Bring your hiking boots and enjoy a hike in Langbjerg. In the new nature area, near the small village Agri, you will find a 2.5 km hiking trail on the beautiful lands owned by the Danish Nature Fund. The trail takes you around the enclosed area with grazing animals. There are several marked side paths leading to gates, so the trail can be accessed from different entry points. The path takes you through hills, forests, and a newly established stone scattering.
In this area, you will also come across Denmark’s highest natural lake that has been restored. After 125 years as farmland, the lake has been restored after a drainage pipe was removed. Wildlife and plants have already returned, as the area is once again becoming part of nature through a major restoration project.
Please note, that the route is not suitable for people with walking difficulties. Along the way, there is a fenced-off picnic spot where you can quietly enjoy the view of Trehøje, Ebeltoft, and large parts of Mols Bjerge.
You can enter the area from the parking lots at Agri Bavnehøj or Tinghulen.
Djursland’s only functioning watermill
In the forest near Ørnbjerg lies the old watermill, which has been there since the 1500s. Ulstrup stream runs quietly by, and the sound of rushing water keeps the large mill wheel in motion.
There are nice walking trails in the surrounding area, where you can discover a varied nature along the stream and plenty of birds.
Today, it is a fully functional museum mill, where you can experience a piece of living cultural history. In the small museum by the mill, you can read about the life around the mill through the ages. You will find the exhibition in the house called “Svinehuset” (it can be translated to “the piggery”). There is also picnic table sets to enjoy a packed lunch or find shelter from the rain and wind.
You can find Ørnbjerg Mill at Stubbevej 2B, 8410 Rønde.
Korean fir, Sitka spruce, and mountain pine
Weather permitting, you can take walk on the 1.5 km hiking trail around Egsmark Plantation. The Djursland Afforestation Association purchased Egsmark Plantation in 1929 and today shares the story of the afforestation movement. The original purpose of the plantation was to present it to those who wanted to learn more about plantation management and the afforestation movement in general.
In the plantation, you will find tree species such as mountain pine, Korean fir, thuja, wild cherry, Scots pine, beech, larch, and Sitka spruce. Along the route, visitors will encounter information boards about the association’s history and the different tree species.
“Egsmark Plantation has thus become a worthy memorial to the afforestation movement and its pioneers on Djursland. But in addition, a walk along the marked trails of the plantation offers rich nature experiences and the opportunity to learn about the distinctive features of the various tree species and their requirements for soil and surroundings,” writes historian Vilfred Friborg Hansen in an article for Folk og Liv, Boggalleriet Rønde 2014.
You can access to the plantation from the parking lots at Skæppen and Fjerdingkarret, where Tirstrupvejen meets the Ebeltoft–Randers road. The address is Røndevej 25, 8400 Ebeltoft.
Old love in Tolløkke Forest
Just outside Ebeltoft is the small and cozy Tolløkke Forest. Take a walk around the forest's 2.5 km hiking trail and enjoy the old oak and beech trees in their autumn colors. Here National Park Mols Bjerge works to return the old production forest to a more wild and natural forest, to the delight of birds, bats, insects and the many special plants that grow here.
If you are curious about old love stories, the beech trunks are in many places scratched and carved with hearts, names and dates, testifying that the forest was once the favorite spot of Ebeltoft citizens who had just fallen in love.
Suggested starting place: Parking lot, Skovalleen, 8400 Ebeltoft