A bicycle tour through Denmark


Riding 400 kilometres on a bicycle is probably not everyone's idea of a perfect vacation. I simply love this combination of nature, adventure and will-power and Denmark is the ideal country to be explored by bicycle. A great network of marked cycle routes covers almost the entire country and car drivers are very considerate.

I hit the road together with two friends destination Skagen - the very end of Denmark! Our plan was to cycle along the north-coast of Sjælland, than take the ferry to Aarhus and finally find our way northwards. Any other kind of preparation? Well, we decided to go on this tour two days before and we had one replacement tube! Though, it wasn't our  first bicycle tour and we had all the camping gear needed. But fact is you actually don't need that much of preparation and equipment, it's more about to just start cycling and it feels much more hard earned if you find your way without all this GPS gadgets and professional cycling-maps - and don't forget the love of adevnture!

Our first day brought us to Helsingør and Hornbæk where we spend the first night. The first day is always easy: the motivation is high and the muscles still fresh. Then comes the first morning which is usually painful because your legs are sore and you wish you had taken it easy the first day. Our second day we followed the coast of north-Sjælland to Hundested, where we took the ferry to Rørvig and stayed over night in Klint. The coast of North-Sjælland is diverse and beautiful, it's not surprising that this part of Denmark is covered to 90% by summer-houses. The amount of summer-houses along the Danish coast is truely incredible, but it's still possible to find spots where it seems you are the first person setting foot on that beach.

Day number three was tough: the weather changed and it was stormy all day long. After we fight our way through Sjællands-Odde with storm and short but heavy rain showers we took the ferry to Aarhus. There we were quickly disabused about the fact, that Denmark is unfortunately not entirely flat! In combination with wind and 10 kilograms of luggage every hill felt like a full-blown mountain! This really gnawed at our will power and asked for strong motivation. The landscape of Jylland is completely different and wide cornfields dominate the scenery. We needed to cross Jylland upcountry to save some kilometres and we started missing the sea with it's refreshing breeze. We cycled the entire way to Hadsund on this day and our legs felt like jelly.

It was impressive how the sunsets and the colours changed on our way north. On the first days we had breathtakingly coloured skies which now changed to dramatic long lasting sunsets in pastel coloured light. On day four we made it to Sæby and our destination was within close reach. The next day we cycled the last few kilometres to Skagen through the great heathland and finally reached Grenen where we stood with our feet in two seas at the same time! After two beautiful days in Skagen we took the train back home.