Denmark

Day 79, 21/9/2016

Left my free wild campsite and continued along the coastal path for 1/2 km, it was a gravel path and had lots of ups and downs, but it was too steep for me to push up, I could have done it on tarmac but even with my Shimano MT 71 cycle shoes with Vibram soles I could not get any traction and my feet kept slipping on the loose stones, so I had to turn around, I found another path that followed the border and made it to the hard surface again and a big Viking bike

 

Today 33 km

Day 80

Early start and on the road by 7am, following the 170, the cycle path/hard shoulder was very narrow and if I had stuck in the middle of it my handlebars would have overhung the road and grass verge, but the Danish drivers always gave me lots of room when overtaking. Stopped at Haderselv to get some more money out, this time a decent amount. On the way out of town a car was waiting on the grass verge for me, and the driver offered me some local beers, we had a chat and he took some pictures and gave me 100 Kroner for my journey. Very nice people these Danish. I carried on and at Christianfeld I bought some nice bread, then stopped at Kolding campsite for the night.
Today 51km

Day 81
Rest day

I made use of the free showers at the campsite, and I think I needed to, the site also had a dog shower room and as she stank worse then I did, she had a shower as well. I used the day to have a good clean up, even the green algee forming on the insides of my waterbottles, after all my chores were done I drank my free beer from yesterday, Black Bird from the Fuglsung brewery, a brown beer and very nice.

Day 82

Still heading north and at Snoghoj I crossed a bridge to the island of Fyn and stopped at the campsite, the owner insisted I must have a camping card to stay so that set me back 100 kr ( I’ve since found out that I could have got away with buying a transit card at a lot cheaper price ), I had to give an a address and could not explain to him my address was his campsite or where ever I pitched my tent, so I gave him an old address.
Today 28 km.

Day 83

I left the campsite at Middelfart and carried on along the 161. I did look on the map further south and could not find a bottom fart. I carried on past Indslev and at about Gremmelokke stopped at a lay by for lunch, I was going to make a brew but a nice Danish couple from Copenhagen offered me a coffee and gave me a bag of homemade Danish meatballs, the tastiest meatballs I’ve ever had, 100 times better then the Swedish meatballs you get at Ikea, it was hard not to eat them all to myself but I did share bits with Pippa, they also gave me some chocolate biscuits that gave me an energy boost. It was mainly up hill with a strong headwind until I reached Vissonberg, occasionally I had to push on the flat sections as the wind was so strong. At Tommerup I found a sign that said there was a primitive camping platform in Narup, just reaching it by dusk. I went past it first time and stopped to ask directions, I’d only gone less then 1km so not that bad. I stopped where I thought it was and a man came out of the house next to the community centre and asked if I was looking for somewhere to sleep, he told me he had seen me cycle past 5 minutes earlier, he walked me around the back of the hall, pointed out the toilets and showed me the sleeping platforms. He also told me he had been to London and showed me his Chelsea FC tattoo on his arm, I told him I supported Crystal Palace FC as I had been banned from Milwall in the 1970’s, he gave me a very scared look until I told him my bitch mother had banned me, so I went to Crystal Palace instead.
A very clear night, I saw Jupiter and another planet, and also the great bear and the north star, slept under the shelter star gazing.
Today 54 km.

Day 84

Awake at half past 6 and it started raining at 7 until 9, so I stayed in the shelter and did not leave site until half past 10, then onto Vernige, Brobyvoerk and Stenstrup, but did not find another info sign with primitive camping shelters. Just past Kirkeby I found a sign that said there was a campsite just west of Svendborg so carried on chasing the light. Just outside of Svendborg i saw another cyclist with a 2 wheeled trailer half a km behind me, he was peddling like a hellhound was after him, he caught me up, dinged his bell, and I moved over, he had a border collie cross in his trailer, and as soon as he overtook me, he slowed down and I had to start applying the brakes, I would have blasted my air horn to get him to move over, but the cycle path was on a raised pavement and I was worried that if he moved over and a trailer wheel came off the dog might get hurt, so I followed him a couple of hundred of metres where the cycle path joined the road again and overtook him, on the down hill section and with all the weight I was carrying left him for dust. When I reached Svendborg on the coast I turned west and made for Rantzausminde campsite arriving at dusk. The lady at the site told me it was 60 kr, we talked and she said 50 kr, when I got my wallet out she said I could camp for free, I like to think it was my beautiful blue eyes but it was probably my cute little dog, or just she wanted me to shut up and go away, but a free night camping on a campsite. Very cloudy night and no stars, but at least that means it will be a warm night.
Today 59 km.

Day 85

I had a good 12 hours sleep last night and did not wake up until 9 in the morning, I must have been tired as I did not leave the campsite until noon. Backtracked to town, about 5 km and went over the bridge to the island of Tasiage, decided it was a nice day and I needed to wash my clothes as well as myself so stopped at the first campsite.

The site office was closed when I arrived at 1 pm but a workman told me to put my tent up and come back to the office later. I found a nice spot to pitch my tent, and down to business, changed my clothes and washed the dirty ones, and hanging them to dry. All the showers were card operated, so found a sink with hot water and have a flannel wash, had to change the water a lot as it was going black fast, popped back to town 1 km and did some shopping, then took it easy till the evening. When the manager arrived back he gave me a shower card and told me to pay in the morning as he would have to add the hot water for the shower card.
Today only 13 km.

Day 86

Just the standard camping fee as I had no need of the shower by the time the manager arrived yesterday. I was up at 8 and it was very cloudy, so I struck camp as fast as possible and moved over to a bench under a shelter to have breakfast. I followed route 9 through Vindeby and Bregnige to the island of Sio, a very small island and soon to the bridge to the island of Langeland, it was a very high bridge so sailing vessels could pass under, that ment it was very steep pushing over it, at the top the crosswinds were very strong and I had to walk the bike down the other side. I went past Rudkobing the emergency escape plan campsite if the weather turned too bad, the Sun was hot, blue skies, but winds of upto 18m per second. I carried on cycling and 5km from Spodsberg I had to take back roads as the nice new road had no cycle path, 9 km later when I reached Spodsberg I found the ferry port and bought my ticket, 90 kr, on the 45 minute crossing I went to the canteen and bought a small white coffee for 28 Kroner, just under £3, I think I’ll stick to water or take my stove on deck of the next long ferry. Arrived at Tars, ( 8th ferry since leaving London ), on the island of Lolland. Made my way to Onsevig campsite passing a Viking along the way.
Today 43 km.

Day 87

Struck camp and made my way to Utterslev where I found the 289 again and onto Horslunde and Birket, about 20 km with the wind in my rear quarter, from Birket to Maribo the wind was stronger then yesterday it was a south westerly wind and I was going north east so it should not have been a problem, but the road never went in a NE direction so I always had crosswinds and had to walk the bike most of the next 20 km, the only good thing was the island of Lolland is very flat, but most of it fields with hardly any trees to block the wind. I only saw one mere mortal on a bike this afternoon, and he had no panniers on his bike. 3 km outside of Maribo it started to rain and we were soaked by the time we reached the campsite. At the campsite they wanted 135 kr, I said this was expensive for Denmark and was told all the facilities they had, I did not want them, only a place to put up my tent. It was a bit chaotic in the tent as I had to dry the bags so I could store them before I could let Pippa out of her travel box and dry her, even then we both had to sit in the awning for a couple of hours until she was dry enough to go in the inner tent. Watched the new big bang theory, and Jason Bourne.
Today 40km

Day 88 30/9/2016

Up early and packed up everything away apart from the tent as I was leaving that to dry in the morning Sun. I moved my bike to the cooking hut and made breakfast while my damp clothes dried on the backs of chairs, charged up my computer and storage battery while making use of the hand dryer in the toilets to dry my damp waterproofs. At 11 I left site and made my way to the bank as I was down to coppers, then cycled to Guldberg campsite, I was planning to go a lot further but decided I needed an easy day. I was told I could have as many apples as I wanted as the were falling off the trees. The campsite also had a dog exercise area, but Pippa did not want to do any of the agility tests just run around, even when I tried to coax her with doggie treats she just ran around the object to get her treat.
Today only 22 km