Part 4 - Western Denmark
While the Danish coast-to coast ride was quite an ordeal, it did leave me the next morning with an important luxury: the inability to get seriously lost again in Denmark. While the status of my map as 'almost useless' had not changed, I was now following a signed cycle route up the west coast and not planning to stop until the land ran out. As long as the sea was on my left, I was never really lost.
I was led into the town of Esbjerg in the lee of a dike which was long enough that I had to peek over the top to make sure that the sea was still where it ought to be. I will forever associate Esbjerg and its strikingly Dutch surroundings with the plight of women in Afghanistan. This is not due to any characteristic of the coastal settlement but to my listening to 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' by Khaled Hosseini while passing through it.
Seems like a good spot to sit and look out over the Esbjerg Harbour.
The dikes gave way to forests and the forests to dunes. As long as you can push from your mind the images of sand grains grinding in your bike's every moving part, there is a great pleasure in struggling up and flying down the dune tracks with the sea's glint in your eyes and air in your face.
“I am now bombing up the west coast of Denmark towards my ferry to Norway, which leaves in 4 days.”
Not to be outdone by Norway, Denmark has tunnels too.
I can see neither ball nor light, I can only see that suspicious looking hole.
“The bike and I are starting to feel a bit worn out and in need of a rest”
Amsterdam may well be 798 km away but my counter was sitting comfortably on 920 km.
Can you spot the bike?
Another advantage of riding up the coast is the opportunity to see several lighthouses per day.
“The lovely chap in reception told me it was so expensive because it was a 5-star-best-in-Denmark holiday resort and pointed me to somewhere cheaper down the road. What a gent, even after wasting his time typing all my details into the computer”
This is where I left Denmark.
“I have almost felt like I work at a biking job.”
If you stand really still out in the wind and rain, you can stay half dry.
“A glorious nutella lunch it was though, sitting and looking North towards Norway.”
Better get used to that incessant interior monologue for a while.
“This is what it’s all about. Never forego a late night jaunt.”
In the bike queue for the ferry to Norway. Everyone present thinking 'Yeah, but I am a real biker'.