Part 2 Køge - Stvens Klint - Rødvig - Laxe Ladeplads - Roskilde to Copenhagen

14.08.18 - Køge

It rained most of the morning with heavy showers but by 11.00am the sun had come out. Whilst we were having a late breakfast a Hooded crow appeared in the tent doorway. The cheeky chap then came in the vestibule and grabbed one of our green fluorescent cycle clips and flew a few feet away with it. I leapt out of the tent after it. As I got near it it flew off and landed a few yards away. I ended up chasing it halfway around the campsite until I managed to spook him enough that he dropped the cycle clip. Blow me but down but as soon as I was back at the tent he came back and kept trying to nick other things from our tent. It was obviously a good game for him. I shut the tent door but could see through the tent vent that he had turned his attention to our bikes and was pecking at the things on the handlebars. At this point although I love birds he needed to be shooed off. After having a shower we decided to go into Køge to have a look around the town. It is a lovely little town with some interesting buildings and a large market square. We bought two new head torches and a new water carrier as our old Ortlieb one still seems to taste odd.

Click on the thumbnail images below to see a larger version in a pop up window

15.08.18 - Vikingeborgen

Frank didn't feel too good this morning so we decided to stay at the campsite for another night. By lunchtime she was feeling a bit better so we cycled out to the newly discovered Viking Castle at Vikingeborgen which was 8km out from the campsite. It was a really interesting place and we decided to go back there tomorrow for the guided tour at 10.30am. On the way back to the campsite we took in a few caches en-route.

Click on the thumbnail images below to see a larger version in a pop up window

16.08.18 - Køge to Holtug

We were up early as we needed to be away by 9.30am at the latest if we were to get to Vikingeborgen for the 10.30am guided tour. At least we knew the way and we got to the site at 10.20am. Unfortunately the party was made up of all Danish and so the guide did the tour in Danish with little bits of English to us at the end. We made up for it by asking the guide questions as we walked between the sites and we spent some time with him after he had finished the tour. We then headed back to get back on to route 9 the Berlin to Copenhagen cycle route which actually went right past the campsite we had stayed in the last 3 nights. The cycle route followed the 209 the main road until it turned off left to take in the Vallø slot. Unfortunately the wind was very much in our face all the way to the slot and it was quite hard work although it was a lovely route through avenues of lime trees.

After having a look at the slot we were very much hoping to find a picnic bench but we had to make do with a couple of rocks to sit on and what had become the norm the wasps appeared! From the slot our route 9 took us back to the main road which we then crossed over and took a nice track east across to the 261and we followed this on a cycle path beside it until we got to Strøby where we stopped to buy supplies for our tea. For some reason I had been struggling with the cycling but after an ice-cream from the Brugsen store I seemed to get a second wind. Fortunately we left the main road and we were on quiet rural roads through quite pleasant farmland. When we got to Holtug we stopped at the Kirke to try and find the cache but it seems to have been muggled. A little bit further on in the village we found the Shelterplad. It was the best we have ever come across. There was a large wooden shelter with two separate sleeping platforms and a table with 4 bench seats around it all under cover. It also had a higher narrow table for our stove and it had a water tap that was only 8m away. It was in a lovely location right next to the village pond which had lovely purple water Lilies and a family of moorhens swimming around. There was even a Pentange pitch and they had even provided a couple of sets of boules so after our meal Frank and I had a couple of games. One of which was interrupted by a pitch invasion by one of the local cats who obviously wanted some fuss from us.

Click on the thumbnail images below to see a larger version in a pop up window

17.08.18 - Holtug to Rødvig

We woke up to a lovely morning, we had a brilliant night's sleep in the Shelterplad. After packing up the kit onto the bikes we headed off to the church to use their toilet before carrying on along route 9. Just after Sigerslev we went past Stevns Kridtbrud which is an enormous chalk quarry which had a special viewing platform. From there we could see the Stvens lighthouse and we decided to head over to it. It was open to visitors so we climbed to the top for a great view out to the baltic sea where you could clearly see the Øresund Bridge which connects Denmark to Sweden and the countryside behind us. A little bit further down the coast at Højerup we turned off the cycle route to have a look at Stevns Klint. At the Højerup Gadagaer (which was the village pond) we spotted a bench so we stopped for a brew and a bit of lunch. After being suitably refreshed from lunch we cycled on to Stevns Klint which is a set of chalk cliffs with a lovely church built on the cliff. Unfortunately in 1928 the choir fell into the sea following a storm and a new church was built further in land. The old church became an instant tourist attraction. They have since reinforced the cliff beneath the church and where the choir was there is a railed balcony that looks out to the Baltic sea. While we there they were getting the church ready for a wedding, we could see why it was popular for weddings. After looking at the chapel we climbed down the cliffs on some steep steps and had a look at the chalk cliffs from below. They were very interesting with layers of massive flints which reminded us of the chalk pits at Grimes Graves in Norfolk with their layers of flints.

We headed back to Højerup and We continued on along route 9 and just after Harvig we stopped at the Stevnsfort Cold War Bunker museum. Unfortunately it was 3.45pm and we had missed the last guided tour which took you into the underground bunkers. We really want to do the guided tour so we decided that we would camp at the campsite at Rødvig and come back the next day. The campsite was only 4.5km away and when we got to Rødvig we stopped at the Dagli Brugsen to get supplies and when we came out it had started to rain. As the campsite was only a few kilometres the other side of Rødvig we just put on waterproof tops as it wasn't raining that hard. Just as we got near to the campsite we were overtaken by a couple of Danes on bikes and it started to rain heavier. The two Danes pulled into the campsite before us and they parked their bikes under the awning outside the reception so I did the same. Well the campsite owner came out and he had a right go at me for parking my bike under his awning. I said that it was a fine way to welcome people to his campsite. His wife came out and apologised and asked me nicely to put my bike alongside the hire ones. He then proceeded to be rude to the two Germans who had come in to book in their caravan for not having any ID. Frank said that we didn't have to stay here and that she had checked on the shelter app and there was a Shelterplad back in Rødvig.

Although we could have done with a campsite to charge up some of our batteries we decided as he was so unwelcoming to go and find it. As we left we could hear the couple rowing and him shouting at her ‘I know I am stressed’ but we didn't stop to hear the rest. That poor guy made Basil Fawlty seem like a pussy cat. If he was that stressed running a campsite then he needed to sell up and do something different before he has a nervous breakdown. We found the Shelterplad and it was bizarrely in the grounds of a free school opposite the Dagli Brugsen. There were two large shelters and the water tap was on the end of one of the buildings. It did have a small toilet but unfortunately the toilet was locked but it did have a combination lock on it. It also had a telephone number to send a text for the code but we never got the code sent back to us. Never mind we managed but it was a good thing that we were the only people there.

Click on the thumbnail images below to see a larger version in a pop up window

18.08.18 - Rødvig to Vemmetofte Strand

As ever we slept well apart from the squirrels which kept knocking pine cones down on the roof of the shelter. We packed up as normal and it is always quicker when there is no tent to pack up. The campsite guy had done us a bit of a favour as we had less distance to get back to the Stevnsfort Cold War Bunker museum. When we got there we got us booked in for the 11.40am guided tour and we were advised to take a coat with us as it can be cold in the Bunker. The tour was fascinating as when the base was closed in 1999 a band of ex servicemen got together to reopen it as a museum in 2008. Due to the fact that it had closed so recently it was almost as it was during the cold war. The base was a surface to air missile site with Hawk missiles and a shore battery of two pairs of ex naval guns which had been built in 1936 and come off a German battleship. They had been originally part of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall by being installed on Fanø, a place we know well. After the war the guns at Fanø became Danish and were transferred to the Stevnsfort. The tour guy was really interesting as he had worked in the fortress. He initially showed us one of the pair of ex naval guns that had been on Fanø. These were intended to be fired at any Russian ships coming down the Baltic should there be a Russian invasion. Their magazines were in the Bunker system below. From there he took us into the underground fortress, which consists of 1.7 km of passages which are cut into the chalk cliffs 18 metres below ground. He took us along various corridors to various control rooms, the radar and comms room to the naval gun magazines with their elevator system to get the rounds up to the naval guns. The whole thing was very interesting but you did wonder how effective it would have been if the Russian had attempted an invasion.

The bunker system houses a population of the rare European Cave Spider (meta menardi) which our guide pointed one out to us. Once back on the surface we had a look at all the hardware exhibits. There were mobile RADAR stations and Hawk missile launchers. On the way back to the entrance there was a sign for a tank ride. It was a mini model tracked tank with a go-kart engine that you could steer around a course. As always I am up for a go at anything. You steer it with two stick controls that if you push them both forwards you go forward. If you eased off on the left control you would go slightly left, if you did the same with the right you went right. You could make a sharp turn by reversing one stick and pushing forward with the other stick. It was good fun although very noisy, bumpy and smelly as the exhaust system wasn't very good. It was probably a good idea of what it was like in one of the early tanks, at least no one was shooting at me. After the tank ride it was time for a rather late lunch and a brew. Fortunately near the entrance they had some picnic benches. Suitable refreshed we headed for Rødvig and decided to go via the harbour where we came across the Flinteovn, which looks like a small lighthouse but is in fact a rebuilt Flint furnace that was originally used to make flint flour for glazing on the beautiful faience products that the Aluminia factory at Christianshavn in Copenhagen manufactured. After a look at the harbour we headed back onto route 9 which took us along quiet roads to Lund where we came across a memorial with the inscription:

‘31 MAJ 1812
TILBAGEEROBREDE 20
MÆND FRA LUND ET SKIB
FRA ENGLÆNDERNE 6 FIK
DANNEBROGSKORSET ’

which translates ‘In 31 May 1812, 20 men from Lund recaptured a ship from the English'. Apparently in 1812 an English schooner captured a Danish ship but 20 Danish farmers in two rowing boats outwitted them and captured it back. From Lund it wasn’t far along a few country lanes to get to our campsite at Vemmetofte Strand.

Click on the thumbnail images below to see a larger version in a pop up window

19.08.18 - Vemmetofte Strand

Frank didn't sleep well as her back was sore and she needed to sleep in. So we decided to stay another day at the campsite. Later on in the morning she felt better. As we needed to get some supplies we decided to cycle into Laxe Ladeplads to go to the SuperBrugsen. As there were a few caches in the woods between Vemmetofte Strand and Laxe Ladeplads we decided we could make it a bit of a caching cycle through the tracks through the woods picking up caches en-route and on the way back. It was a lovely track through the woods and we found loads of Fungi and large snails as well as the caches.

Click on the thumbnail images below to see a larger version in a pop up window

20.08.18 - Vemmetofte Strand to Roskilde

As we had had a few rest days we were getting a little short of time to cycle all the way back to Copenhagen. We could have perhaps cycled back in time however the wind direction had changed and we would have been cycling into a head wind and I didn't want Frank to feel pressured into racing back against a head wind. As we had five days left before we had to be in Copenhagen we decided to cycle to Laxe Ladeplads and catch the train up to Roskilde. We had last been to Roskilde 20 years ago on one of our first tours. We had liked the place and always wanted to go back. We decided we could spend a couple of days there and then cycle from there to Copenhagen. It didn't take us too long to get Laxe Ladeplads and we stopped at the SuperBrugsen to get some milk and then went over to the little square where there were a couple of picnic tables to have some lunch.

We then did a few caches in the town before catching the 15.35pm train to Roskilde. We had to change trains at Køge and caught the 16.27pm to Roskilde. We decided to eat out in Roskilde for a change before going to the campsite. We decided to eat at the Bryggergården restaurant in the centre of town. We both had the brewers stew Bryggergryde a sort of hot pot of sirloin of pork and polser sausages served with fries and rice. It was really yummy. As we had been to the campsite at Roskilde before we knew the route and it didn’t take long to get out of town and around the fjord to the campsite. It was very much as we remembered it, although there was something missing and that was the squirrels. When we were there 20 years ago there were several pairs of Squirrels running around in the pine trees, sadly maybe a sign of the times with man encroaching on nature or climate change but the squirrels were nowhere to be seen.

Click on the thumbnail images below to see a larger version in a pop up window

21.08.18 - Roskilde

It was great to be back in Roskilde, we had loved it 20 years ago and had said that it would be great to go back. We tried to remember where we had camped, we will have to look at the photos when we get back home. The sad thing was that the squirrels no longer seemed to be scampering about the tree tops like we remembered them. We headed first to the Vikingeskibsmuseet (Viking ship museum). We had been there before but it was good to see the Viking boats again and they have expanded the area with boat workshops, a café, and more exhibitions. They have now built replicas of all 5 ships and are starting on building replacements for the original ones we saw back in 1998. We tried to book a sail on one of the replica boats but unfortunately they were all booked up for the day but the lady at the ticket office told us to come back at 10.00am tomorrow and book a sail for tomorrow. After leaving the Viking ship museum we went to have a look at the cathedral, however when we got there it was 4.30pm and they closed at 5.00pm so we decided to go back tomorrow. On our way back to the campsite we did some caching which is always a good way to see more of a place.

Click on the thumbnail images below to see a larger version in a pop up window

22.08.18 - Roskilde

We were up early to get over to the Viking Ship museum for 10.00am. We booked our sail on a Viking boat for 1.00pm. This worked out well as we then went and had a look around Roskilde cathedral which we knew would be closed in the afternoon. We had lunch in the Ship museum cafe which was very tasty as it was a Danish open sandwich with smoked halibut. We were obviously on the English speaking sailing boat as the Danish captain spoke to all of us in English. Our boat was the Storkjoven which was a Faroese Viking sailing boat which had 10 oars on each side - in Faroese 'teinæringur'. It was built by Hanus Jensen who is a traditional boat builder from the Faroe Islands. We were assigned rowing positions and then given a quick explanation of how to row. We then together rowed the boat out of the harbour and on to the fjord. Once we were well out on the fjord we were told to ship our oars. The captain then asked if anyone had sailed before so I stuck my hand up and I seemed to be the only one so I was asked to take the helm. Well I was really made up by this as not only getting an opportunity to sail in the viking boat but I got to steer it around the fjord. I was quite impressed with how well it handled with the square rigged sail. It went closer to the wind than I was expecting and being quite a long boat when it came to tacking it went about quite smartly. Unfortunately our sail was all too short and we had to return to the harbour. I was hoping that we might do this undersail however the captain aired on the side of caution and we dropped the sail and rowed into the harbour. It was a brilliant experience which I could have carried on doing all afternoon. Once back on dry land there was still the rest of the afternoon so we spent it caching around the streets of Roskilde and found some very interesting old buildings.

Click on the thumbnail images below to see a larger version in a pop up window

23.08.18 - Roskilde to Pinseskoven

We awoke to a very still morning which was a change as the last few days had been quite windy. This was good as we didn't fancy a head wind all the way to Copenhagen. Fortunately it was a lovely morning with not a cloud in the sky so we were able to get the tent packed away nice and dry. As we were about to set off we noticed that a Dragonfly wanted a ride on one of Frank’s panniers. Our plan was to head to Copenhagen but to stop the night at a Shelterplad at Fasankoven which was just a couple of kms south of the capital. I set a course for the shelterpad in Locus pro and in its cycling mode it came up with a great route that was virtually all on cycle routes or separate cycle paths alongside main roads. As Roskilde is at sea level there was a little pull up from where we left the fjord and on cycle paths through the suburbs of Roskilde we were soon at the lovely Himmelev Kirke. We climbed up a little bit more to a new estate built just above the Roskilde University, where there was a brilliant kids Dragon play swing near the Børnehuset Skademosegård. With Locu Pro guiding us it was easy to follow our way through the various cycle paths and at Fløng we passed by a Rema 1000 supermarket so we stopped to pick up something for lunch.

Our route then took us through the village of Høje Taastrup and we stopped at the Kirke to have a look at the church and find a cache. As we got to the new part of Høje Taastrup just after the large railway station where Frank stopped to use the loo, we came across this rather amazing if slightly Gaudi-esque monument in the centre of the new part. It was really quite strange. Our route from there took us again westward on good cycle paths to Vallensbaek, the cycle paths around Vallensbaek were brilliant and at one point where two cycle paths crossed there was an actual cycle roundabout. As our route onwards didn’t look like it would have any shops we stopped at the SuperBrugsen near the station at Vallensbaek and picked up some supplies for our evening meal. The cycle route then took us to the 151road, fortunately there was a really good cycle path that ran alongside the road. At Mågeparken we left the road and crossed the park on the Eurovelo route 10 which at one point went close to the E20 motorway particularly when we had to cross over the sea inlet at Skrædderholmen island.

From there we left the motorway as it turned north towards Copenhagen. We were now on some nice cycle paths across meadows. We soon found the shelterplad at Fasankoven but unfortunately it was full of young kids. We looked at the ‘Shelter’ app on our phones and could see that there was another one further south in the woods at Pinseskoven. We carried on across some lovely open grass meadows with grazing cows, but unfortunately the area was rather marred by the rather awful Danish architecture of the new blocks of flats that they were building at Orestad behind the meadows. Our route to the other sheterplad took us through birch woods and when we got to the other shelterplad we found that that one was being used by a family. Oh well, we generally haven’t had a problem with shelterplad being busy before, but this is quite close to Copenhagen so they are probably used more regularly in the summer. Fortunately we had passed a wild camping plads on our way through, so we backtracked to that. We had hoped to have used the shelterplad so as to stop us having to use the tent so we could keep it dry. We just hoped that it wouldn’t rain overnight and get it wet as we needed it to be dry for the flight home.

Click on the thumbnail images below to see a larger version in a pop up window

24.08.18 - Pinseskoven to Copenhagen Airport

Unfortunately we had a heavy shower at about 6 o'clock in the morning so our lovely dry tent was wet, oh well. Luckily we didn't have any more and after clearing up most of the water off the outer with the tent towel we managed to get the tent down reasonably dry. Our route to our hotel at Copenhagen airport was only 11km and there were a few caches en-route so we found a few as we cycled along. The first bit was through Birch wood of the old military range until we got to the grazing meadows which was pleasant riding on a good tarmac cycle path however your eye couldn't help being drawn to the ugly complex of high rise flats. The route took us along cycle paths and some back roads through the suburbs and we were soon at the outside of the airport. Once booked into the hotel, after a cup of tea and a butty we got on with boxing up our bikes. When I had packed them up for our flight out I had done it by myself and it had taken ages. However with the two of us it was much quicker and once Frank knew what she was doing the second bike didn't take so long.

25.08.18 - Copenhagen

The last time we had been in Copenhagen was back in 1999 and the time we were in the centre of the city it was absolutely heaving with people. You just couldn’t move about the streets, it was so crowded. Both of us are not keen on crowded cities so we quickly left the city and moved on so we hadn’t seen that much of Copenhagen that year. We decided we would give it another go, this time it was just us without the bikes so it was much easier to move around. We got to the center of the city using the metro which was very quick and efficient. We had a look around the City Hall Square, Rådhuspladsen and up and down various of the streets and the tivoli gardens before it started to rain quite heavily so we headed for the National Museum of Denmark. It gave us the opportunity to have some lunch in their restaurant and then to look around their exhibitions. As you would expect they have a very good viking exhibition with some amazing things that have been found in the various viking graves such as wonderful gold decorated carts, gold bowls and Lurs which are a most unusual musical instrument. The other fascinating exhibit was the woman from Huldremose. In the 2nd century BC the body of a woman was laid in an old peat-digging hole in Huldremosen, at Ramten in Djursland. A violent cut with a sharp tool had almost severed her right upper arm before she died. The oxygen-poor conditions in the bog meant that the woman was preserved as a bog body with skin, hair, clothes and stomach contents. She was found and dug up in 1879, when a worker was digging peat turfs at Huldremose. By 6 o’clock there were still more exhibits that we could have seen as the museum was open until 8 o’clock but we were both tired by then so we headed back to the hotel for our evening meal.

Click on the thumbnail images below to see a larger version in a pop up window

26.08.18 - Copenhagen to Home

Fortunately our flight to Amsterdam wasn’t until 14.40 so we could have a leisurely late breakfast at the hotel and checked out of the hotel just before 12.00. Fortunately the airport hotel was a short walk across to the airport departure area. There were airport trolleys just outside the hotel so with our bags containing our panniers on a trolley pushed by me Frank was able to pull our two bike boxes along either side of her as they have wheels. We were concerned that we would have the same problem with the bike boxes being too heavy when it came to the check in desk. Fortunately they didn’t seem to bother weighing them but put labels on them and told us to take them to the oversized baggage area. When we boarded our flight to Amsterdam I spotted our bike boxes waiting to be loaded on a separate trolley. The flight to Amsredam was uneventful and we landed at schiphol at just after 4.00pm. Our flight to Norwich was at 5.00pm which gave us time to grab a drink and a sandwich before going to the boarding gate. It was a smooth flight back to Norwich and we were mightily relieved to find that our bike boxes apart from a couple of scratches had survived the journey and that both pannier bags had made it as well. The nice thing about Norwich airport is that the car park is so close to the airport terminal building and our taxi minibus was there waiting to take us home.

Click on the thumbnail images below to see a larger version in a pop up window

The End.