Last leg of this 850km ride! Brompton cycling & 'primitive' camp south Denmark, Eurostar etc home
In autumn, I needed to go back from my husband's cottage in Sweden to the UK I had some time so instead of flying, I decided to travel by bike and train. I love doing cycling tours that are journeys I need to do anyway. I wanted to see more of Denmark, so I decided on this route, and I looked for the furthest place where I could get on a train, and get back to London in a single day. So far I had ridden 600 km across Sweden and north Denmark,
and now I was on the outskirts of Aarhus, which is Denmark's second city. Looks lovely. I was camping by Junction 16 of a motorway. It's always tricky near cities. The town is just down there. Atually I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to get into it, cos there's motorways and everything. I'll head back to the road I was on, and then work it out from there
I've been sleeping in a kind of out of town industrial park Yay, thank you! it's so nice to have confirmation. Oh my god here we go God, Bikemaps and everything is just brilliant isn't it, You could never do this if you didn't have apps that told you where the cycle paths were. It'd just be impossible Before I tackled Aarhus itself I thought I needed a treat. After you. Thanks had been on the road over a week now so I gave the tyres a bit of a boost too I'm just pumping up the tyres This is lovely. What a lovely way to leave the city. I just sneaked along through the docks, and then it's just woodland and this little path. I can actually hear the sea
Right so let's test this Danish bread. It's really heavy, which is great, I like heavy bread oh god let's go zigzag Now I headed south along the coast towards the city of Horsens, 50-odd km away, just loving it, beautiful weather and a beautiful place. This is really good fun So I stocked up on veg. I also needed to replenish the power in my devices
Right so I'm on the hunt for some power I'm going to try a couple of churches. So I had battery packs with me obviously, to store power, and I also had a rapid-charging plug, so I could just pop into a church and charge up my phone and camera. This one was was closed, but I saw that there was a public toilet just down here, so I thought I could pop in and have a look, you never know. Yes! So I managed to charge up my devices and then the lady who lived here invited me in, and explained that this was the home of a famous writer called Steen Steensen Blicher, and I looked him up later and I loved some of his stuff It's getting exciting now. This is the last little bit and then I should come to a primitive camp site or a shelter, I can't remember which it is. I don't know. No idea. I was looking for a so-called primitive camp spot. I had been using these all the way through
Denmark. It's a brilliant free national network. There are people. Mostly I had had them to myself. Tonight it was Friday night, and there were some fellow campers Hi, hi, I'm looking for the camping spot. This is three spots, oh, one two three. This one,
this is the last one. Oh this is the last one brilliant brilliant okay that's perfect thanks yeah have a lovely evening. Thanks So dinner tonight is going to be something made with this massive courgette. I've actually got
a little masala curry mix - I just put some curry spices together and brought them - so I think I'm going to sort of make a rice curry with the courgette, maybe sprinkle some nuts over. Anyway the rice is on, here in the stove so I'm going to prepare the veg then fry the veg while the rice sits and finishes off. So the whole thing should be ready in about 10 minutes 15 maybe Dinner is served! I looks really nice. Haha I always say that it does look good It's getting too dark to see, but here is my dessert what a joy I hadn't slept very well actually and I was quite tired but yeah sometimes that's just how it is And I had chores to do. I was washing clothes Morning! Eventually I set off and I rode on slowly southwards I came to the city of Horsens, and I really wanted to sit at a bakery again. For some reason
I ignored that cafe, I don't know why really, I didn't like to look of it for some reason. I just was really fixed on a bakery, and I couldn't find one. I tried here, but it seemed to be just beer and ice cream, so I looked on the map again and I headed out to the edge of town actually, because that was the only bakery I could find. When I reached it there was a queue, so I kind of wasted more time, and then there were no tables, so I just sat on the pavement and looked at parked cars Oh well. I was hoping for a really sweet little bakery in the middle of a sweet little town. And it was a nice town but there was just no bakeries so I have come right out of town, sort of on the right direction, and um and I'm here. I've got a bun. It's kind of lunch time now. I had used up the whole morning and not made much progress. Never mind. I still had
200 km to do and I was annoyed with myself wasting time and I was starting to worry about getting to my train at the German border in time. Today is Saturday and my train from Germany goes on Tuesday so I've only got today, and there's not much left of today, tomorrow Sunday, and Monday left. It should be fine but um yeah I've been sort of double-checking distances and things to make make sure everything's doable. I decided not to go for these possible camp spots here northwest of Kolding, but to push on and aim for this spot on the south side of Kolding fjord.
So it would be an 85 km day. I was quite annoyed myself for wasting most of the morning. And then I feel like I've been sort of rushing today. I set off later than I planned and then I had that huge hassle finding a bakery, completely silly, wasted quite a lot of time. Anyway, it's fine. But yeah it's just when you've got a deadline, it always starts to be a little bit more important So I'm in Kolding. Hooray. Really tired actually. I've been quite tired all day today for some reason Right, so it's 12 km left to do so, that's fine isn't it. I'm going to be there soon. Good.
September was moving on. The days were getting shorter. Sunset's getting earlier and earlier. It's quite it's quite dramatic how it's moving It's moved about 40 minutes earlier since I started the trip So hooray, I had pretty much made it, and beginning the hunt for the camp spot. Throw in a little track at the end Looks hopeful actually. I know that barrier looks bad,
but actually the little sign means this is the wood Right check the map again. It's really fiddly at the end finding these Right, straight on and then left okay. So after quite a long way through woodland, I came to the camp spot at the shore Wow Amazing. I was really tired so I just pitched the tent, had dinner and watched the sky and the water
Now I was heading into the old duchy of Schleswig. In the late 1800s this had been part of German Prussia And I came to the town of Haderslev. It's kind of strange to think that this was all once part of Germany. God how nice. It was high time for coffee. I feel much better now. I
was so tired after lunch. I think I just had too much butter or something, made me really tired. But um I'm better now. This is absolutely one of the best bits of the day, when you've done a whole bit and you then get to sit back look at the view and drink coffee and eat biscuits.
It's really nice. And I can go mad on the biscuits, look, these are nearly finished, but I've got a whole packet more, a different sort. So I can just have as much as I want They look good. That's enough I think. You don't need many to make a really nice pudding. So these
were my last foraged berries on this trip. I had one camp night left, and I wanted to camp with a view, so I picked up some water and headed uphill. I've got water, which I'm carrying on my back. It's only another couple of kilometers now. It feels late. I don't know what time it is, about half past five, six
It's quite a push up this Apparently it's on the left somewhere up here. Exciting. Great! What a brilliant little spot. I wanted to get the best view so I stuck the tent right out into the field. I couldn't see any animals. Phew that was lucky. I just got everything in, and it started to drizzle and then this came down. I love this spot it's
brilliant, so cosy. God it's huge mess in here This is dried mushrooms and parsley. I'm really hungry actually. It was raining, and then I've just been sort of messing around. I need to get on with it. Looks lovely doesn't it So, that can boil 10-12 minutes. It's going to be beautiful when the lights come on down in the little fishing village. And the sun went down over there,
so it's going to rise over there, brilliant Bread crumbs. It'll be nice. Loads of lovely nuts I made it really thick. I don't know if it's going to cook properly It's raining. I am sheltering under here It is so nice now with the lights coming on down there. It was a lovely view, but then I saw the cows. Oh there are cows in this field. It was way too late really to do
anything about it now. I hope they're not too curious. They might stick their necks over. They might actually. And lick me I bet they are curious. They are curious animals aren't they, cows
It was the bit that had stuck out into the field that I was most worried about, with like the long guylines as well Keep out of sight! I don't want them to come! I decided it was going to go dark soon, so just keep still and low profile, and eat my pancake. Really nice. Everything's done, the bike's away. I can just have tea now. Hooray. Good morning! Really worried about those cows. If they get really curious and come over, it'll be quite awkward. Anyway, just get up and hope for the best Well so far not much interest that's good A new day! I have just enjoyed this so much. I mean Sweden was brilliant and Denmark's been brilliant. It's just so lovely. Right I'm going to make one last pancake, so scoop! my trusty scoop
So I had left my husband's cottage in Sweden 11 days ago and ridden 800 km through Sweden and Denmark. Today I had just 50 km left to do to the German border where I'd get my train to London St Pancras from Flensburg The goal of the day is Flensburg. It feels really weird actually. I can't quite believe, cos I'm so deep into this out here, it feels kind of weird that I'm going to be on a train and then in London. It just seems a bit too sudden. OK let's go I'm heading south from Aabenraa now, let's see with the weather - it looks like it is going to rain It's really windy. I think there's a whole lot of bad weather blowing in
The sun's coming through This is the border. That's Denmark. And this way is Germany Clean it up a little bit
2025-01-11 04:44
