Denmark 2

Ectved Campsite via Legoland to Hejls. Monday 19th September 

We wake to our first grey skies in days, the sun is setting earlier and we are looking forward to heading South but we have a full on day today.

After breakfast we enjoy the complete luxury of showers with unlimited hot water and Lisa also has the treat of a hairdryer because we have an electric hook up.

We are also looking forward to our Danish treat: a visit to the home of Lego.  Lego was invented in Billund, its factory is still there and so is .'Legoland' where everything will be officially AWESOME.  It opens at 10.00am.

Our day soon becomes even more full on than planned.   We have been ignoring noises from Hamish and the continued occasional missing a beat of the engine, but as we drive the 19 km towards Legoland a yellow light comes on.   Alastair immediately begins to panic and is worried that H may break down in the middle of nowhere, requiring contacting breakdown organisations and subsequent missing out on Legoland.   Lisa begins to reach for her phone to research Ford garages on the internet.  H doesn't fail us though and as we approach Billund, on the very first roundabout, A spots a Ford garage.  Obviously this was meant to be!  We drive in.

Klaus of Ford tells Alastair they will run a test on H to find the problem, this will cost about £100.   We drive to get supplies for the day then back to the garage.  Klaus was planning to drop us at Legoland but Lisa suggests we cycle as it's only 2km.

We leave H in capable hands and cycle off for the day.    We arrive at Legoland just after 10am and it's beautifully quiet.  We wander round looking at the amazing Lego models of popular tourist spots throughout Denmark and world famous monuments.  They have moving boats and vehicles and stuff.  

Copenhagen- we've been here.

A miniature Denmark. Very clever.  We get a call from Klaus.  Hamish did have a broken part!  The garage can replace it with a part from stock and it will cost about 3000ish Kroner.  Sounds loads but H needs to be perfect.

We carry on milling around the Lego creations then head for the haunted house.  It's a kids theme park so it can't be that scary.   There is a section when you walk in behind a black curtain and you are faced with angled mirrors floor to ceiling.  As you begin to walk some routes are mirrors and you feel your way through the maze.  Well it was entertaining for about 30 seconds then we began to wonder how to get out.   Lisa could feel a 'where am I?' moment coming on but didn't think banging the walks would help.   She followed a man and his 3 year old and after bumping into several more mirrors and getting completely confused eventually we got out.  

Lunch on a budget next.  We had brought buttered rolls thinking we could purchase some chips (a food that H cannot produce) and create awesome chip butties.  Our first research discovered that Lego French fries are made with: mashed potato and egg?  That will be NOT vegan, then.

Eventually we find a recent addition to Legoland: a fast burger outlet, with chips made from potato AND real ketchup.  We assemble our lunch treats and munch with luxurious Mmmmmmms.

Next a Lego movie in 4D.  A looks very cool in the 3D glasses in Lego yellow.  Over in 15 minutes.  Review:  "Hmmmmmm".

We explore: Wild West, pirates, polar, adventure, knights etc.  Themes with themed stuff and occasional themed rides.  Lisa spots a pirate and water themed ride and manages to drag Alastair through the empty queueing lanes.  Alastair feels sure there must be a reason for the complete lack of interest shown by sane people in this ride, but can't quite work it out in time to protest.  We are swiftly bouncing along in a huge tyre on water, getting damp from the water squirty squirts things that squirt us randomly with water.  The climax finds the tyre being lifted vertically up high to only to be dropped onto a massive extra steep water chute.   Time for 'eyes wide shut' tactic.  Alastair leaves feeling very damp in places he definitely did not want to feel damp in. 

another happy visitor

Alastair said he vaguely enjoyed that ride in a damp kind of way.  Enjoyed in the way that people are hugely relieved that they emerged from the experience alive and only vaguely damp.  

So Lisa seizes the opportunity and takes him on a massive and vertiginous proper rollercoaster.  BIG mistake!  Alastair is so scared he is trying to get out mid ride and needs to sit down afterwards.  Both of us are traumatised by the experience.  So much so that any attempt to recall the experience to relate it here are completely out of the question.

Lisa goes on the last polar themed rollercoaster alone, leaving Alastair trembling on a bench pretending to take photos.  He isn't sure Lisa completely understood that his favourite theme park was Legoland mostly because it has no rides and both feet would be firmly on the ground admiring brick related creativity.

We manage to fill time until about 3pm, when we really had had enough.   We cycled back to the garage.   Hamish cost £470 in total.  Bit of a hit to our budget, but at least we are not looking after H in Norway.

Klaus starts to share a leaflet he has created for Norwegians who have their cars repaired in Germany because it is so much cheaper.  He explains how we can save the extra tax we will have to pay once we have left the EU.  How embarrassing!   We cringe yet again about Brexit.  Klaus thinks that once we realise how much it is going to cost us that we won't leave.

We set off South and H drives more smoothly now the juddering has gone.  

We find a car park near the beach in Hejls.   It's huge and there is only one other car.  We are in bed by 8.30 pm crashed out.

Frederica to  Ectved Campsite, Sunday 18th September 

A brilliant nights sleep- so, weirdly, we both feel tired.   Lisa is fretting that we are taking up space on the car park.   One of the brilliant things about Danish beaches is that they get used: swimmers from first light, dog walkers, one man was sawing and sanding wood yesterday, barbecues and having fun.  
 Last night we could hear four adults laughing with a head torch in the wind and darkness as we were going to sleep.

Alastair humours Lisa and we are off early leaving our beautiful spot behind.

First stop is the Fary Lochan Distillery: Denmark's smallest distillery.  It's closed but all of the buildings have windows so we can clearly see the Scottish still.

From there we drive to Ectved campsite.   We don't want to leave it as long as we did last time to do all the washing and we couldn't see a convenient overnight spot near Legoland so we have taken advantage of the opportunity.

Hamish as laundry.

We arrive at about 11am and have a boring day washing, drying, charging etc.

Korser to Frederica, Saturday 17th September 

After breakfast we get showers and top up with water at the free services near the bridge.

We hadn't realised how expensive this bridge crossing would be and we weren't asked for H's length.   So Lisa thinks we were ripped off.   






The crossing costs just over £40 and it's neither as long or as beautiful as the Oresund bridge.

We cross the island and a second bridge.   No charge here and H drives to our overnight stop.

view out to sea.

We drive through the suburbs with some very exclusive designer houses and down a steep track to a small car park over looking the beach and sea.

Our View- bridge in far background.

We walk along the promenade into Fredericia and back again.   Then sit on a bench in the sunshine reading.

Promenade bench.

Fred....etc town square.

Once most people are gone we snuggle H into the flatter part of the car park.   As Lisa is getting tea we hear some shouting.  

Two young lads, about 12 years old, are chasing the sheep around the hillside.  Alastair leaves H to ask what they are doing.  "Having fun!" was the reply.   "Well the sheep aren't, are they?" he says and asks them to stop.   We carry on with tea and out of the corner of his eye Alastair sees them again. Then an apple is thrown over a bank and dribbles down the path towards H.   Then they sneak around the back and two rose hips hit H.    This time Lisa gets out.   They are scurrying away along the beach hiding their faces.  Thankfully they are bored of the game (or Lisa is considerably more threatening than Alastair) and we finish our tea in peace.

As dusk falls Lisa spots what at first she thought was the sunset but then we realise its the moon rising.  We watch the most spectacular sight of a huge orange moon rise then disappear into the clouds; magical.

Kirke Eskilstrop to Korser, Friday 16th September 

After breakfast we walk back to Jesper's for a quick coffee and to say thanks again.   Recognising we are a charity case he gives us the leftovers from last nights tea.  One less meal to buy.  We are very grateful.

We drive to Ringstead.  It's a new budget day and we need some shopping.  We came in about £40 under budget last week, which is brilliant, largely because, to make the conversion sums easier, we kept the Swedish budget until Sunday.

We find a lovely supermarket and buy some essentials.  Back in H Alastair wants to check out how much we spent: £75.    SEVENTY FIVE QUID!!!!   Lisa repeats back at him loudly.   That's half of our budget for the week.

We drive towards the bridge that will take us onwards and find a stop between the sea and the bridge.

There is a museum about ice breaking boats and it's free!  

Well we get our money's worth out of it.   

Back in H for lunch we have a house meeting.   Neither of us feel like driving much further so we decide to stay this side of the bridge tonight.

Jesper said Korser has boats and its only 10 minutes away, so we head there.   










We park in a car park next to the marina which is mainly for fishing boats and Hamish is loomed over by 3 Danish naval battleships.   Finding no signs saying no overnight parking we decide that we will be very safe here for the night.

Next to the marina are the remains of a fort with Denmark's best preserved tower and other buildings that were used to keep prisoners and gunpowder.    

Further along we are invited onto a building with a beautiful wooden roof that is being used as an artists studio for a collection of artists.  



Only one guy is there and he chats to us about his pyramid inspired paintings.  He tells  us that he has been to Egypt and Mexico and took a group to Peru but they were disappointed as the pyramids had been washed away.  We wonder, not aloud, why he hadn't checked that out first!!

A woman bustles in with a Tupperware container and shoves it under our noses saying she had never seen one before, had we?   Inside was an insect about an inch long with armadillo type skin and two long antennae.   We told her we hadn't and made our escape.

We walked through the town and headed back to H to finish off last nights gorgeous lasagne.

Bottle Kill.

Ishoj to Kirke Eskilstrop, visiting our friend Jesper, Thursday 15th September

There are some clouds in the sky this morning but they soon drift away to leave us with another scorching day.

Hamish is going to meet some people today so we start the day with a change of bedding and bit of a clean inside before getting showers.

We drive to Roskilde, originally the Danish capital and the place where several Viking ships were unearthed.   

The car park where we stop overlooks the Viking ship museum and you can go to sea rowing a replica boat.   Lisa suggests Alastair goes for it, there is an admission price and an additional cost for the boat, but he declines.   Although later he sneaks around the back of the museum to take photos of the replica viking ships.

We walk into town with our laptops.   The cathedral in the town centre has twin spires and its crypt is the resting place for several Danish Kings and Queens.   When we arrive we find there is a charge, so sadly we walk away.

Instead we find a bakery for lunch.   We buy some focaccia to share and Alastair indulges himself with a sweet bun laden with chocolate and cinammon.   Now he understands what a 'Danish pastry' should taste like.   To die for!

Sated we find a comfortable corner in Tourist Information and spend the next couple of hours charging the laptop and getting a few jobs done that require wifi.

At 2pm we get flowers and beer from a supermarket for tonight and get back to H.  Lisa gets changed in the sweltering heat of H and we drive towards Jespers.

About 10 minutes away we park up and Alastair changes while Lisa drys out in the cool breeze.

We met Jesper at the same Springbank festival that we met Johan and amazingly, despite him managing a slaughterhouse for Danish bacon, we get on!!

We have a lovely evening meeting Camilla and the children, Katarina and Andreas and Baloo the dog, even Anna face times and is very surprised to see two English people at her Dad's.      We also meet Tina and Morton who have come to collect Baloo for the weekend as Jesper and Camilla are away.   Camilla has cooked an amazing pasta and after tea we share whisky and great company for the evening.  

Top whiskies: Longrow Red shiraz and Society Springbank Port Hogshead.

Ishoj again, Wednesday 14th September 

We wake to another beautiful blue sky and have a slow start to the day.    We haven't got a ticket and decide to stay for another night, this is us beginning to chill a little.

We get our bikes off (4th day in a row!) and cycle around the area initially we skirt the sea, then wander through the marina and down through the grounds of the Arkan gallery where we find an Anthony Gormley statue.

At a car park just East of us there is lots of activity and it looks like a fun run of some kind will be taking place.

Back at Hamish we have a chilled afternoon.   Lisa reads in the sunshine, Jesper tells us this is the hottest September since the 1940's.

Having been so successful fixing our fridge a while ago Alastair decides to try to speed up the flow of water down the kitchen sink.   One job becomes two as he forces the hinges on one of the cupboard doors.  The sink remains slow to empty and the cupboard door doesn't shut properly now.  

Around 5 the car park seems to have become busy and there are people in running gear with numbers pinned to their chest, the fun run.   We walk to the beach and watch as groups follow the route, some running, most taking a leisurely walk.

Amager Strand, Copenhagen, to Arken Modern Art Gallery by Ishoj. Tuesday 13th September.

We wake to see the Orange sun rising over the sea, another scorching day which is proving brilliant to keep on top of our washing.

After breakfast we get showers and head to the other car park via Lidl for provisions.

Same routine.  We cycle into Copenhagen and we are now so well practiced we make it in 20 minutes to Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.   Judging by the crowds gathering outside today is the free day.

At 11am the doors open and we wait for the crush to subside before heading in.  We try to just saunter into the gallery's but while it is free you have to get a ticket.  Bags deposited we set off, top down.

The fourth floor is a roof garden with views across Copenhagen, the third is a small gallery of the paintings we mainly wanted to see.  A couple of Van Gogh's, some Toulouse-Lautrec, a few Monet's and three of Degas' ballerinas.   After each room we play the 'if you could take one home which one would you choose' game.   

After that we get a bit confused, there is a special Degas exhibition which you have to pay for, so we can't go there and we struggle to work out what's where.   Elements of the building are stunning and we enjoy huge doors with amazing handles, stained glass ceilings and a garden in the central area.

We whiz round the Etruscans then we are onto Ancient Rome.   Head after head perched on plinths which gets a bit scary when you are in a gallery on your own with them.    Most are anonymous, a young Roman, a Roman woman, a famous Roman, we couldn't work out how we knew they were famous without a name.   Alastair gets excited to see Emperors and their wives who appear in his current book.

Then we were onto the heads of the Ancient Greeks, apart from the philosophers they were mostly anonymous too.

We knew we were missing a gallery so headed up a flight.   This was modern Scandanavian painters, we recognised some of the views like staved churches.  Coming out of that we found ourselves in the special Degas exhibition, we kept quiet.   There was a room of his bronze statues with the only one he ever displayed, his 14 year old dancer with her ballet skirt.   As we left that room it seemed they had given up on making people pay extra so were letting everyone in.

 We gave in and asked for help.   The woman pointed us in the direction of the missing rooms, the Rodin sculptures.  His work is amazing, as you entered the room there is 'The Burghars of Calais', a depiction of 5 men which was astonishing whichever way you looked at it, worth persisting for.

The art is pretty underwhelming compared with similarly prestigious galleries in the UK.  AND you normally have to pay to get in, unlike the UK.  We are just so fortunate in the easy accessability to great collections that we have in the UK.

Outside we have bread and humous before heading for home. We are learning the cycling signals so an arm raised to 45 degrees means left or right depending and a left hand in the air means I am stopping.  People riding scooters, helmets and all travel in the cycle lanes which is slightly disconcerting.

We make it safely back to H and it's time to move on.  We feel so much better than when we arrived, staying somewhere for 2 nights makes a massive difference.  We drive for only 25 minutes to free services in front of a campsite which by now is probably closed.  





Lisa fills up with water while Alastair empty's the loo, what neither of us notice is that the pipe from the loo sink goes straight onto the ground!!!!  Thank goodness there is nothing more incriminating than wee in the loo.  We hose it all down the grey water hole and drive off quickly.

Our destination, by weird coincidence, is a car park by a beach, which is also next to the Arken Modern Art Gallery at Ishoj.

H wants to be in the shade because it is monstrously hot, about 26C.  Trees are scarce and H does his best. We reconnoitre: loos, beach, marina, art gallery, men kite surfing on boards with hydrofoils, no nasty signs, loos, cycle paths, BBQ area, loos.  All present for a pleasant stay.

Over tea we continue with the mission we have given ourselves, learning the shipping forecast locations in order, thrilling our life is.

Amager Strand, Copenhagen. Monday 12th September

We wake to another beautiful blue skied sunny morning, how lucky are we!! Before breakfast we go for a wander along the promenade, it's just after 7 and wonderfully quiet apart from a couple of joggers.

We finish breakfast and are ready to go by 9am. Today we plan to explore the city. All of the museums are closed so we can't feel we are missing out.


We drive back to the car park we had initially planned to stay at yesterday before reading the overnight ban. It's slightly nearer to the city and directly on a cycle route.

Bikes off and we are soon cycling along in the sunshine. We head to the East of the city so we can explore along the river and canals.

Once we are into Copenhagen we bumble along the River side looking: at ancient wooden ships, beautiful old buildings, rows of houses painted different colours, the modern opera house and opposite that a naval dockyard with a submarine and what we think to be the Queens yacht.

It takes us all morning to enjoy this part of Copenhagen and then we arrive at the piece de la resistance. The little mermaid; which isn't quite as bad as we had expected considering most Danes are embarrassed by it.

Time to head back and get lunch. Alastair had spotted a deli on the way up. We cycle back to it, walk in and enjoy the vision of: beautifully presented vegetables, far too expensive bread and champagne costing several hundred DK. We walk out again empty handed.

A block down there is a supermarket, much more our style these days, where we get bread and hummus. We walk them over the road to the citadel park and enjoy them on a bench; first in the sunshine then moving to the shade as we are beginning to frazzle.

Next we cycle to the Royal gardens where we are incredibly tempted to nick a courgette from the urban garden. How can it have come to this!!!!???

Slightly ashamed of ourselves and feeling we have done enough sightseeing for one day we decide to head home.

By now we almost look like native Danes in the cycle lanes, which are given greater priority than car lanes and are often just as big. However we get completely confused at junctions where we need to turn left, who goes where first is a mystery. So we just stop and dismount causing a near bike pile up behind us. Bloody foreigners!!!

Back at Hamish we park him in shade and cool and chill waiting for the other car park to empty.

At Amager there is one space left in the car park. The same one we had last night. It's so lovely when some things work in our favour. We grab our chairs and rather than walking to the sea on one side of us we walk to the lake on the other.







There is lots of activity: stand up paddle boards, kayakers, swimmers in wet suits with colourful balloons attached to their waists and families with one boy who keeps running past us and jumping off the platform into the lake. 

Alastair is beside himself nosing at all of this.

We finish off the evening with another beautiful sunset from H. No noisy romantic trysts, a fabalass day.

Vaster, Sweden, to Amager Strand, Denmark. Sunday 11th September

We wake after a quiet night, get showers and breakfast and head South. We pick up £20 worth of petrol. Doing our sums last night we have gone slightly over our weekly budget, queue the daily Brexit chunter as the pound is weak against the Krona as a consequence.

Eventually we get back to the Marina. Speed limits are much lower in Scandanavia so in residential areas we crawl along at about 25 mph which feels more frustrating as we are having to go South first.

We use the services and get back on the road North back towards the bridge.

About an hour and a half after setting off we finally arrive at the tolls for The Oresund Bridge. We choose a person rather than an automatic barrier. The woman in the booth is just lovely and asks where we are from and then the big question, how long is H? Lisa confidently says 5.8 metres, good she replies, that means he's cheaper, hooray for Hamish!!!! It costs us about £50 rather than £100, the same as it costs for cars.

The early mist has cleared and we drive across under beautiful blue skies. The bridge is stunning and, thanks for the messages from home, but there were no bodies and we aren't murdered. Sadly there are no gold Porsches crossing either but we love the experience.


We drive into Copenhagen and after a quick stop for groceries we head to the car park we had planned for our overnight stop.

It is rammed. It is a hot Sunday in September. The car park is next to the beach and there is a very pink breast cancer awareness fun run taking place, increasing the numbers of people and cars attempting to park hugely. We find a space limited to 1hour parking, get some lunch and rethink.


Thankfully when we look at our map we aren't in the right car park. We set off and find the right one, a beautiful, quiet, shaded spot behind some boat houses. Marvellous, if only every city could be so easy. Remember: 'if it seems to good to be true.....'

We have waited until Sunday to come to Copenhagen because we read in Lonely Planet that the main art gallery, Ny Carlsberg Glyptobek (the collection was donated by Mr Carlsberg) is Free on Sundays. So we need to get there today.

We get on our bikes and head into Copenhagen. It's lovely to be out cycling and Lisa happily meanders along looking around at the city and vaguely heading in the right direction. Without a map or knowing where he is going Alastair is struggling and becoming Mr. Grumpy and apparently it's all Lisa's fault. Obviously.



To redeem herself Lisa finally spots a map and we set off again and arrive at the gallery. It is now free on Tuesday; not Sunday!!! Typical.


Alastair had also read that The National Museum is free all the time. So now that we are in the middle of the city we carry on and find other stuff we can't afford to go into: The Royal Palaces, an ammunition gallery for example. During our perambulations, joy of joys, Lisa spots a free map and unraveling it she spots an advert for a Taphouse; tempting.

 However we want to see something so we first find the National Museum. It's 75kr. Not free after all. Plans based upon the lonely planet guide are not working for us. We wander round the shop for a bit but we have tried hard enough. We head to the Taphouse.

Lisa gets a refreshing wheat beer and Alastair has an 11% Aarhus stout. Only a third of a litre each but it's our first beer out since Bremen and we are completely made up. At £8.50 for two tiny drinks it is just as well we are easily pleased.

After more wandering we head for home. We get a little lost once, not helped by the car park where H is not being on our map. Eventually we make it back.

Alastair takes his phone to translate the sign behind H. 'NO overnight parking'. Here we go again.

The people who identified this car park and the one in Sweden stayed here in the height of Summer and obviously didn't read the small print and didn't get a ticket but we don't dare. Sweden provide so many free spots it seems unfair to stop where they take the trouble to say you can't and in Denmark, well once bitten.

We first decide to try the car park we started in, by now it's emptied out and there are several bays to choose from. We park up and get some tea as its getting on now and after tea find a spot overlooking the sea and The Oresund Bridge.

We have a beautiful sunset and even a few fireworks before the main event of the evening The Archers hour long, verdict special. By now the car park is empty apart from us.

Just as we are going to bed we hear two voices close by. Alastair goes to get some water and check it out.

If you wanted a romantic tryst in a car park in the dark would you a) park in any empty part of the car park to be alone or would you b) park right next to the motor home, the only other thing in the car park? Alastair wondered if they were doggers. We go to bed. Wish they would get a bed too.