Cycling in Denmark, land of burgers and bread
Jul 19th, 2015, 08:22 AM
#21
Day 7 to Svendborg
Next morning I carry the locked bike to the nearest bike shop (20 minutes walk) and they cut the thing off for DKK250. We pop over to the station and take a regional train south to Ringe (which is half way to Svendborg). Near Ringe is a castle (Egeskov Slot) which has been developed into a major attraction. We enter by the tradesman entrance (what else are bikes for) and see a fair bit until we see the price of entry. Great big castle, on a lake with modern formal gardens. There must be oooh 8 cars in the car park http://www.egeskov.dk/en
We head further south into the farmed hills until we find Svendborg finding only one place for food along the way, we are staying down on the marina docks at the hotel Garni and have to overcome lots of automated electronics to access a un-manned hotel. The place has loads of services so we get all our clothes washed and dry
Supper fish and chips on the docks makes for a good day though the Mrs stays silent on the matter. Svendborg has two main shopping streets (pedestrianised and seems pretty busy in the warming evening air. The Rough Guide sees this as one of the nicer places to holiday in Denmark and I can imagine renting a villa here for a few weeks.
Next morning I carry the locked bike to the nearest bike shop (20 minutes walk) and they cut the thing off for DKK250. We pop over to the station and take a regional train south to Ringe (which is half way to Svendborg). Near Ringe is a castle (Egeskov Slot) which has been developed into a major attraction. We enter by the tradesman entrance (what else are bikes for) and see a fair bit until we see the price of entry. Great big castle, on a lake with modern formal gardens. There must be oooh 8 cars in the car park http://www.egeskov.dk/en
We head further south into the farmed hills until we find Svendborg finding only one place for food along the way, we are staying down on the marina docks at the hotel Garni and have to overcome lots of automated electronics to access a un-manned hotel. The place has loads of services so we get all our clothes washed and dry
Supper fish and chips on the docks makes for a good day though the Mrs stays silent on the matter. Svendborg has two main shopping streets (pedestrianised and seems pretty busy in the warming evening air. The Rough Guide sees this as one of the nicer places to holiday in Denmark and I can imagine renting a villa here for a few weeks.
Jul 19th, 2015, 08:33 AM
#22
Day 8
Finally we get the first of a series of warm days, pick up the makings of breakfast from a 7/11 and head further south to the next island, but Mrs Bilbo is struggling with a chest infection so there is a limit on how far she can ride.
With no wind, sun and a flat surface we make it over a bridge to the island of Tasinge. The national route follows a lot of the coast here and this makes for a lovely ride, the wind is light and the sea calm, many sea captains make their homes here and it really looks idilic. The bike path actually passes through the grounds of one castle Valdemars Slot http://valdemarsslot.dk/ the website does not do it justice, the path goes right in front of the great house, the sea on the other side. Finally another bridge and we get to Rudkoping where we find a very clean little hotel http://www.skanhotel.dk/Hotel_Skandinavien/Start_E.html .
The hotelier is so worried about DW's health that he forces local honey down her. Rudkoping seems to me made up of one long commercial street and yet more marinas. So lots of place to eat. Very few people about again.
While DW rests the afternoon away I grab some lunch at the supermarket and visit the local cemetery. The Danish church maintains some very pretty cemeteries and this is a good one, along with all the usual Danes, I find three Russians, names unknown, who washed up on the shore in 1943, if they could stand up they would have a great view of the harbour and easily the best position in the whole place. I'll leave the story of how the Danes spirited their Jews out of the country to Sweden during the occupation and also the “Churchill Club” to wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish...tance_movement
Later, well 7:30, a good Kurdish restaurant makes us welcome.
Finally we get the first of a series of warm days, pick up the makings of breakfast from a 7/11 and head further south to the next island, but Mrs Bilbo is struggling with a chest infection so there is a limit on how far she can ride.
With no wind, sun and a flat surface we make it over a bridge to the island of Tasinge. The national route follows a lot of the coast here and this makes for a lovely ride, the wind is light and the sea calm, many sea captains make their homes here and it really looks idilic. The bike path actually passes through the grounds of one castle Valdemars Slot http://valdemarsslot.dk/ the website does not do it justice, the path goes right in front of the great house, the sea on the other side. Finally another bridge and we get to Rudkoping where we find a very clean little hotel http://www.skanhotel.dk/Hotel_Skandinavien/Start_E.html .
The hotelier is so worried about DW's health that he forces local honey down her. Rudkoping seems to me made up of one long commercial street and yet more marinas. So lots of place to eat. Very few people about again.
While DW rests the afternoon away I grab some lunch at the supermarket and visit the local cemetery. The Danish church maintains some very pretty cemeteries and this is a good one, along with all the usual Danes, I find three Russians, names unknown, who washed up on the shore in 1943, if they could stand up they would have a great view of the harbour and easily the best position in the whole place. I'll leave the story of how the Danes spirited their Jews out of the country to Sweden during the occupation and also the “Churchill Club” to wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish...tance_movement
Later, well 7:30, a good Kurdish restaurant makes us welcome.
Jul 19th, 2015, 08:37 AM
#23
A day off
Day 9 Langelande
Despite her chest Mrs Bilbo is up for a ride out so we head north up Langelande island to Tranekaer Slot http://tranekaergods.dk/uk/ , a lovely park with scattered “art”, ponds, castle etc. Temperatures are up in the 24C with no wind (it all helps Mrs B's chest) and supper in Rudkoping. Langelande is very pretty, and another of the places Danes come for their summer holiday but even on this day the place is very quiet.
We are now into the first week of July, when most Danes take their holiday. I can only assume they are at a rock concert or sunning themselves in Majorca, because they are not in the Slot, we see 7 people in the grounds over 2 hours and spot another 8 in a tea room by the castle grounds, but that is it. Maybe they are at the beach.
Day 9 Langelande
Despite her chest Mrs Bilbo is up for a ride out so we head north up Langelande island to Tranekaer Slot http://tranekaergods.dk/uk/ , a lovely park with scattered “art”, ponds, castle etc. Temperatures are up in the 24C with no wind (it all helps Mrs B's chest) and supper in Rudkoping. Langelande is very pretty, and another of the places Danes come for their summer holiday but even on this day the place is very quiet.
We are now into the first week of July, when most Danes take their holiday. I can only assume they are at a rock concert or sunning themselves in Majorca, because they are not in the Slot, we see 7 people in the grounds over 2 hours and spot another 8 in a tea room by the castle grounds, but that is it. Maybe they are at the beach.
Jul 20th, 2015, 09:18 AM
#26
Day 10 Mrs B is much better so we cross (going east) the island (well actually the very nice hotel owner chases after us as he thinks we have his hotel key and finds on the other side, but apart from that all was well) and link up with a ferry for the 45 minute crossing to Lolland Island. It is an efficient crossing, the whole service is designed to operate with as few people as possible, during the crossing the wind has moved round to come from the East so another slow day pumping into the winds. Still very few places to eat/snack so we grab what we can and arrive in Bandholm at about 6pm.
Amazingly we are in 4star luxury in an old hotel on the water front. Food is yet another a buffet so we stock up on those Carbs.
Day 11 In the morning we dodge the small railway museum we leave the posh hotel and head out into 24C heat and no wind to cross north to Falster, this includes yet another long bridge, some lovely old churches and I doubt we see more than 10 humans all day. We end up in a Motel http://www.hojmolle-kro.dk/velcome.html we booked that morning and were amazed by supper which is very classy (especially for a Motel) at Eskilstrup.
Amazingly we are in 4star luxury in an old hotel on the water front. Food is yet another a buffet so we stock up on those Carbs.
Day 11 In the morning we dodge the small railway museum we leave the posh hotel and head out into 24C heat and no wind to cross north to Falster, this includes yet another long bridge, some lovely old churches and I doubt we see more than 10 humans all day. We end up in a Motel http://www.hojmolle-kro.dk/velcome.html we booked that morning and were amazed by supper which is very classy (especially for a Motel) at Eskilstrup.
Jul 20th, 2015, 09:27 AM
#27
Day 12 Due to it being the weekend and it being the early part of Danish holidays, hotels are filling up so we struggle to find anywhere to stay in the direction we originally planned and finally find a B&B in Vester Egesborg on Zeeland west coast. Along the way yet another bridge with flat water below, no wind, 24C and all the seabirds had given up flying to just sit out the calm.
We visit a small fort from the 1850s (so I guess against the Prussians) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Schleswig_War and find the B&B on a back street in VE. If we did not know it was here we would never have found it. Everything in this country is relatively shy, no signs, no advertising. The village is at the head of a small fjord and as such has a bunch of tumuli and has been inhabited for at least 1000 years. Or as we say “they shot the horse” (so not even a one horse town).
Day 13 We need to get back to Copenhagen to catch the flight so we have to cheat with a train. We cycle into Naestved http://www.visitnaestved.com/ln-int/...rist-startpage which proves a bit of a revelation, the various town museums were excellent (and empty), some old wooden statues of monks had been remade in bronze and litter the town, while the main church was impressive (if closed for restoration).
After a good look around we grab a sandwich and catch the local train to Koge on the east coast then try to find the local Dan Hostel, luckily a nice Estate Agent came out onto the road with his iPad to put us on the right track and the hostel, though a little out of town hits the bill.
The town centre was traditional and we cycle around in the sunshine, past tourist info (closed) where the Poles are skyping their loved ones on the spill over from the Wifi and past a number of restaurants and we ended up at a weird butchers (Slagster Stig & Co) http://www.brasseriebassin.dk/brasserie.php offering supper using electronic billing (and a small chip to record what we took), African animal meat and pull your own beer/wine for a very odd meal indeed. I'd like to say I was impressed but honestly the technology beat the customer.
Home to bed via a Turkish smoking den for cheese cake and coffee. During the night Europe was hit by one of its greatest electrical storms with sheets of water coming down, the Bilbos heard none of it.
We visit a small fort from the 1850s (so I guess against the Prussians) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Schleswig_War and find the B&B on a back street in VE. If we did not know it was here we would never have found it. Everything in this country is relatively shy, no signs, no advertising. The village is at the head of a small fjord and as such has a bunch of tumuli and has been inhabited for at least 1000 years. Or as we say “they shot the horse” (so not even a one horse town).
Day 13 We need to get back to Copenhagen to catch the flight so we have to cheat with a train. We cycle into Naestved http://www.visitnaestved.com/ln-int/...rist-startpage which proves a bit of a revelation, the various town museums were excellent (and empty), some old wooden statues of monks had been remade in bronze and litter the town, while the main church was impressive (if closed for restoration).
After a good look around we grab a sandwich and catch the local train to Koge on the east coast then try to find the local Dan Hostel, luckily a nice Estate Agent came out onto the road with his iPad to put us on the right track and the hostel, though a little out of town hits the bill.
The town centre was traditional and we cycle around in the sunshine, past tourist info (closed) where the Poles are skyping their loved ones on the spill over from the Wifi and past a number of restaurants and we ended up at a weird butchers (Slagster Stig & Co) http://www.brasseriebassin.dk/brasserie.php offering supper using electronic billing (and a small chip to record what we took), African animal meat and pull your own beer/wine for a very odd meal indeed. I'd like to say I was impressed but honestly the technology beat the customer.
Home to bed via a Turkish smoking den for cheese cake and coffee. During the night Europe was hit by one of its greatest electrical storms with sheets of water coming down, the Bilbos heard none of it.
Jul 20th, 2015, 09:32 AM
#28
Day 14 Next morning we had to get back to Copenhagen and realised the strong wind would be at our back all day. Weeeeee. Ignoring the national bike routes which showed 68km of path we cycled the 38km along the main road (on bike paths) easily and stopped off at just the odd 1850s fort/bakery until we could check in to our Wakeup hotel in Copenhagen, check-in proved yet another struggle but finally, after solving a bunch of problems that management should have fixed it was Ok.
We dropped off the bikes and only got hit by a DKK200 charge (£20) for the lock which was a nice surprise and after hunting for restaurants with menus in the windows (this whole not advertising thing seems to include having no menus exposed) that we wanted to eat we got a good curry in town. This Wakeup Carsten hotel was probably the worst deal of the trip, understaffed, poorest breakfast and badly organised in the least attractive part of the centre of town (avoid).
We dropped off the bikes and only got hit by a DKK200 charge (£20) for the lock which was a nice surprise and after hunting for restaurants with menus in the windows (this whole not advertising thing seems to include having no menus exposed) that we wanted to eat we got a good curry in town. This Wakeup Carsten hotel was probably the worst deal of the trip, understaffed, poorest breakfast and badly organised in the least attractive part of the centre of town (avoid).
Jul 20th, 2015, 10:07 AM
#29
Finally, next day we queued for 30 minutes at the auto-machines to buy local ticket to catch the train to the airport, marched for miles through the airport to be herded into a tiny space by over officious Easy Jet Danes, once boarded we realised they had not noticed the child covered with bright red-spots who then had to be unloaded along with mother etc. So dodged shingles again...
Conclusions
Denmark is relatively empty of people, the roads are relatively of cars and the thousands of miles of bike paths are wide and easy to navigate, major attractions are under promoted and under visited, though expensive to visit. July is festival time and you could spend the month just rocking.
The people are very friendly and speak excellent English, though the drunks struggle a bit. The beer is good. We probably did not eat as the locals would, and when we did we were not excited. Burgers and hot dogs (in a wide variety of forms) seem to be easily available (shame), while good coffee is everywhere. The food high points for this type of holiday were great breakfasts and probably the best commercial breads I've tasted.
Go but don't just go to Copenhagen, visit the smaller towns and countryside. Don't hire clapped out, three speed bikes to ride 400+kms around the islands, get proper bikes. But if you do go to Copenhagen hire a bike, even an electric bike makes for a good visit. If you travel about use the trains.
Conclusions
Denmark is relatively empty of people, the roads are relatively of cars and the thousands of miles of bike paths are wide and easy to navigate, major attractions are under promoted and under visited, though expensive to visit. July is festival time and you could spend the month just rocking.
The people are very friendly and speak excellent English, though the drunks struggle a bit. The beer is good. We probably did not eat as the locals would, and when we did we were not excited. Burgers and hot dogs (in a wide variety of forms) seem to be easily available (shame), while good coffee is everywhere. The food high points for this type of holiday were great breakfasts and probably the best commercial breads I've tasted.
Go but don't just go to Copenhagen, visit the smaller towns and countryside. Don't hire clapped out, three speed bikes to ride 400+kms around the islands, get proper bikes. But if you do go to Copenhagen hire a bike, even an electric bike makes for a good visit. If you travel about use the trains.
Jul 20th, 2015, 10:20 AM
#30
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thanks for sharing your adventures! I loved your expression,"not even a one horse town. they shot the horse." and the comment about Danes speaking excellent English, but the drunks struggle a bit."
Here's to your next adventure!
Here's to your next adventure!
Jul 20th, 2015, 10:39 AM
#31
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Thanks for the report. Time to dust off the bike, hitch it to the camper and give Denmark another go.
Hopefully they have good hospitals for when I fall off the aforementioned bike
Getting out of the big cities and visiting the countryside and small towns and villages is great advice for any country of course. A shame so few dare to do so.
Hopefully they have good hospitals for when I fall off the aforementioned bike
Getting out of the big cities and visiting the countryside and small towns and villages is great advice for any country of course. A shame so few dare to do so.
Jul 31st, 2015, 01:48 AM
#33
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This is just a fantastic post in every way. Sorry it took me so long to find it! It reminds me quite a lot of Eric Newby's "Round Ireland in Low Gear", right down to the rain and Mrs. B in the role of the redoubtable Wanda.
I can feel the struggle, taste the food, enjoy flopping onto the bed at night, and I don't even cycle!
My grandfather was Danish, from one of the many families that emigrated to the US after Bismarck seized Schleswig-Holstein. I suppose all those 1850 forts were useless. My mother's maiden name, a bizarre combination of letters in English, makes a great password, but the language is very hard to understand when we watch Danish police shows on Netflix. Ubiquitous English and great hot dogs could get us there!
I am very happy to see that Tuborg still exists. Back when I was a student and import beers first hit the US, Tuborg went head to head with Heineken. Heineken won, and Tuborg left the US market. I miss it still and could make up for lost time if we went to Denmark!
Thank you.
I can feel the struggle, taste the food, enjoy flopping onto the bed at night, and I don't even cycle!
My grandfather was Danish, from one of the many families that emigrated to the US after Bismarck seized Schleswig-Holstein. I suppose all those 1850 forts were useless. My mother's maiden name, a bizarre combination of letters in English, makes a great password, but the language is very hard to understand when we watch Danish police shows on Netflix. Ubiquitous English and great hot dogs could get us there!
I am very happy to see that Tuborg still exists. Back when I was a student and import beers first hit the US, Tuborg went head to head with Heineken. Heineken won, and Tuborg left the US market. I miss it still and could make up for lost time if we went to Denmark!
Thank you.
Jul 31st, 2015, 02:08 AM
#34
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Enamel signs for Tuborg lager used to be common in England in the early 60s. I think they were left over from the thirties, or perhaps earlier, because I never actually saw any bottles of the stuff, and lager was not widely drunk anyway. For that reason, I tried some on a recent visit to Copenhagen, in preference to Carlsberg.
"Getting out of the big cities and visiting the countryside and small towns and villages is great advice for any country of course. A shame so few dare to do so."
Very true. I don't think you need to go very far to see a different aspect of life in a country. We enjoyed just walking through a suburb of Copenhagen on our way to the Open Air Museum, and another highlight was buying shoes in a small specialist shop.
"Getting out of the big cities and visiting the countryside and small towns and villages is great advice for any country of course. A shame so few dare to do so."
Very true. I don't think you need to go very far to see a different aspect of life in a country. We enjoyed just walking through a suburb of Copenhagen on our way to the Open Air Museum, and another highlight was buying shoes in a small specialist shop.
Jul 31st, 2015, 03:31 AM
#36
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Have not been to Denmark but quite like the idea of visiting Copenhagen and also Jutland which I imagine to be full of log cabins in the dunes, all woodburners and scandi chic.
I used DFDS ferries a number of times and one of the things I used to love were the Danish style afternoon teas - endless delicious cakes with soft paste-like marzipan inside. Did you try anything like that Bilbo?
I used DFDS ferries a number of times and one of the things I used to love were the Danish style afternoon teas - endless delicious cakes with soft paste-like marzipan inside. Did you try anything like that Bilbo?
Jul 31st, 2015, 05:46 AM
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RM67: If you go to Copenhagen, a lovely place to eat cakes with marzipan is at La Glace, but you can get marzipan cakes and pastries (strangely named ones such as potato cakes, napoleans hat cakes, vacuum cleaner cakes) almost anywhere. The best marzipan is from Odense, it is 50% almonds and a much softer consistency than the UK variety.
http://www.laglace.dk/en/
http://www.laglace.dk/en/
