Wienerbrød Days - a Danish Cycling Holiday - 1995
David cycled across Denmark from Esbjerg on Jylland
to København in August and September 1995. A detailed account of this trip is
below.
(Maps of our route in Denmark can be viewed by
clicking on the links throughout the article.)
I left the ferry from England at Esbjerg and turned south
towards Ribe
on National Cycle Route One. It soon became clear that cycling in Denmark was going
to be a vastly different
experience from cycling in Australia. I had a 3
metre wide cycle lane almost to myself. I was making good time thanks to the
slight tail wind when I saw the massive road works in front of me. All the motor
vehicles were being diverted to a parallel road a couple of kilometres to the west.
Just when I was thinking that I wasn't going to need all those detailed road maps
I was carrying, I was being forced to detour off the signposted route. When I got
closer to the road works, I noticed small signs
directing cyclists onto their own special detour - a paved, temporary cycle path
had been built through the middle of the road works. A kilometre later I was back on the main route.
Denmark is crossed by dozens of signposted cycle touring routes - ten
national long distance routes, over 80 provincial routes and numerous local
routes. The national and provincial routes are well signposted with route
indicators at nearly every intersection and turning. Some routes are historic,
following old military highways or the route taken by one of the early kings on
a tour through the kingdom. In the cities they follow cycle paths and lanes
while in the country, they are all on quiet country roads. On my second day, my
route was taking me onto smaller and smaller country roads. There were a group
of farm buildings in front of me and I cycled through the middle of the farm
buildings. On the other side, the bitumen road continued but soon became a
gravel track. This was part of Haraldsvejen, King Harald's Way. Then the track became two wheel tracks with grass growing in the
middle and a little further it became a delightful single track through a cool, tranquil beech
forest. I was beginning to wonder where I was heading but the route markers kept
on appearing. Some of the routes detour to scenic viewpoints and major archaeological sites.
They are not the fastest routes through Denmark but they are very pleasant. The
Danish Cycling Federation publishes an up to date
map of the cycle routes and a guide book (in Danish) is also available.
Part
of the Haraldsvejen, one of many small roads on the signposted cycle
routes
I haven't camped in Denmark and have only stayed in youth hostels. There are over 100 youth hostels spread across the country and
wherever you are, you are within a day's cycling of a hostel. They offer very good value accommodation. The full Danish
breakfast is exceptional value at most hostels and is more than enough to
satisfy a hungry touring cyclist. Bookings are essential during the Danish
summer holidays from mid June through July. It is also important to make a
reservation after the end
of August when a number of hostels close. Others are only open for reserved
guests and often have large school parties staying. The hostels in København
are very busy at all times of the year.
My route took me
to Ribe, an important trading centre in the late Viking period around the
twelfth century. In the early 1890's, the local council realised that they had
one of the best preserved old towns in Denmark under their care and introduced
preservation orders covering virtually the whole town. This must have been one
of the first actions of its kind in the world and has resulted in Ribe becoming
one of the most popular tourist destinations in Denmark after Legoland and the
Little Mermaid. There is street after street of old houses many of which date
back to the early 1600's, all set on narrow cobble stone lanes. It is a
delightful place but there were an awful lot of tourists wandering around.
Old houses in Ribe
Warning: Danish motorists are so courteous that Australians may
initially feel intimidated!
(Map from
Esbjerg to Kolding)
From Ribe I headed across the Jylland peninsula through Gram and
Jels to the major town of Kolding. It was a hot ride, a distance of approximately 93 kilometres,
riding in temperatures in the mid 30's. Denmark and most of Europe were
experiencing one of the hottest and driest summers on record. I arrived in mid
August and had ten days straight of temperatures in the mid to high 30's. So
much for the joys of cycling in a cool temperate climate. I was cycling into
Gram on a cycle lane when I thought I should have a good look at my map for the
route ahead. I stopped a few metres before an intersection and was busy peering
at the map when I became aware of a number of cars stopped beside me with their
indicators flashing. Six cars were patiently waiting for me to proceed so that
they could give way to me at the intersection. I made certain that in future I
stopped well away from intersections when I wanted to check my map. Danish
motorists are extremely courteous towards cyclists. They do have a legal
obligation to give way to cyclists and pedestrians at intersections, but it is
much more deeply ingrained than that. It is something that is taught to every
Dane from an early age.
Jels was my first bakery stop in Denmark. Most larger towns have
a bakery and all supermarkets including the small Dagli Brugsen village shops
sell pastries and a wide range of excellent breads. Danish pastries are some of
the best in the world and are very addictive. It is sufficient to say that
Wienerbrød, literally Viennese bread, 'the' Danish pastry, bears very little
resemblance to what is sold as Danish pastry in Australia. After trying the real
thing, you won't buy the pretend version again.
Warning: Danish pastries are among the best in the world and
may be habit forming.
(Map from Kolding to Fåborg)
After leaving Kolding I cycled across the bridge joining Jylland
to the island of Fyn.
My route took me along the west and southern coast of Fyn
and followed as close to the water as possible. I caught up to a couple of
Australian cyclists along here. We had been on the same ferry from England and
had caught glimpses of each other during the previous two days as we followed
slightly different routes. We cycled together down smaller and smaller roads.
The route became sandy farm tracks and we wondered why the signposted route came
this way when there was a small bitumen road half a kilometre north. The track
became rougher and two of us, riding too fast for the conditions, hit a hole
filled with loose sand. I ended up in the fields and the other ended up in the
bushes. We turned a corner and the reason for the detour was now clear. We had a
glorious view along the deserted beaches to a wooded peninsula and several
nearby islands.
Our routes divided at Assens. They were in a hurry to reach
their friend's place north of København and still had a long way to go. I
continued along the coast towards Fåborg before heading inland climbing steeply
up and down through the undulating country. Most hills in Denmark are not very
long and the roads just go straight up. It was a case of a steep climb up, fast
descent, start another steep climb and repeat. Some of the hills were
surprisingly steep. I arrived in the old port of Fåborg just in time to catch
the ferry to Søby on the island of Ærø.
(Map
from Fåborg to Svendborg)
I had visited Ærø several years previously so I knew what a
pretty place it was. This trip I was going to cycle the length of the island.
Denmark has lots of windmills. Modern high tech wind powered electricity
generators dot the landscape, their large blades slowly whooshing in the wind.
In older, more isolated areas like Ærø, there are also numerous old wind
powered flour mills. One or two are still in use but most are just tourist show
pieces. All these windmills indicate just thing for the cyclist: Denmark must be
a windy place. It usually is but not this time. It was so hot and sticky that
any cooling breeze, even a head wind, would have been very welcome. All the wind
generators were still and silent. I stopped for lunch in Ærøskøbing which is
one of the most attractive towns I have visited in Denmark. The very pretty
harbour is surrounded by lots of old houses and shops. It has a lovely
atmosphere and like most attractive places in Europe, it gets its fair share of
tourists. This day it was full of Americans on a package tour and Germans who
had brought their bicycles over on the ferry from Kiel for a day out.
Old
houses inÆrøskøbing
From Marstal on the eastern end of Ærø, I took the ferry to
Rudkøbing on the island of Langeland where I stayed in the attractive youth
hostel on the outskirts of the town. I had passed three other hostels that day
before reaching Rudkøbing.
The next day as I cycled north of Rudkøbing, I stopped to have
a close up look at a Dolmen, a stone age burial chamber. Wherever you go in
Denmark you can see large mounds in the middle of the fields. In some cases the
soil covering the mound has washed away over the years exposing the large
granite stones of the dolmen. Denmark has no naturally occurring granite and has
very little stone of any kind which is suitable for building. So rare is a stone
building that its presence is advertised in the road name such as "Steenhusvej"
(Stonehouse Way). The boulders used in the building of the dolmen had to be
brought from the Jylland peninsula where they had been deposited by glaciers
during the last ice age. As there are over 23,000 burial mounds and dolmen in
Denmark - more than other European country - this must have been a tremendous
undertaking.
From Langeland I cycled over the bridge to the small island of
Tåsinge. In the church yard of the tiny village of Landet, Elvira Madigan, a
circus performer and her Swedish royal lover were buried after committing
suicide. Newly weds still visit the graves to place flowers on the headstones of
these ill-fated lovers.
Svendborg on Fyn was only a short ride away and I was soon
visiting a friend for a couple of days rest away from the bike. I like the south
of Fyn and its neighbouring islands. It is very typically the tourist image of
Denmark; pretty villages set in rolling countryside; sailing boats dotting the
calm, blue sea and fairy tale castles set among the forests. Egeskov, a very
pretty pink sandstone castle surrounded by a large moat is only about 20
kilometres from Svendborg and is a most attractive place to visit.
The
fairy tale castle at Egeskov
(Map
from Svendborg to Ringsted)
After leaving Svendborg, I zig-zagged on quiet lanes
trying to keep as close to the coast as possible. When I reached Nyborg, I
caught the ferry to Korsør on Sjælland. Like all my ferry trips so far the
seas was as calm as calm can be. In the distance, I could see the partly
completed bridge, one of the longest in Europe which would replace the ferries
in a couple of years.
In Korsør I joined National Cycling Route 6 and cycled through
quiet countryside to the Viking fortress at Trelleborg. At one time there were
barracks here for several thousand Viking warriors who were preparing for an
attack on England. After Slagelse, I left the cycle route and rode on the wide
bicycle lane which followed the main road to Ringsted. This was the hottest day
of the trip and finding water to fill my drink bottles was a problem. On the
quiet back roads there weren't any service stations and when I did come across
one there wasn't a toilet or tap to be found. There are no taps or drinking
fountains in the parks. It is normally not hot enough to warrant such things.
Soft drinks are expensive and a 330ml bottle costs more than a litre of milk in
a supermarket. By the time I reached the hostel in Ringsted I had cycled 97km.
(Map
from Ringsted to Roskilde, København, Køge and Kalundborg)
The road to Roskilde wound its way through cool, leafy forests,
skirted blue lakes and passed grand manor houses. Near Lejre, the cycle route
passed through a Viking burial ground. When a Viking chief died, he was laid in
his ship, surrounded by his armour, weapons and goods. A female slave was chosen
to accompany him on his journey to the after world. After she had been pack
raped by the visiting chiefs she was killed and everything was burned. Over
time, it was decided that burning the ship was a waste of a perfectly good and
expensive boat, so they started marking the outline of a ship with stones and
created a funeral pyre inside the stones. No doubt they continued to rape and
kill a female slave. These stone ship burial sites remain in a number of sites
throughout Denmark.
Roskilde was the capital of Denmark before København and the
Danish royal family continue to be buried in elaborate splendour in the
magnificent twin steeple cathedral which dominates the centre of the city. Down
on the waterfront is the excellent Viking ship museum which houses the remains
of a number of Viking ships which had been sunk in an attempt to block the
entrance to Roskilde Fjord during a war. Usually there are a number of replica
Viking ships moored near the museum.
A
wedding party travelling by bicycle in Roskilde
I rode the forty kilometres into København for a few days.
Forty kilometres into the largest city in Denmark with bike paths and lanes the
whole way. Nearly every major street in København has wide cycle lanes which at
peak hours are packed with speeding cyclists. It is a pleasant city, a delight
to visit, numerous canals, lovely parks, beautiful palaces and expensive shops.
Støget, the main city shopping precinct, claims to be the longest pedestrian
mall in Europe. Most of the top Danish brand names such as Georg Jensen, Royal
Copenhagen, etc as well as the leading European designer boutiques have shops
here as well as the ubiquitous and ever-present Macdonalds. It is a pleasant
walk from the shops to the peaceful restaurant area around Nyhavn and then along
the waterfront to the Little Mermaid. I found it disappointing looking down at
the tiny bronze statue of the famous Hans Christian Andersen character
surrounded by what looked like thousands of tourists all trying unsuccessfully
to photograph the statue without a background of cranes and rusty ships at the
nearby shipyards.
The
picturesque Nyhavn in København
(Map
from Kalundborg to Silkeborg)
The hot weather had disappeared while I was at Roskilde and by
the time I set off to cycle back across Denmark in mid September, the maximum
was down to around 16 degrees and dropping about half a degree a day. That day
was the only wet day of my trip and I had a strong tail wind to blow me the 65km
to Kalundborg to catch the ferry to the small island of Samsø. There was a
strong wind blowing when I arrived. It was only six kilometres across the island
to the hostel at Ballen but the battle against the headwind made it seem much
longer. I was blown off the road twice by sudden wind gusts.
Samsø is a very pretty small island with numerous picturesque
villages full of attractive, thatch-roofed houses. It was a delightful place to
spend a couple of days and it was easy to see why it was so popular with Germans
as a place to own a holiday house. The main tourist season was over and
virtually all the hotels, restaurants and camping grounds had closed for the
year. The youth hostel remained open but it had been necessary to make a
reservation as hostels are often fully booked with school excursions at this
time of year.
Warning: Denmark is definitely not flat.
From Samsø I caught the ferry to the Jylland peninsula and made
my way to Silkeborg. Some parts of Denmark are really very flat but much of it
is undulating country and there are some short, steep pinches on many of the
roads. But the countryside around Silkeborg is the area to prove that Denmark is
not a flat country. It is the lake district of Denmark and contains its highest
mountain, Himmelbjerget, the Mountain of Heaven, which is only 145 metres above
sea level. Despite this low height, there are lots of steep long climbs through
the forests and around the lakes. The region is decidedly hilly and very
picturesque. The large forests surrounding the lakes have numerous trails open
only to walkers and cyclists and would be an attractive place for a mountain
biking holiday.
Silkeborg is a modern town having been founded to support a
paper mill in the 1860's. Its major claim to fame other than the lakes and
forests is the Silkeborg man. The mummified body of a 2000 year old man was dug
out of a peat bog near here. He had been garrotted before being thrown into the
bog and the remains of the cord used can still be seen around his neck.
(Map
from Silkeborg to Billund)
From Silkeborg I headed through the forests towards Billund. Billund was just another little farming village until they started making Lego
there. Today there are large hotels, numerous restaurants and an international
airport serving the crowds who flock here each year to visit Legoland. For me,
Billund was a convenient place to spend the night in the large and very
luxurious youth hostel. Unless you wanted to visit Legoland, there is very
little of interest in the town. So completely is the town dominated and
controlled by the Lego company, that it is impossible to buy postcards unless
you first pay the high entrance fee to visit Legoland. I am one of the few
people to visit Billund was didn't visit this theme park.
(Map from Billund to Esbjerg)
After a very quiet easy ride, I was back in Esbjerg with plenty
of time to spare before catching the ferry. Five kilometres from town, I had my
only puncture of the 1,300km trip.
