“Denmark is flat.” Wrong!

One of the things we had consistently been told was that Denmark was a flat country. We learned on this trip that the folks who told us that had obviously not cycled eastern Jutland! Granted this was not like the Pyrenees or Rockies that we have biked, but it was also not pancake flat as we had been led to believe (undertrain much?) According to the Danes we spoke with, glaciers in the last ice age “flattened” the western part of Jutland and pushed sand, rock, and other glacial moraine to the east (where we spent ~98% of our ride). This was best seen on the “Hovedopholdslinje” – a sort of border where the ice stopped halfway through the Jutland peninsula (see the pic below looking down the highway from this border – i.e. When I was finally able to really see the flat Denmark).

Anyway, after Jason returned to Colorado, Ben ended his journey by staying with friends and fellow educators in Ikast – a visit that included a tour of the museum where Harald Bluetooth erected a large rune stone in Jelling to unify the Danes, the German bunkers along the west coast (both of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites), and our partner school in Herning.

Adventures in Copenhagen

In the world’s friendliest bicycle city, one would think transporting a bike by plane would be a simple task.  Riding to the airport was straightforward with dedicated bike paths along every street.  However, showing up without a bicycle box will leave you in a bind.  After a late night search for cardboard and multiple trips to the airport, Jason was finally able to check his homemade bike box and depart for the U.S. 

             

Denmark Day Six

Today is the final day of Jason’s tour of Denmark.  Our final destination together is Aarhus, with Jason heading off to Copenhagen and Ben to visit his colleagues in Herning.

   
     

Denmark Day Five

          

Denmark Day Four

Since leaving Frederikshavn, we have traveled nearly 200 miles across Denmark and are staying the next couple of days on the Southern coast near Mols Bjerge National Park.   

   
      

Denmark Day Three

Today we followed the Himmerlandsstien bike path most of the day and arrived in Tindbaek where we are staying at the Farm61 Inn.  

   
       

Denmark Day Two

Passing through the city of Aalborg today before heading to our stay at a farm “hut”.   

         

     
 

Denmark Day One

Our journey across Denmark began at 7am this morning in Frederikshavn after meeting at the corner of Tordenskjoldsgade and Danmarksgade.  Ben coming in from Norway on the overnight Oslo-Frederikshavn ferry and Jason arriving from Sweden on the Gothenburg-Frederikshavn Ferry.  With little sleep and full of coffee, we headed south out of town along the eastern shoreline.  Blue skies and cool temperatures prevailed as we made our way inland to our first Warmshower host near Aalborg.   

         

  

Last minute decision!

I just couldn’t pass up this chance to join Ben in Denmark so I booked a flight this morning and will be meeting him in Frederikshavn on the 21st!  Stay tuned for what will surely be another great cycling adventure!

Another year…another cycling tour!

It’s summer time, I’m still teaching, so of course I’m going to do another bicycle tour! My wife (Hygie) has been wanting to go to Norway for a long time so when she booked a 2-week tour of Bergen, Oslo, and the Western Coast and Fjords, I immediately started looking into how I could tack-on some time to tour Scandinavia. Unfortunately, Jason could not join me this year, so I began looking into what the best options would be for a couple of weeks of solo touring. After researching many “Crazy Guy on a Bike” posts about touring Norway, Sweden, and Northern Europe, I decided my best option would be Denmark – not in small part due to the fact that my school has a “sister” school in Herning, DK and I’ve become good friends with a number of instructors there who are willing to put me up for a night or two! Denmark is also consistently ranked as one of the safest places on the planet to bike. 🙂

Obviously with only two weeks (including time to get to Amsterdam to fly me and my touring bike – The Mighty One – back home), I’ll not be able to do the mileage that I would like. But then again, everything I hear about Denmark says I need to take my time and enjoy the beautiful scenery and nice people. It’s also nice that it’s a relatively small country!

So here’s my planned route: https://goo.gl/maps/tPnJ7NtnGv12 (you can also find more detailed legs for my planned route in the MapMyRide App – look for hygmonster). I’ll be starting in Frederikshavn (after taking the ferry from Oslo) and ending in Herning, with stops with WarmShowers hosts, B&Bs, hostels, friends, and perhaps some camping along the way. Everything will get underway on July 20th and updates will obviously depend on how good I do with internet access, but I hope to post pics and updates at least every other day or so. Until then…

Cheers!

-Ben