It's hard to believe that we've already arrived in the last country on our tour - Denmark. It almost feels like home! The weather is also slowly becoming noticeably harsher, but that doesn't put us in a bad mood!
Saturday 30.09.
On Saturday morning we spent ages chatting to David and his girlfriend! With some people it is really hard to say good bye! But in this case it's not so bad, because we're pretty sure we'll see David again :)
All in all, we managed to close the door behind us at around 11:00. We even left the house after our hosts, who had already set off on their little outdoor adventure!
For us, the first thing was to get out of the city! It wasn't that difficult, because the cycle paths in the city are really pleasant! A little outside, less protected by the urban buildings, we got a taste of Denmark: headwinds. For a reason, the Skane region was once part of Denmark! (A very sensitive topic for the Danes....)
So we drove towards the coast and from Karlskrona directly along the sea. At some point you could already see Denmark on the other side. Practically just a long stone's throw away. However, as we couldn't throw ourselves and the bikes across, we headed for the ferry from Helsingborg to Helsingør. As it leaves every half hour, there was absolutely no stress and so we cycled onto the small ferry together with the others. Somehow I got a strange feeling in my stomach. On the one hand, it must have been the different means of transport. We had taken the last ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki, where our "northern tour" began. Did this part of the tour now end with the ferry to Denmark? We then entered the last country on our tour. Somehow it was also very refreshing, as I had felt a bit of pressure in Lund regarding our medium-term future. In Denmark, there were new adventures to discover :) The ferry ride went super fast and before we knew it, we were already inside the harbor walls in Helsingør. So this is Denmark....
We drove along the water and headed for one of the free shelters in Denmark. In the middle of a green recreation area between the city and the water. The drive there was very pleasant and we arrived at the shelter completely relaxed, made ourselves something warm to eat and went into our cozy sleeping bags early.
Sunday 01.10.
A very relaxed first night in Denmark was followed by a very relaxed morning. It was only when we were taking down the tent that the silence was interrupted by a motivated dog watching out for its jogging owners. But we took it all in our stride and when the dog realized that we posed no danger, everything was alright again.
Away from the green forest, we found ourselves back along the coast. They had done the right thing here and kept the main road to Copenhagen away from the coast. There's nothing better than noisy cars in the idyllic setting of the beach...
In a small village, we came across more and more people in bathrobes. My first thought was: if I've reached this stage in my life where I don't care about walking through the streets in a bathrobe, then I must have a very fullfilled life!
As we drove further along the coast, we stopped at a small bench very close to the beach, where the mystery of bathrobe fashion was solved. Apparently, it is traditional to jump into the cold Baltic Sea every Sunday morning (or maybe just every day). Of course, you only go back in a bathrobe. The serene atmosphere that this created also affected us and although the route to Copenhagen led along a stressful, noisy road and a very hilly(!) railroad line, we kept our peace and quiet of the morning.
Arriving in Copenhagen, we suddenly and unintentionally found ourselves in front of the statue of the Little Mermaid in the harbor. Not surprisingly with more tourists than we had seen in March when we picked up Glados, the cargo bike. As we still had a little time to catch up with Marcus, we sat down on the grass and started munching on chocolate. There are some habits we'll never get rid of. We were suddenly approached by an elderly lady. An American woman who works at the university in Lulea and is at the end of a whole trip from conference to conference and is now staying with a friend via Couchsurfing. She probably also frequently hosts cyclists and long-distance travelers in the far north via this platform and was therefore interested in our story. The two ladies were extremely cute and we really enjoyed chatting with them. As they continued their walk through the city, it wasn't long before we were approached again. A German who had just moved to Copenhagen to start his master's degree in quantum technologies. And is also a long-distance cyclist himself. What a coincidence! All you have to do is sit down at the Little Mermaid with a bar of chocolate and you get to know half the world!
We then spent the evening with Marcus. We had already met him in March at the Planetarium in Copenhagen and he was very enthusiastic about our story and we were very enthusiastic about his, so one and one came together and we spent a wonderful evening with his girlfriend and her Italian school friends. It doesn't get much more international than that!
Monday 02.10.
Of course, we didn't miss out on a little breakfast with Marcus before he went out to work. Afterwards, we had to fight our way through the morning traffic to get out of the city. Probably no city is more pleasant than Copenhagen! Safe, wide cycle paths and good signage. A little past Copenhagen, unfortunately, that stopped and we found ourselves next to an absurdly noisy road that ran right along the sea. Not kidding... why do cars have to drive on a highway only 20 meters from the sea? It makes this beautiful stretch of coast unusable and gave us both a severe headache. It's a shame how priorities are sometimes set!
After far too long along the road, we left it and drove along roads less traveled and headed for one of the registered shelters. Near"Stevens Klint". It looked a bit like a large mining pit. The advantage was that no cars were allowed on the site and we even had two shelters to ourselves. Our shelter was even decorated with a small string of flower lights! A good compensation for the somewhat stressful day today!
Tuesday 03.10.
We spent a very pleasant night in the shelter and it was really good to wake up in the morning with the sea air in our noses. We had organized a place to sleep for tonight through Warmshowers.
When we left the sheltered pit, a strong headwind awaited us! As we ate our breakfast yoghurt on the coast, we decided to take the slightly shorter route to our WS. We also realized that it was even partly the same route we had already taken in March. No snow this time, but the intensity of the wind had hardly changed!
When we arrived at our WS, we were greeted enthusiastically by his still very young dog. We were allowed to set up our tent in the garden for the night and after a shower we had the most delicious potato gratin ever! Together with our WS, we admired all the works of art in his house (and there were many) and lost ourselves in his stories of cycling in Africa and South America. Some people are just a bit crazy!
Wednesday 04.10.
After a windy night in the tent, our host was waiting for us with a sumptuous breakfast and coffee. Fortunately, we had already extensively tested our tent in the north of Norway, so we were sure that it would also withstand the Danish winds. Confidence is everything!
We set off early after breakfast. After all, we still had a few kilometers to go today. In Denmark, there is no "every man's right", which makes spontaneous camping a little more difficult. The density of the shelters indicated to us was not exactly promising for today's route either, so we had a few more kilometers on our daily schedule.
And as is the case with "Murphy's Law": when you don't need it, you have it the most: headwinds! Although that was clear to us from the start, as we were forced to cycle in the "wrong" direction in Denmark. So if there's wind, it's a headwind.
We were also familiar with the never-ending bridge to Falster. Just under 3km with a crosswind. Luckily we were separated from the cars by a plank! Otherwise it could have gone wrong! You cycle and cycle and cycle and the end doesn't seem to be getting any closer. There were also some signs on the side, which partially blocked the wind, but also ensured that the wind hit you hard again afterwards... Of course, a continuous windbreak would have been nicer, but you can't have everything. We then took a break behind another, much smaller bridge (less than 300 m long) with a view of the windless bay that had formed. Denmark can be very relaxing away from the roads!
Even the sun made an appearance for a few moments!
Until Maribo, the route was mostly along the road. But after that it was a paradise for cyclists. From Maribo to Rodby there was an embankment that was a little more sheltered from the wind than the surrounding area due to trees and bushes to the right and left. There we also found a bunch of apples, mirabelle plums and even two cyclists from Germany who were heading in the opposite direction.
From Rodby, we followed the coast along the dyke. At least that was the plan. However, the headwind, the rather unpaved side of the dyke and sea water in our faces made us reconsider this decision.
In between, we met a wheelchair user with his dog, who warned us of an approaching thunderstorm and even gave us a tip on where we could seek shelter. And we arrived at this spot not a second too soon! The rain lashed against the tarpaulin of the village barbecue area and we were glad to have had such a nice encounter again! At some point even the heaviest rain comes to an end and after a good hour we were able to continue on our way. Not along the dyke but a little more inland. The sun was leaning towards the horizon and behind us we could already see the dark clouds of the next rain shower approaching. We reached our chosen shelter in the dark, which was once again located in a green area on the outskirts of the city. A few more spiders than usual decorated the inside of the shelter. Maybe there's extra protein at night? We prepared a small hot meal for dinner before we went to bed full of spiders.
Thursday 05.10.
The following morning we spent a long time in the shelter talking about our plans for the future. It never seems to get boring with us!
In Nakskov we got breakfast at Lidl and then rushed towards Sandby to catch the ferry to Langeland. Since we trusted the times given by our WS host, we pedaled hard only to see the ferry halfway across the water from afar... Seems like we should have researched the departure times ourselves. So we waited in the waiting room for about 45 minutes for the next ferry. We were joined in the queue by a couple of older cyclists with whom we got on immediately and continued chatting in the restaurant on the ferry.
On the other side, on Langeland, we lost sight of each other as we left the harbor, only to find each other again later. We crossed Langeland together and took the bridge to Tasinge, where we parted ways again. We took another short break after the bridge before continuing along Eurovelo 10. We passed "Valdemars Slott" - a castle that I visited with my family years ago. Some things seem to stay with you even after years. The weather was much worse back then and the café where we hoped to get a hot drink was unfortunately closed.
After Svendborg, we were already on the next island: Fyr. Apparently today was the "day of the islands". We drove along the southern coast of Fyr and didn't regret it for a second, despite the occasional headwind! We zigzagged directly onto the coast from time to time and otherwise drove through small, cute villages with old houses that were still well maintained. We reached our destination for the day before dark. A shelter right on the beach! What a dream! It's simply magical when you can watch the world around you get darker and darker and you can see the twinkling lights of the harbor opposite.
Friday 06.10.
I woke up several times during the night and had to push Tilman away from me because I was absurdly warm. Strange considering the rather cool temperatures outside. But you can see what a difference wood can make. The shelter was open on one side, but it was quite narrow and there wasn't much room at the top. This probably kept a lot of the heat in and our sleeping bags were of course super warm too.
Before leaving our shelter, Tilman bravely sacrificed himself to get some sand out of the waves for our collection.
When we finally left the small wooded area behind us, we realized how sheltered our sleeping place was! Rain and a really strong headwind accompanied us all the way to Faaborg, where we sought shelter in the harbor shelter. Neither of us really felt like cycling in this weather and so we wrote to the nearest WS. Two guys who lived in a big house in the countryside. They responded positively quite quickly. Of course, this news increased our motivation to continue our journey. When you have a warm shower and a dry bed in the evening, the world looks completely different!
In our little hideaway at the harbor, we chatted with the cleaning lady until we finally said goodbye to her.
Braving the wind and rain, we cycled along the truly breathtaking south coast of Fyr - probably the most beautiful part of Denmark! On the way, we also met a hiker who is planning a long-term bike tour through Europe and the world with his partner. Nice encounters to have along the way!
Shortly before our destination today it happened again: a flat tire. From behind, I could already see how Tilman's tire seemed to be losing more and more air. The culprit was quickly found: A shard of glass. Luckily it wasn't raining so we were able to change the tube quickly and easily. It will be patched tonight!
We arrived at their huge property a little earlier than our hosts, where we were greeted by an impetuous but very well behaved dog.
Emil soon came home and we spent a wonderful evening with him and found out that they were more than met the eye!
Just a few months ago, they were the first to cross the Greenland ice sheet by bike. Despite many obstacles, they made it safely to the other end and we couldn't get enough of hearing about all the adventures they had together on their previous trip around the world! Just awesome. There's not much more to say about it. And yet, or perhaps because of this, the two of them made a totally "grounded" impression on us. They were open to other stories and didn't brag about all the crazy adventures they had already survived, but told us about them as if they were talking about the last weekend. Crazy, crazy, crazy! My dreams at night were lined with ice crevasses, tropical forests and the other adventures of Emil and his buddy Niklas.