Caryl and Brian's World Bike Tour

European Tour 2010 VI - Denmark

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European Tour 2010 VI - Denmark

EUROPEAN TOUR 2010 PART VI - Denmark

Brian is checking out our first North Sea Cycle Route sign

Flensburg, DE to Frederikshavn, DK

July 23 to August 6, 2010

Start 60,409 miles (96,654 km) :

End 60,871 miles (97,393 km) cumulative

 

 

Video Map

TEASERS

 

bulletStop by Denmark’s oldest town, Ribe
bulletCamp among sand dune hummocks while the rain pours down
bulletRide along rugged sand spits defining Denmark’s west coast
bulletPass by modern ferry towns Hanstholm and Hirtshals
bulletRide thru planted forests called plantage
bulletTake a hike with the rest of Denmark to Grenen spit
bulletView the remains of the Medieval Ellingaa ship at the Bangsbo museum

 

Flensburg, DE to Ferring, DK

 

High water indicator in Ribe, Denmark

 

July 23 to July 28

Flensburg is the largest German city closest to the Denmark border.  Consequently it was the most convenient place to take a one-way car rental.  We arrived very late at night, which was planned and we had a reservation at the local cheap Etap hotel.  The next morning, after a 10 hour drive, we returned the car and rode into town to spend the day just wandering around.

With such a quick transition between Bavaria and northern German the difference in architecture is all the more noticeable.  In Bavaria there is almost a frivolous and whimsical quality to their buildings.  There are pastel colors, wall paintings, and there seems to be almost a rivalry to see who can bedeck their porches with the most flowers.  In the north, buildings are mostly brick with only minimal decoration.  Flowers are used far more sparingly in the gardens only.  House yards seem to be filled mostly with lawns rather than flower beds.  You’re not as likely to find a garden filled with little plastic figures either.

The people are different as well.  They seem more open and friendlier than down south.  Even the language is slightly different.  You don’t hear “grus gotte” anymore.

We need to keep in mind that Germany as we know it really did not exist until the late 1800s.  Before then it was just a bunch of city states.  Hence when you travel the length and breadth of the country today you will see very dramatic differences between what were once the different city states.  It certainly makes for more interesting touring as you can go through entirely different regions in a very short distance.

The very charming harbor at Flensburg

Flensburg has been a port town for a very long time.  It’s located on the eastern, more shelteredside of the Denmark peninsula and makes a great natural harbor.  Today the port area has been turned into a very nice walkway.  Pleasure boats now dock at the port and you can take a tourist trip on one of the few remaining steam ships.  There’s a maritime museum which stores several very nice wooden racer sailboats at the dock.  Signs give details about the boats and you’re free to get a very close up look.

Flensburg has one very long shopping/pedestrian street.  In addition in nearby Handewitt there is a large shopping mall.  Prices for food and goods in Denmark are significantly more expensive than Germany.  Using the McDonalds's hamburger scale for comparison, a hamburger in Germany costs 1€ or about $1.29.  In Denmark that same burger costs 10 krona or about $1.73.  Assuming that ratio holds for everything else, then Denmark would run about 34% higher.  So it’s no wonder the Danes flock to Germany to shop.

We picked the nearest campground to spend the night before heading off to Denmark the next day.

It was Saturday.  According to our guidebook shops in Denmark were supposed to close at around 2 PM and remain closed until Monday morning.  So, to make sure we could get dinner supplies late on Saturday afternoon we decided to head across the base of the peninsula through Germany rather than Denmark.  Later on, after a couple days we discovered that Denmark's supermarkets actually stay open 7 days a week with very good hours.  So this precaution really wasn’t necessary.

We had a pleasant but windy ride across northern Germany.  There were bike paths just about everywhere we really needed them and very quiet roads everywhere else.  This area is mostly farm country and the small towns are just farm supply locations.  So there really wasn’t much to stop at for very long.  Soon we were passing the last town in Germany.  As with Flensburg this town contained all sorts of supermarkets which were open not just on Saturday but Sunday as well, all to attract those Danish customers.

Our first night in Denmark was spent in the historic town of Tønder.  Even though this town nowadays seems to be miles away from the ocean it was once a big port.  Even as late as the 1920s ships docked.  Early on the ships were actually quite large.  But as the river silted up the big ships were offloaded onto smaller rigs that could carry the goods upriver.  After the 1920s the river was filled in making just a small canal and the port was closed forever. 

There are reminders of those old shipping days still around town.  There are old warehouses sitting in a line facing what today is a street.  An old photo shows how they used to face the harbor.  Also, there is the town’s landmark tower.  It’s a tall brick affair with a row of windows around the top.  This was the port’s lighthouse.  The tower plus its attendant buildings now house the town offices and a museum.  You can climb the tower, for a fee of course.

We left Tønder via Mogeltønder another historic town.  The main street of this small town has been fixed up with cobblestones to give it a historic feel, and to give us bikers jostled bones.  Small single story houses with steep roofs, some being thatched, line this cobbled road.  It reminded me a lot of houses found in Williamsburg, VA. I was beginning to wonder if the Williamsburg settlers had some Danish heritage.

Denmark is Protestant country.  Hence churches tend to be more functional buildings rather than works of art. They are usually a plain, blocky structure with a tall roofed tower rather than a steeple.  Inside you’ll find very little decoration, few statues, few icons. 

The church in Mogeltønder was a bit unique even by Denmark standards. Inside the ceiling was painted and even the balcony had some painting.  The pews were divided by waist high panels with little doors.  Again this reminded me of the church found in Williamsburg.  One thing this church did have in common with others in Denmark, it has a model ship hung from the ceiling.  Since Denmark has always had a big seafaring history I suppose the ship is supposed to provide protection for the sailors.

Inside the church at Møgeltønder

We headed on to Hojer where, much to our surprise, we found an open store.  Being Sunday we had expected them all to be closed.  Here is where we got our first inkling that perhaps stores have more generous hours than in Germany.

Hojer has an historic windmill that looks a lot like the ones we saw on Germany’s North Sea route last summer.  Windmills such as this are very large buildings.  The top portion of the building where the wind vanes are mounted could be pivoted to face the wind direction.  We understand it took quite a bit of training for a windmill operator to become sufficiently proficient so that he would not allow a runaway windmill.  It could literally tear itself apart should that happen.

The historic windmill at Hojer

Our stop for the night was the town of Ribe.  This was the most touristy town we’d seen so far in Denmark.

Ribe is Denmark’s oldest inhabited town.  It was once a trading center for the Vikings.  The Vikings had created a trading empire throughout a lot of northern Europe and Denmark was one of their centers with Ribe being an important town.  Excavations around town have uncovered all sorts of trade goods. 

However, what you see in the town today dates from Medieval times and later.  There are narrow streets bordered by half timbered houses.  The town is overshadowed by its eccentriccathedral.  This unusual church is a whole collection of architectural styles glued together in a not unpleasant manner.  Although the brick buildings attached to the sides of the church look like later add-ons.  Inside the church has a combination of pre-reformation decoration with modern mosaics and paintings.  It’s a very odd looking church.

Since the town has Viking roots it naturally has a very extensive museum that includes a lot of the Viking artifacts they’ve discovered through the years.  But that’s not what makes this town a big attraction for families.  Just outside town there’s something called the Vikinger.  This is where the kids can go to experience the Viking way of life.  It’s got a bunch of people dressed in period costume who put on the whole Viking show.

One of the half timbered houses in Ribe, DK

Because of this the campground near town is packed.  The place where they put tents is far away from the bathrooms out in the middle of some horse field.  It’s literally an after thought.  Even though we really wanted to see the Viking museum, we just couldn’t face the idea of spending a second night in that awful campsite.  We had to forego the museum for now.  Someday with an RV .....

After the last bit of morning rain finally abated we headed out toward the coast.  The clouds soon parted and the sun came out giving us great vistas across Denmark’s very level landscape.

The very flat lands of Denmark

Once we were back along the coastal road we found we were spending most of our time looking at the side of the high dyke.  Just past the town of Esbjerg (yes it does seem to be pronounced like iceberg) the road finally rose high enough to not require a dyke.  We at last were able to ride along with great views of the ocean over our shoulders.

Sitting like frozen snow sculptures just north of Esbjerg are 4 very tall, skinny, male looking figures.  They’re made from white concrete and have just enough features so you know they’re male and human.  They’re gigantic, probably 25 ft tall, and are a great source of entertainment for children who love to climb all over their platforms.  All 4 stare out at the open sea.  You might say they’re ever watchful no matter the mood of that most fickle North Sea.  They were quite strange to see.

The four statues staring out to sea near Esbjerg, DK

Denmark is proving to be very expensive.  Everytime we go food shopping we are shocked to see how much the bill is and how little we get.  For instance, we bought a small loaf of bread, small box of cookies, ring of cheese spread, liter of milk, and a bag of 4 muffins.  The cost was about $8.  We can’t help but compare that with what we can buy in our favorite Winco food store back home.  We are wondering how the Danes can afford to live in their own country.

One thing the Danes have done we found to be rather inventive.  In some places they have old abandoned rail road tracks still in place.  Rather than tearing them up and adding a bike path, they’ve come up with an alternate use.  They build these rail bikes that people can rent.  They take them for very flat rides along closed sections of track.  At road intersections they have to stop and move a barrier.  Otherwise the way is clear.  It really looks like a fun adventure for families.

One of the bikes made for riding the rails

The day we left Esbjerg was one of the last really nice riding days for some time.  The weather started out slightly rainy but soon cleared to blue sky and white puffy clouds.  The winds were light and the temperatures just right. 

We started out with some really nice riding through forests of a park near the campground.  Sometimes we were on dirt road, but a lot of time we were on paved cycle paths.  In the afternoon we headed out onto the sand spit that extends along Denmark’s western shore.  Here is where you find that windswept country so common along very northern shorelines.

The sand dunes making up the spits appear to be very old and stationary.  They’re covered with bushes and grasses and in a few places the pine trees are starting to encroach.  In between the lumps of the old sand dunes the Danes have built little vacation houses.  They sit low in the dunes looking half buried.  Many look like cheap buildings and aren’t very attractive.  In fact all of the villages along this shore appear like new and cheap constructions, probably under 20 years old.  It’s very apparent that this coast is pretty much a summer beach destination only.

The old dunes, however, are very interesting to ride through.  The bike path was dirt and sand making it sometimes difficult to ride with our narrow front tires.  So when we get tired of fighting the sand we simply cut over to the main paved road for a rest.  The wind was not in our favor, of course, but it wasn’t so bad we couldn’t get in a good distance.

Campgrounds in sand dune beach areas aren’t our favorites.  They’re just open fields with no trees or shrubs, usually sand pitches, and virtually no shelter from the constant wind.  In late July they are absolutely packed.  Not at all pleasant.  We did find one unusual campground that had mowed some of the grasses in the dune pockets for a few tents to be pitched.  We grabbed one of these.  Being low in a dune pocket it was almost as if we had the place to ourselves despite being surrounded by hundreds of caravans, tents, and RVs. 

Of course the bathrooms weren’t nearly sufficient for the crowds and there was only one very small common room for you to get out of the elements in.  This had a TV and wound up being where the kids all assembled to watch cartoons.

Sunset at the dunes campsite looking toward Denmark’s tallest lighthouse.

It wasn’t a very enjoyable campground, but we wound up staying an extra night.  A fierce storm rolled in overnight and in the morning it was absolutely pouring.  We could have gone on, but it is extremely unpleasant riding in pouring rain and then having to spend the night in a tent.  If you’re in a hotel room that’s one thing.  Hotels are far too expensive in Denmark.  So, since we weren’t on any real defined schedule, we stayed put.  Oh but we were glad to head on the next day.

The rain abated but the wind did not.  We were experiencing a very strong wind out of the west with slight northerly components.  Since we spent most of the day riding along the dykes out in the open we were dealing with difficult side and headwinds.  It was not easy.  One fellow had told us that the winds typically blow from the southwest.  We had as yet to see that.

The small town of Thorsminde sits in the middle of Bøvling Klit which divides the Nissum Fjord from the North Sea.  This tiny town is a real fishing village.  Its small port is filled with vessels that look ready for some of the roughest seas.  Some really look like they could do a complete roll and come out unscathed. 

The rest of the town consists of a grouping of brown board clad buildings all looking just about the same.  There’s supposed to be a campsite in town and from all the parachutes we saw floating along the shore of the fjord we assume it’s a hot spot for that parapent/surfing sport.  The town also has what looks like a pretty descent maritime museum.

Anchors at the Thorsminde maritime museum

As the winds were really picking up, against us naturally, we had to push on.  When we stopped at the tiny Spar Express supermarket in  Fjaltring we asked the owner if the winds might improve tomorrow.  He said, “What wind?” Wise cracker.  But that may just indicate that this place can really seem some bad winds if this is just a taste.

He also said we made a poor choice of direction.  North to south would have been better.  It figures. 


That night we found a much nicer campground on the Ferring Strand.  It was good it was nice as we wound up spending another unplanned stay over.

Section 2

Ferring, DK to Hirtshals, DK

Lighthouse at Hirtshals, DK

 

July 29 to August 2

Once again it poured.  We are beginning to think that the weather patterns have shifted for the summer and the warm dry weather may be at an end.  Or at least perhaps trying for Norway this year is not a good idea.  We’ll still head up to Hirtshals for a swing through Denmark.  But if the weather doesn’t start shifting back soon, we’ll be turning south sooner than expected.

Since we were now settled into a fairly comfortable campground and it would be miserable to pick up stakes and move on, we decided to take the free bus into the town of Lemvig for the day. 

Lemvig’s unique church, unique for Denmark that is.

Lemvig is a cute fishing town that is older than most of those coastal villages.  It sits on one of the fjords and would have been sheltered from the worst of the North Sea’s storms.  It’s got a church that is quite unique for this region, having an onion dome steeple rather than a roofed tower.  It has a couple of nice pedestrian shopping streets and 4 supermarkets.  Otherwise there really isn’t all that much there for the tourist to visit.  Since we had time to spare we just wandered up and down the streets for the day.  Supposedly the weather is to improve tomorrow and we will be able to move on.

Inside the church at Lemvig

 

On the last day of July we finally had a rip roaring tailwind.  After so many days fighting headwinds this was absolutely delightful.  Just turning 180o you go from barely eking out 15 kph to sailing at close to 30 kph.  What a difference.  This did not mean we had great weather.  There were on and off showers all day long.  But when the rain is at your back and you’re flying down the highway it’s a whole lot easier to put up with annoying rain than it otherwise would be.

Within about an hour we had arrived at the ferry crossing the mouth of Nissum Bredning.  In another hour we had achieved our original objective for the day.  By 2:30 PM we had ridden the full 100 km and were all the way up to Hanstholm, the northwest corner point of Denmark.  That was far more than we had expected to do so we stopped for the night.

We had spent the better part of the day sailing through Denmark’s very first National Park.  Thy National Park covers the dunes region from Agger to Hanstholm.  It has a fairly extensive network of hiking and horse riding trails as well as the national North Sea Bicycle route. 

Amazingly this very first National Park was only established in 2008.  It’s hard to believe they hadn’t set one up much earlier.  But the park is a conglomeration of public and private lands.  So perhaps they had a lot of agreements and concessions to make before the park could be established.  Still..... 2008?

It’s a beautiful, rugged landscape of grass covered dunes and some forests the entire way.  In addition there are several very large lakes that attract all sorts of water fowl.  If the weather were better it would have been fun to take a hike or two. 

Sand dunes of western Denmark

The towns along the way look more and more like what we saw in very northern Canada.  They’re not that much to look at and often look almost temporary in nature.  Although many of the towns are over 100 years old.  It’s just that very northern terrain seems to require so much effort just to survive there doesn’t seem to be all that much effort put into the physical aspects of the town itself.  Only the very largest of towns have what would be considered a central core.

Hanstholm is where ferries depart for Norway and Iceland.  We arrived soon after the Iceland ferry arrived.  It seems a lot of the vehicles getting off were 4X4 Land Rovers and Jeeps all loaded with camping gear, gas tanks, shovels, and other off road gear.  I guess Iceland must a big place for folks to get way out in the back country with their Jeeps.  Sort of the thing you’d do in the American southwest deserts.

A quick stop at the supermarket and we were off to the nearby campground.  One thing we really appreciate at these Denmark campgrounds is most provide really good kitchen facilities.  They almost always have stoves that are free to use and covered tables.  Sometimes there are family rooms with sofas and a TV plus games.  Considering how nasty the weather can be here, it’s very nice having these warm dry places to escape to.  Although you’re paying for it.  Denmark campgrounds are very expensive.

On August 1st for the first time in days we had a good biking weather day.  It started out cloudy but gradually got clearer and clearer.  The terrain was rolling hills.  We were headed east and were graced with a very nice tailwind for the entire day.

There are a lot of farms in this area producing corn, wheat, and potatoes.  Potatoes are a really big crop for Denmark and we often pass by small stands where you can buy a good sized bag for 10 DKR.  Although these are not Idaho baking spuds.  They’re closer in size to small new potatoes.

We stopped by a couple of beaches to have look at a much friendlier North Sea.  With the wind blowing at a much lower level the water looked far more inviting.  Folks were even taking advantage of the fine weather to go for a swim.  Not everyone as the water is probably rather chilly.

That night we found one of the most unique campgrounds we’ve found throughout Europe.  It was owned by the Denmark National Forest.  The camp sites were hewn into the trees making for great spaces between sites.  In normal European campgrounds they chop all the trees down making a big field with maybe a few hedges between some sites.  You get crammed into these sites right on top of your neighbor.  This forest campground was the first we’ve seen that really reminded us of our own National Forest campgrounds.  It was a real treat and we hated to leave it behind.

In this northwestern region of Denmark the land is constantly shifting.  The ocean winds and currents bring ashore sands that create moving sand dunes.  For centuries folks have been building churches and houses near these sand dunes only to have the dunes smother the buildings.  People have had to move their houses and churches again and again or just abandoned them all together. 

The Rubjerg Knude lighthouse is just one example of a buried building.  It was first used on Dec. 27, 1900.  At that time it sat on a 60 m high cliff, the light was 23 m. high and it was more than 200 m inland with no surrounding sand dunes.  Soon the sand moved in.  Sand dunes soon grew up over the cliff, filling the well and ruining the lighthouse keeper’s garden.  They attempted planting vegetation to slow the dune’s growth, but that only made matters worse.

On August 1st, 1968 they gave up and extinguished the light.  Until 2002 they had a museum in the lighthouse, but even that had to be closed.  Since then the moving dune engulfed the lighthouse and then moved on leaving the structure once again free of sand but ready to fall prey to the ocean.  It’s one very clear example of the first and most important rule of nature - Mother Nature always wins.

 

Downtown Hirtshals in the early mornings

After one more pleasant day riding through the woods and farm fields we arrived at Hirtshals.  The town itself isn’t much to speak about. It’s just a modern little town having a bunch of stores catering to the folks coming from Norway to buy from Denmark’s relatively inexpensive shops.  If Denmark is considered inexpensive we can just imagine what Norway is like. Otherwise the town holds little of interest.

Section 3

Hirtshals, DK to Frederikshavn, DK

A giant metal crab on Denmark’s beach

August 2 to August 6

 

After almost 2 weeks wandering up the windswept, sandy west coast of Denmark we turned east and then north again to reach the northern most tip of Denmark, Grenen.  This wind swept little spit of land separated the Tannis Bugt from the Albæk Bugt (bugt = sea?).  Currents from both Bugts meet in a violent torrent out at this sandy tip where swimming is not only frowned upon but banned outright. 

Everyone who is Danish or likes to think of themselves as such must eventually find their way to Grenen.  This odd little piece of land has made its way into the tourist books big time.  After you ride out past the old lighthouse you arrive at a very large parking lot.  In summer it’s packed with both cars and bicycles as the ride from Skagen to the point is a big attraction.  From there you join hundreds of people walking over the dunes and then along the beach to reach the point where the two Bugts actually meet.  Or if you’re lazy or just can’t walk that far you can take one of the cars towed by a tractor.  It’s not exactly a remote experience you get here.  But when in Denmark .....

Land’s end at Grenen Spit north of Skagen

Skagen itself has more character than most towns we’ve seen along the route.  It’s got a cute walking mall, a nice fishing harbor, and a whole bunch of yellow buildings.  Skagen has more hotels than any other town as well.  In summer it’s packed with all those tourists who’ve come to put their feet on both sides of that sandy point.

Skagen’s lighthouse

Of course, we had to go out to the point.  It was one of the better days we’d had in Denmark so far and the North Sea was looking a lovely shade of blue/green.  Over our right shoulders we could see all sorts of large cargo ships plying the Albæk Bugt including a Danish naval ship plus a huge natural gas tanker.  To our left the sandy beach goes seems to go on forever.

After our trek to the point we returned south making a short stop at one of those buried churches.  The church of St. Lawrence was built in 1759.  There was an entire church plus surrounding graveyard.  Now only the upper portions of the tower are above sand.  you can still enter the tower, for a fee.  We just wanted to see the outside.

Now it’s time to start heading south again.  Summers are very short this far north.  Clearly the days of 30° weather have passed and it won’t be too much longer before the days of 20° are gone as well.  So we turned our wheels and returned south to the little town of Hulsig to camp.

We have just begun to notice that the campgrounds are rapidly becoming empty.  We were in a row having about 8 campsites on each side of the row and there were only 3 filled, including ours.  When we arrived at the 4 star campground at Frederikshavn we shared our 12 site lot with just 3 other caravans.  Several of the big lots were even completely empty.  Sure there were still a few kids around, but it has really gone down.

So by our calculations the true high season in Europe seems to last from around July 15 to about August 7.  Now that is an amazingly short season.

Frederikshavn, located about 2/3 up the east coast of Denmark, is known more as a transportation hub than a tourist destination.  It has ferries going to Sweden and Norway daily which makes for one of the faster ways to get there. 

Since we decided to forego going to Bergen, Norway this year, we decided to head across the water to Göteburg and then ride south along the west coast of Sweden instead.  This small stretch of coast is supposed to have some of Sweden’s highlights so we may as well take advantage of our proximity.  So we rode only as far south as Frederikshavn and stopped for a day.

Frederikshavn is actually a rather pleasant town of only about 26,000 people.  It has a nice pedestrian downtown, a whole bunch of bike paths, plenty of supermarkets, a very well appointed campground, and a pretty decent museum.

The Bangsbo museum is housed in an old 1750s manor house that sits in a good size wooded park.  It has several rooms filled with an odd assortment of displays.  In the house itself there are a couple of rooms outfitted with period furnishing.  In addition there’s a very large display of old hair jewelry, lace, and a small display showing changes in women’s dress over the decades.

Room with period furnishing at the Bangsbo museum

In the old barn, the oldest barn in all Denmark, there are a whole bunch of carriages.  Everything from a hearse and bicycle to sleighs is found there.  Interestingly many of the carriages date from the 1920s and 1930s.  Denmark was a very rural country even that recently.

There’s a nautical room as well in which the most impressive items are the ship figureheads.  There are plenty of ship models and paintings as well. 

Figure from one of the many ships that wrecked along Denmark’s coast

The WWII section of the museum talks about Denmark’s role in the war.  Basically it seems they cooperated with the Germans until it looked like the Germans were going to lose.  Then their very small resistance movement gained momentum.  It was a race in the end to see if the Russians or Allied forces would liberate them first.  They got very lucky.

Finally the most important artifact in the museum is the Ellingaa ship.  This is not a Viking ship.  Dendrochronology places its construction accurately to 1253, long after the Vikings.  It does have a lot of Viking ship building traits. 

Remains of the Medieval Ellingaa ship at the Bangsbo museum in Frederikshavn

This was a medium size cargo vessel.  It was single masted with a large square sail.  It was made of oak in the clinker style, overlapping hull panels rather than flush.  The ship was first discovered in 1922 in the Ellingaa creek during a railroad improvement project.  It was reburied for 40 more years  In the early 60s technology finally existed that could successfully remove the remains, stabilize them, and place them in the museum for safe keeping.

Although only about half the ship exists, they’ve built a metal cage for it that represents the rest of its outline.  It would have been one lovely ship.  There was little damage, just 2 originally repaired pieces.  So the experts have no idea as to why the ship was left to be buried.  In any event, we get to enjoy it today.

Watercolor of the proposed building of the Ellingaa ship

Outside of the manor museum there are botanical gardens and woods to explore.  We spent a little time wandering, but the weather was turning wet and it was time to head back to camp. 

So much for our North Sea route in Denmark.  Time to head to Sweden.

 

APPENDIX A – ROUTE

 

Germany

 

July 24 - Back roads thru Wetche-Wedding, Handewitt, Meyn, Schafflund, Sprakebül, Leck, Lexgaard, Sliderlügum, Saed, to Tønder, 67 km

 

Denmark

July 25 - Back roads thru Møgeltønder, Bønderby to Højer, North Sea route thru Emmerlev, Vester Gammelby, Ballum, to Skærbæk, route 11 to Ribe, 70.07 km

July 26 - North Sea route thru Kammerslusen, by Store Ballum, thru Esbjerg, Sædding, Hjerting, to Sjælborg, 47.80 km

July 27 - North Sea route thru Tarp, Kjeist, Oksbøl, Vejers, Henneby, Hovstrup, Lennestak, Lenne, Nymindegab to Bjerregård.  Main road thru Skodbjerge, Havrvig, Argab to Hvide Sande.  North Sea route to Narre Lyngvig.  81.16 km
July 29 - North Sea route thru Søndervig, Stadilo, Vedersø Klit, Bjerghuse, Thorsminde, Fjaltring, Trans, to Ferring Strand, 67.23 km

July 31 - North Sea route thru Vejlby, Vrist, Thyborøn, Tabel, Svankær, Rt 181 to Stenbjerg, North Sea Route to Søner Vøruper and Nørre Vøuper, Rt 181 to Hanstholm, 100.03 km

August 1 - North Sea bicycle route thru Vigse, Hesseldal, Bjerg, Korsa, Hjardemal, Torup Strand, to Fjerritslev, Back road to Hjortdal, North Sea route thru Slettestrand to Traunum Strans, 77.35 km

August 2 - North Sea route to Hune, Rt 569 and Rt 55 thru Saltum, Ingstrup, to Løkken, North Sea route thru Furreby, Nøre Lyngby Lanstrup.  Past Skallerup Kirche to Tornby, Tornby Strand, to Hirtshals and back to Tornby Strand Camping,  80.63 km

August 3 - North Sea route thru Tversted, Skiveren, Bunken Klitplantage, Hulsig, to Skagen and back to Hulsig. 84.84 km

August 4 - National cycle route 5 thru Albæk to Frederikshavn, 38.04 km

APPENDIX B – CAMPSITES, HOTELS

Germany

 

July 23: Campingplatz Jarplund near Flensburg (13.00 €/night)(1.28 $/€)

Denmark

July 24: Tønder Campingplads in Tønder (140 DKR/night)(5.80 DKR/$)

July 25: Ribe camping in Ribe (208 DKR/night)

July 26: Slæborg camping in Slæborg (140 DKR/night)

July 27, 28: Nr. Lyngvig Camping at Nr. Lyngvig (? DKR/night)
July 29, 30: Bovbjerg Camping in Bovbjerg (163 DKR/night + 2 DKR/min shower)
July 31: Hanstholm Camping in Hamborg (226 DKR/night)

August 1:Tranum Strand Camping in Traunum Strand National Forest (148 DKR/night + 14 DKR for showers)

August 2:Tornby strand Camping at Tornby (170 DKR/night + 2 DKR/min showers)

August 3: Bunkin Klit Camping at Hulsig (164 DKR + 5 DKR/shower)

August 4, 5: Nordstrand Camping near Frederikshavn (205 DKR

night + 3 DKR/min showers)

REFERENCES

 

Lonely Planet Scandanavia 2010

 

 

Copyright © 1995-2011 by Caryl L. Bergeron - Distribution for personal use permitted. Distribution for other uses with written permission.

Acknowledgements

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We'd like to thank my father, Charles Johnson, whose diligent mail forwarding and other logistical support make this journey far easier than it could be otherwise.

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Wendy Strutin Riedy for archiving the newsletters on her WWW site, http://outthereliving.com


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