geeteetravels

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

We enjoyed 2 full days in Copenhagen and stayed at “Wake up Copenhagen”, a modern hotel right in the central area that was great for us. The weather was a bit rainy the first day but then cleared and warmed up nicely. We are definitely not too hot here as we have been on past trips in Italy and France. Temperatures have been 16 -22 degrees during the day and cooler at night. We brought a few key pieces of warmer clothing that we wear continually as our selection is limited. When you have to carry everything you learn to pack smartly.

Our tire problems have turned into a saga, now we’ve had 6 rear flats when usually we have 1 or 2 in the whole trip. Finally with the latest flat we were able to find the culprit, a small sharp piece of shell or rock that had managed to embed itself in and then through the tire, piercing the tube repeatedly. It was so small that we hadn’t noticed it, but also hadn’t been in a situation to be able to look very closely at the tire either (pouring rain in the forest). George has now patched the inside of the tire where that occurred, and two similar ‘breakthroughs’ so hopefully that is the end of it. We are not impressed with our new ‘gravel’ tires’ puncture proof-ness, and for now we will stick with asphalt if we can.

While in Copenhagen we did our own cycling tour to see various sites such as cool cycle bridges, Nyhaven, Little Mermaid and just experienced getting around the city by bike. There are cycle lanes on every road and so many bicycles! It is inspiring. I would like to see this in our own country. During this day tour we had another of our flat tires and it started raining so we weren’t able to complete the planned itinerary that day. The second day we visited the Danish National museum and learned about prehistoric Danish people and settlements as well as seeing another Viking exhibit, all very well done. Later we strolled down Strøget, the pedestrian shopping area, looked at Rosenborg Castle and gardens and Christianborg Palace where the royal Danish family formerly resided.

We left Copenhagen Tuesday morning and rode west and then south towards our next stop of Køge but on the way stopped at the Arken Museum, an excellent modern art museum that was recommended to us. It was extremely interesting and we’re very glad we stopped! Thanks to Birgit BV and Astrid for this suggestion. After this we stopped at Greve to visit with Astrid (daughter of cousin Aksel/Birgit) and her partner Anders and new baby girl Bitten. They live across the street from Anne Gry (other daughter of cousin Aksel/Birgit) and her partner Ian and children. We had a lovely lunch and visit there, thanks so much! Then we rode the last leg of the trip to Køge where we stayed in a cute little hotel on the main square. The ride from Copenhagen to Køge was all on lovely paved cycle paths, no gravel, away from the busy roads through many natural areas, so beautiful and fun. The forecast for this day hadn’t looked good but miraculously we managed to stay dry, taking our breaks at opportune times.

Wednesday we rode from Køge to Vordingborg and again somehow managed to skirt the rain and stay dry despite a very drippy looking forecast, a nice surprise. Apparently it is difficult to predict weather in Denmark due to all the water surrounding it, creating uncertainty. The ride was mostly through farmlands, some forests and a little alongside water. The roads and pathways were excellent with a few bigger hills to climb but mostly just a rolling landscape. It was perfect terrain for riding, we enjoyed it thoroughly and had no flat tires!

We were only in Vordingborg for one night, just a stop over on the way to the island of Lolland, not too much to report. It is a nice little seaside town that happened to have a summer music festival going on so a busy spot. We stayed in an Air B&B this time which was inexpensive and interesting (not always the best description). The woman who hosted us was very lovely and friendly, had chickens in the back yard, did daily cold water swims in the ocean year round but wasn’t quite up on her customer service. Our bed wasn’t made up and it wasn’t quite clear which bed was ours, there was supposed to have a kitchen but not really, just a fridge and a microwave, no sink, so dirty dishes washed in the bathroom sink (ick … not so hygenic)…and the tap wasn’t really working. Anyway, only a short stay thank goodness.

The next day we set off for Maribo on the island of Lolland. The trip involved going over 3 bridges and crossing 2 other islands: Masnedø, Falster, and Lolland. It started with a very short bridge to Masnedø then a 4km long bridge, Storstrømsbroen, crossing to the island of Falster. The last bridge to Lolland was very small at Guldborg. The ride was lovely, again through farmland and forests, by water on pathways or small roads. There are also many wind turbines all over Denmark which thankfully weren’t turning much this day. And, I am happy to report no flat tires!

Maribo is a lakeside town on central Lolland with many natural areas, pathways, water activities and bird watching. In the morning we took a boat tour on the lake and saw extensive bird life including cormorants, geese, ducks of all kinds and 2 huge white tailed eagles. While in Maribo we stayed in a lovely lakeside hotel with a patio looking onto the lake and access to hiking/biking trails that circle the lake. It was a nice place to do a bit of exploring and relax for a day.

The next ride of the week was to the island of Ærø (pronounced Airoo…sort of) that involved 2 ferry rides: first to the island of Langeland from the far west end of Lolland (from Tårs) and then from the west side of Langeland (Rudkøbing) to Marstal on Ærø. Our ride was in 3 sections (38 + 11 + 13 kms) which was shorter than our original plan following more scenic routes on Lolland and Ærø along the coast. However, the weather wasn’t good that day, threatening to rain often and windy, and there were quite a few gravel paths so we came up with a more direct route to avoid getting caught in the rain on an unpaved road and risking more flats. We were lucky in the end and managed to avoid most of the rain. Even though the weather is brisk we don’t usually feel too cold as we are working hard. As soon as you stop though, you start to get chilled. The Danes seem impervious to the weather and just carry on with whatever they’re doing and also dress accordingly. Maybe that’s why knitting is so popular here? I think we are less adaptable to cool wettish weather. However, the cycling here is so enjoyable we’re willing to make that trade off.

On Ærø we are staying in a little AirBnB apartment in Ærøskøbing. Ærøskøbing is a well preserved and charming town with many houses dating from the 18th century or earlier and there are regulations in place to keep it that way. Many people swim here and the beach is lined with interesting and colourful beach houses, some that date from the early 1900’s. We visited one 18th century house museum that was very interesting to see. It was owned by a man (Gunnar Hammerhus) that bought the house in the early 1900’s and spent years collecting antique household items from the surrounding area and eventually donated it all to the town when he died. Wandering around the cobbled streets of Ærø we saw many beautiful historic houses and buildings. This is another place with plenty of hygge and we enjoyed our day off the bike looking around.

Tags: Denmark

We continue to enjoy excellent bicycling trails and routes, rarely are we on busy roads. Motorists are very respectful and aware of bicycles and give us a good amount of space when they pass if needed, and always yield to us in the bicycle lanes. Several times we have gone through construction zones and surprisingly there has always been a bicycle lane detour to follow, something we have never experienced at home where the first thing to go is the pedestrian and bicycle paths.

From Ribe we rode to Esbjerg on the west coast of Denmark. Esbjerg is a lovely small city on the coast where we stopped just for one night as the distance to the next destination was too great for a day’s ride. The route was through low lying farmland, marshes and dikes, similar to the Netherlands perhaps. We found an interesting “Men by the Sea” sculpture in Esbjerg beside a beach where we enjoyed a bit of sunbathing.

George has been able to find many hot dog stands (rød pølse or red sausage) along the way. Apparently he is famous for his love of rød pølse amongst his Danish relatives as they are all offering them to him, in addition to the meal, when we visit.

Next stop was Tarm to visit cousin Aage, Gitte and their daughters Rikke (Lars), Julie and granddaughter Ines. Here we enjoyed another wonderful meal and gathering of the clan. We have been very spoiled on this trip with beds, showers, meals and laundry equipment, it seems too easy.

Aage and Gitte took us on a tour of Ringkobing Fjord which is a circular spit of land on the west coast where there is fishing, sailing, wind and kite surfing and a town called Hvide Sande (White Sands) that George was interested in seeing as he had watched the Danish crime TV series that was filmed there. We also toured a viking museum, visited a bird sanctuary, dipped our feet in the North Sea and had a delicious seafood lunch overlooking the sea.

Our next destination was Hammel to visit cousin Birgit, husband Niels and sons Andreas, Alexander and Jacob. For this trip we ended up not riding as we were invited, along with Birgit and Niels, to attend a celebratory graduation party that would have been too far to ride to. We were picked up by car and the bike was transported in their utility trailer. Unfortunately the party was cancelled due to a tragic drowning of one of the new graduates so instead we had a lovely lunch beside a lake and park near Silkeborg. The following day we enjoyed Aros (Aarhus Art Gallery) and Moesgaard Museum (Anthropological Museum) in Aarhus. During our stay in Hammel we were able to view the “SculpTuren”(sculpture tour), a series of chain saw sculptures done as a community pandemic activity and displayed on the road in front of Birgit and Niels’ home.

We rode to Aarhus the following day and enjoyed a tasty “smorrebrod” lunch with George’s 2nd cousin Ida and then rode to cousin Karin’s summer house just outside of Aarhus where we had a delightful stay with Karin and her good neighbor and partner Jacob.

The next day we rode back to Aarhus and caught the ferry east to Sjællands Odde across the Kattegat Straight and then cycled along the coast to Høvestrand where we were welcomed again by cousin Aksel and wife Birgit and stayed a couple nights in a summer house they had rented for a week. We had a relaxing stay there and enjoyed walks on the beach, good food, good company and playing a board game called Partners carefully translated from Danish by Birgit. I think they will have had enough of us by the end of the tour but we have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them.

Our next destination was Jægerspris to visit friend Anker and his wife Anne. Anker was a good friend of George’s Uncle Niels and Per, and also a Canadian citizen who lived in Prince George for a number of years. Our trip to Jægerspris was supposed to include 2 ferry rides: one from Rørvig to Hundested and another small one from Sølager to Kulhuse. Unfortunately the second one was cancelled, we don’t know why, perhaps it was in disrepair, but it meant we had to ride around on land to the bridge down the coastline to reach Jaegerspris. It was an extra 20kms which didn’t seem too bad (70 rather than 50) but we didn’t know the best route and wound up on some forest gravel trails that slowed us down considerably. Then with only 9kms remaining we were pummeled by a thunder and hail storm and had to take cover under a big tree for about 15mins. We did eventually arrive at our destination wet and tired, but were treated to a lovely meal, shower, warm bed and good company.

The next morning looked better and we set off for our 50km ride into Copenhagen. Unfortunately after only about 3-4 kms it started to rain again and this lasted for a couple hours. It wasn’t very cold, just wet, so we kept pedaling. The new waterproof panniers we invested in are working well thankfully. Again on this ride we were following a route that took us into the forest, sometimes on gravel/dirt paths that were starting to get muddy with puddles, again slowing us down. We were starting to ask ourselves why we decided to ride north of the Loire valley (we have an unwritten rule to stay south of it) when we experienced our second flat back tire (always the back where it’s more complicated!). This was probably the worst time for a flat in the forest in the pouring rain with no good place to work. And to make it worse we realized we were surrounded by stinging nettle which had already attacked our legs. Sometimes you just have to swear a little, take a big breath and carry on, which we did. Once the tire was changed the weather did, miraculously, improve and the sun came out. We made it to Copenhagen and our hotel without any more adventures, wet and dirty, glad to be done cycling for the day.

Tags: Denmark