2012 Trip around Denmark

I’ve been going back over my old routes and creating the GPX routes from the spreadsheet of all the campsites I use. I know some people won’t understand my thoughts but I plan the routes with detail and that includes finding campsites and then the grid reference so they can be found easily. I used paper maps and still carry them with me. The GPS doesn’t show you what is around as you ride.As for all my routes I start at Hook of Holland and then start the journey. Even with all the detail I am still surprised with what I see everywhere. After leaving Den Haag i stayed on the coast and you finally come across the sand dunes. Here there are so many different cattle roaming the land. Luckily the wether was fine when I got to Breezanddijk this is the long dijk that joins the 2 head lands. I can’t image what’s like if it was windy, a slight breeze was bad enough. I rode to Groningen and Bremen the north to the Elbe to Glückstadt here there is a ferry over the Elbe. There are many choices fro crossing once you’ve left Hamburg. I travelled north to Flensburg and into Denmark. The coast and roads are good, very flat but that’s OK for a while. When it’s open you catch the wind from the west, you can tell by the way the trees bend over.Personally I love everything about Denmark, the people, the countryside, campsites etc. just not the prices. I finally ended up in Aarhus where I lived and taught for a while. From the campsite to the city there was an open art exhibition, not just visually but with sound as well. I stayed for a couple of day’s just to chill and the made my way to the ferry port over to Zealand. I would always suggest touring Denmark just for the experience and culture. In Copenhagen there is a walled citadel that was given over to the homeless many years ago and now there is a community called Christiania. Here at one time they built the Pendersen or Dursley bike and the Copenhagen cargo bike.I travel through Denmark and caught the ferry to Puttgarden which is supposed to have the most hours of sunshine. Travemünde is one expensive place, Rolls Royce’s, and Italian sports cars, the drivers here don’t think they are the same as the rest of the country when it comes to cyclists.
I rode down to Lündberg passing through Ratzeburg, here one side of the lake was West German and the other GDR and families used to meet up here to see each other.Going south near Lündberg along the canal you come across a cargo barge lift. It lifts fully laden barges from one level to the next, there are 2 troughs and each carry 5,900tonnes and takes 3 minutes toilet 38m. It’s amazing how it holds the water as well without a single drip. South to Hannover and picked up the R1 back to Münster and finally the Hook Holland.The whole trip was a wonder of smells, sounds of birds and different tastes of cheese as you pass through different areas. Great holiday, I would be quite happy to take the same trip again.