The transition between countries is gradual and easy on bikes. In comparison the ferry seemed sudden – but still less culture shock than an aeroplane provides. We rode off the ferry into a warm afternoon. The plan was to hunt down some wild internet (which we managed first try) and then track down one of the wild camping sites that I’d heard about. As we cycled along rolling hills, swarms of midges were getting stuck in the sunscreen on our arms, legs and faces. There were also swarms of geese (that thankfully weren’t getting stuck in the sunscreen), and lots of grain crops. And there were cuckoos again – the first we’d heard since Japan.
And we discovered that Denmark has public toilets! As we pulled in to visit one, I found 3 nymph ticks attached to my abdomen – the first ticks of the trip, no doubt thanks to wild camping in Germany the night before. It also occurs to me that we’ve been seeing a lot of roadkill hedgehogs. I feel a bit like the international students who come to Australia, who come wanting to see kangaroos, but only ever see them as roadkill. I’ve never seen a hedgehog alive, but I’ve got a rough idea what they must look like, thanks to seeing so many flat ones. Today I saw a dead mole as well, which was quite exciting for someone who has never seen a mole in any form before. They’re a bit like platypuses, much smaller than you’d expect.
We found our first wild camping site that night, and were amazed with what a perfect little set-up it was. Three log constructed bivy shelters, built into a hillside and with grass rooves. They were just high enough inside to set up our tent with the mesh inner only, to keep out the persistent insects, and had a picnic table and a lake to wash in, and then watch the sun set over.
The following night we stumbled on another similar set-up (well, asked a passing jogger if he knew of anywhere nearby where we could camp), which was just as brilliant. Earlier that day in Sakskøbing we saw a statue invoking lesbian farmwife solidarity (or perhaps that’s not what they meant by it?) and sat by it until the town alcoholics came out of the woodwork at 8.55am to claim their benches nearby. The organised alcohol drinking seemed to be a common theme in Scandinavia.
The following night we reached Copenhagen (not before stopping by the coast and getting a chance to go for a very quick and cold swim). Entering Copenhagen was mad and hectic, bicycles everywhere rushing all over the place. The pace was a bit too much for us with our slow loaded bikes, and we ended up chilling out in the main square for a while watching gay men in red socks dancing with pom-poms (it was the World Out Games). The rest of that day was spent cycling around and seeing the sights, before meeting up with Sven, a friend of our Australian friends who’d lived in Copenhagen for a while. Sven had kindly offered to let us stay at his place that night, before we took the train over the bridge into Sweden the next day. It was odd to be back in civilisation – our first night in a bed since the start of the month when we were in Dublin.
Denmark certainly wasn’t a cycling paradise along the lines of the Netherlands. We experienced quite a few randomly disappearing cycle lanes, and were riding on a few roads with a small shoulder and zooming cars – but overall it wasn’t too bad. A lot of the terrain we covered had the same crops and rolling countryside as Germany before it – I was beginning to get keen to reach some proper hills.
Distance cycled: 250km
Flaginess levels: Moderate
Public toilets: Plentiful
Wifi availability: Good
Groceries: Expensive (but it does have Netto, Lidl and Aldi)
2 replies on “cycling: denmark (27 – 30 July 2009)”
i’ve never seen camping shelter like that. curious and interesting. (i must admit, i’m more of a city getaway girl so i’m clueless re camping facilities… shame on me /blush)
I’d never seen something like it before either – usually there’s nothing, or there’s a fully enclosed hut with a stove and things, so I thought it was pretty neat. Even neater when we stumbled on a ‘How to build log cabins’ book when staying with people in Sweden and it had instructions on how to make a thing like this!