The Ancient Road Hærvejen
The Ancient Road Hærvejen is located on Jutland's ridge. The road has had many names over time: The Bullock Road, the Ox Road, the King's Road, the Roman Road or simply the Main Road. In South Jutland it is still called the Ox Road on many stretches.
The route has been called the Ancient Road since it was first described by Hugo Matthiesen in the book 'Hærvejen' in 1930.
The Ancient Road has never been just one road, but rather a network of road tracks along the ridge. When one road was too churned up, you chose another. These many paths together form Hærvejen. An example of the many parallel sets of wheel tracks can be found on a piece of the preserved Ancient Road at the rest stop north of Bække on the road no. 417.
Today the name 'Hærvejen' covers the recreational cycling and hiking routes, which the counties established in the late 1980s. The routes lie between Hirtshals and Frederikshavn in northern Jutland, pass Viborg and continue to Padborg at the border. They are part of the old pilgrimage route from Thondheim in Norway to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. In Vejen Municipality Hærvejen passes trough Bække, Vejen, Askov and Jels.
The Ancient Road Hærvejen crosses the river Kongeå at Frihedsbroen and follows the Kongeå Path to the mill at Knag Mølle.