Denmark 🇩🇰 (455.4 km)

I thank Denmark for letting me heal the 2nd time on this trip 🙄
Sarcasm aside, this was a very nice part of this trip. I felt like at ice-skating tournaments. The compulsory part (“Pflicht”) is done and now the freestyle (“Kür”) to be enjoyed.

02.09.2023 – Day 47 – Copenhagen to Holtug Kridtbrud (28.3 km)

I’ve been to Copenhagen about 9 years ago, with my sister Marianne. But that was in December. Today was a lovely summer day after them not having had much of a summer at all (as so many on this trip told me that…I must have been lucky with the route). That, combined with a Saturday and about 5 cruise ships (I saw) added to an already bustling, cosmopolitan city. It’s a really great city but I was in no mood for a 2nd day of sightseeing. Drinking is out of the question as well when a pint costs 10 EUR.
That’s why late afternoon I boarded the train to Koge. From there, I cycled another 2 hours and already on the first stretch I could see that the Danish are not as anal with their houses and lawns as the Swedish.
I took the right exit…into the world heritage site Holtug Kridtbrud. Camping strictly forbidden! So I setup tent there 😏
From my vintage point I could see a bloodred moon rise above the cruise ships leaving Copenhagen.

03.09.2023 – Day 48 – Holtug Kridtbrud to Koster (78.6 km)

Damn, those fishermen rise early. In a hurry I tore down camp. A couple of miles down the road I sat at a lighthouse and enjoyed the stillness.
Today was a fucking awful day. Just plainly horrible. 48 hours of rest and my legs felt like stones. I suffered through each mile and questioned why I did so many miles each day, why am I doing it at all? Good thing, I know this is just another story and sometimes I really manage not to take it serious.
At 4pm I called it a day just beyond a bridge but on a field close to the sea. I had a great outlook, talked to a friend and felt (at least) better. However, before going to bed I discovered a sore throat. Please not again!

04.09.2023 – Day 49 – Koster to Mandemarke Haver primitive campsite (42.6 km)

I had to inflate my mattress several times during the night. I needed to find a solution. Yesterday I tried by inflating it and searching using my eyes. Your eyes are much more sensitive to wind than other parts. But it was a futile attempt. Also, hearing was out of the question with the sea close by. But today, I went to another primitive campsite that had a water tap. Once I found it I put a patch on it. Solved!
I feel like wanting to be home until the end of the week. However, I took another loop and I am glad I did. I saw Mons Klint, unbeknownst to me, apparently the famous chalk cliffs in Denmark. And they are really stunning.
Slept at another primitive campsite along the beach and at that time I believed I did it legally. Many days later I found out that you have to pay and reserve those as well 🙄😇

05.09.2023 – Day 50 – Mandemarke Haver primitive campsite to Strandskovvej, Liseby (35.5 km)

After a beautiful sunrise I still didn’t want to get up. Thus, I won’t be at the ferry port today. Tomorrow is another day. It will be quite some more days, as today the weather was so nice and it’s predicted to stay that way. I know, can’t that kid makeup his mind? 😅 You might do the same as me if you would have such great tent sites. Today was no difference.
On another, more introspective side, I didn’t want to go back to Germany. Maybe out of fear to confront the question what I would do there. Or that nothing is waiting for me there anyway. I don’t feel the bond with it and my idea how it is going to be once I move back where I grew up hasn’t played out in real life. I might move again…

06.09.2023 – Day 51 – Strandskovvej, Liseby to Valse (71.4 km)

Not much to report of this day other than I did more miles than I projected. And it wasn’t that easy to find a site for my tent. On the way I stumbled into several spider nets. Argh, how I hate them…or more accurately, afraid of them. Open and close the tent very carefully, that’s what I did 😉

07.09.2023 – Day 52 – Valse to Guldborg (22.3 km)

Oh shit, yet another cold. FFS 🤬💩 After feeling my throat yesterday I feel like shit today. Only after 10am I got out of bed and even cycling 10 km to have a breakfast proofed to be strenuous. After another 10 km I decided “That’s it for today”. I booked myself into a campground and was not happy. Campsites are around 20 EUR in Denmark.

08.09.2023 – Day 53 – Guldborg

I didn’t want to but I had to agree with a friend’s advice. I am staying another night here.

09.09.2023 – Day 54 – Guldborg to Alholm Hestehave, Nysted (64.7 km)

Cold and running nose aside, I need a change of air. Out I went and the first 10 km were tough. I didn’t want to go even further west and then having to cycle back (or be stranded).
I have never seen so many pheasants as I saw today. Probably a hundred or more. In Germany you hardly see any. Of course, they have more hedges here and feed them. The agriculture is also industrialized here as in Germany. I see huge fields, tractors and machines.
I pitched my tent close to Nysted but didn’t want to spend the money on an official campground. And I had one of the best nights on this trip. I felt a high and joy as I would wish everyone can experience all the time. Once the sun set a beautiful sky full of stars came out. How lucky I am! And then 2 shooting stars to fulfill my wishes 😀

10.09.2023 – Day 55- Alholm Hestehave, Nysted to Hasselo Natursti (43.3 km)

While the sun rose on a clear sky and I managed to do my morning routine, once I opened my eyes after the meditation a mist had settled over the bay. Little did I know that it would be like this the whole day, except for a few hours early afternoon.
Didn’t get far today and after Nykoping I was through. I was cold today. Oh dear…

11.09.2023 – Day 56 – Hasselo Natursti to Gedser (68.7 km)

During the whole night I had the feeling that some small animals are running around outside. Can’t tell you if it were mice, rats or something else entirely.
You can see a lot of stalls in front of houses where they sell different goods. Vegetables (potatos, zucchinis etc.), mugs, glasses, you name it. On one I bought a glass of jam. Can’t tell you how it tastes as I haven’t tried it yet. Apparently, I just wanted the extra weight.
I went northeast as I wanted to be at the east coast again. It is a beautiful sight and then I rode down south towards Gedser, the ferry port to Rostock, Germany.
I used a spot in one of the shelters. There is a website where you can reserve/book them ahead (which I didn’t). The other guests of the primitive campsite all used their tents but the weather forecast predicted rain and I didn’t want to handle a wet tent. I tried (successfully) to sleep free of charge 😉
I am reading the book “Into the wild” about a young American who lost (or found?) his life in the Alaskan wilderness. While I probably never have the guts to do what he did I nevertheless cherish the life in nature. There is a beauty in it or let somebody else say it more eloquently:

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep Sea, and music in its roar:
I love not Man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal.
Lord Byron

One of the conclusions for me: Home is not a place but a feeling. In that sense, I never left home.

12.09.2023 – Day 57 – Gedser to Rostock

At 8am I was at the port. The second time this morning since I was there at 6am already. The days before the website said that the 1st ferry leaves at 7am. But it didn’t today. Yes, I should have checked the night before. I just didn’t think about it. Anyhow, I was awake at 5am anyway.
The coolest part of the 2 hour journey was the special forces of the German police (GSG9) boarding it. Holy shit, it really looked cool. It’s not easy to climb a rope ladder in the best of conditions. But while it hangs from a ferry in full speed, your captain trying to steady his raft alongside it and you getting off it, must be kicking up some adrenaline 😀
And here I am, in Germany again. The 9th foreign country on this trip 😉 Finally, I understand again what people around me talk and I rather would like not to. Deja de quejarte cojones 😜
I was pleasantly surprised by the city. I booked a night here and the rest of my journey in the next post.