Denmark Tour Week 4 and done

We left the island of Ærø and took our 6th and final ferry ride to the island of Fyn and the town of Faaborg. Faaborg is another lovely seaside town with many historic buildings and homes, towers and statues. We had a lovely evening there, finally the sun came out. We stayed in another Airbnb hosted by a woman with an Alberta connection. She did an agricultural exchange to Bassano Alberta about 50 years ago.

The next day we rode to Odense, the birthplace of H.C. Andersen. The forecast was for rain all day but we did manage to stay dry for about a third of the way before the rain started. On the way we stopped in Ringe where we found a cafe that was BYOF (bring your own food, and buy a drink) so we hung out there for a bit hoping the rain would stop. It didn’t stop but it did slow somewhat. By the time we reached Odense though, we had reached terminal wetness for sure, but at least we weren’t camping. We had a lovely dry hotel room to take refuge in.

The next day in Odense turned out bright and sunny and we did a walking tour of the old town which is mostly themed around HC Andersen but also the local history. We also visited the HC Andersen museum which has been recently renovated and features high tech storytelling exhibits which are very well done. We both left there feeling like we learned a lot about the man and fondly recalled many of his stories from our childhood.

From Odense we rode to Kolding and back to Jutland which was another dry day, just a bit windy and hilly. Yes, there are some hills in this part of Denmark. These two things slowed us down somewhat so by the time we arrived at our Airbnb we were unfortunately too late to enter the art museum or the castle and tower. We did enjoy a lovely evening there with great views of the lake and castle in the old town.

From Kolding we rode back to Juelsminde on a beautiful sunny day, now nearing the end of our tour and returning to cousin Poul and Anette’s lovely summer house. We also managed to get in a visit with Rita, George’s late Uncle Thue’s wife. George had to use his good Danish which he’s been busy practicing during the tour as none of the younger generation was there to help translate. We also saw our friend Anker again and his two sons Mikkel and Ulrich. They happened to be touring around the area and stopped by Rita’s for a visit, coincidentally, while we were there. We finished the day with a dip in the sea, finally a day nice enough to go for a swim. The water was fresh for sure but the sun warmed us quickly. We had a nice walk and some good Danish ice cream at the Juelsminde harbour.

The next ride, the last one, was back to Hornborg with a small detour to Horsens to see the Horsens Art Museum with work by the local famous artist Micheal Kvium and others. Several people had recommended we stop by there to see his interesting, somewhat grotesque looking work, which we enjoyed. Then back to cousin Aksel and Birgit’s home where we began this journey and another warm welcome. We spent a couple days there before leaving, cleaning up and packing up the bike and some more visiting. We had another lovely dinner and visit with cousin Kirsten and her husband Mogens as well as a lunch with cousin Karin, her husband Court, their daughter Trine, and again with cousin Aage who made the trip from Tarm.

We flew from Billund to London and then to Calgary the next day. Unfortunately our daughter Erika was away from London so we didn’t get another visit with her.

This has been such a wonderful trip as we were warmly welcomed into so many homes along the way and got to catch up with everyone as well as several new little people in the next generation that we were able to finally meet as well. Even though the weather didn’t always cooperate it was such a pleasure to experience cycling here in Denmark and we may find it difficult to go back on the roads with the cars.

Robots

We met a lot of cute lawn-cutting friends along our route, must be the Danish way

Tags: Denmark