast for a while, past this house with its handsome tower rooms and past a sort of jetty where the locals (or possibly the previously mentioned CEOs) come down in their dressing gowns for a swim.

Nearby was a large rock, described as Thora's Rock - legend tells that Thora and her sister and brother were drowned off the coast here by their wicked step-mother. It is said that her body was washed ashore and given a Christian burial by a blind man, who thereupon regained his sight. Soon there was a great view of Hallands Väderö, with a lighthouse on the island to the left.

After a while we turned inland and wondered through the outer streets of the village. We were startled by this creature spotted through the hedge of an otherwise innocuous garden. We would have loved to know how it had got there. 

At the end of this road, a delightful cobbled street ran away towards the coast, with traditional houses on either side.

Soon after we were confronted by this exquisite group of painted cottages. We couldn't judge whether they were old or new. If new, they were very well done.

Now we found ourselves in the centre of the village and realised it was time for ice cream. I resisted that for a moment to investigate what was obviously once the site of a church.

Rather wonderfully, it was all that remained of St Thora's church, which was built in the early middle ages by the previously blind fisherman mentioned above, whose name I now learned was Frenne. This is what it looked like. It was destroyed by a fire which affected a large part of the village in 1858.

The site of the former church was not far from the car park and so it was effectively the end of the walk. I read however that a replacement church of St Thora was built a few years later on the edge of the village and it seemed only right to stop and see it on our way out of the village.

Conditions: warm and sunny.

Distance: about a mile and half.

Rating: four stars. A lovely place.