Month: July 2020

800 miles over 2 days, but made it (albeit rather tired).

– the whole of Northern Europe’s landscape is unbelievably dull. And so although it was very tedious, I guess it was effective. Very few hold ups.

– speed limits in the Netherlands are annoying. Higher at night, and the satnav seems to think you are using these higher speeds, so arrival time is impossibly optimistic. And they change frequently so you have to stay on the lookout.

– service stations are universally dire.

– adjacent countries do things differently, even though there are effectively no borders. So masks in Germany and Belgium but not the Netherlands.

– everyone speaks English (of course), except when I tried to get a haircut.

– staying in a hotel means breakfast is the best meal of the day by miles.

– Denmark is expensive – might have mentioned that.

– it’s a very long way to drive!

Breakfast (mildly chilly but fantastic)

How could this be anything but a highlight???

Pant (Danish deposit system on cans, bottles etc. I’d been lugging our recyclables around for a week in order to do this. £4 if you’re interested.)

Watering can (bought in Copenhagen)

And the rest

But first we liked this. Any ideas?

Yes. It really is a crab-racing track.

And one takeaway from Denmark is the food really isn’t great, especially when combined with the prices. Did I say Denmark is expensive???

But the hotel breakfasts have been great. Shouldn’t really take photos of food, but here’s an exception.

Decided not to splash out on a bag of crisps ….

…. at £3 per packet.

Another really dull drive, and somewhat surprisingly it got as high as 28 degrees which didn’t add much to the comfort.

But Skanderborg is a nice little village about 15 miles from Aarhus on the edge of the Lake District.

And dinner with a view.

Not sure Denmark is top of anyone’s list for a holiday, but in mid-summer and nice weather it is suitably diverting.

Main event today was to Helsingør.

Even closer to Sweden than anywhere else

But really the main reason is that, as everyone knows (now) the castle is the setting for Elsinore in Hamlet.

And the town is ok too.

And the beach.

Enjoyed this view first thing in the morning.

No, I’d never heard of Copenhagen’s world famous art museum either, and it’s about 20 miles from Copenhagen, but that was the main event today. It’s beautifully located.

And just enjoying the beautiful day at the beach.

And the gardens at the Karen Blixen museum next door to the hotel.

And the masterclass in selfies as usual …

Said au revoir to Jo until we’re back in Aarhus and headed north for a few days.

Although the biggest news of the day was that I didn’t get a haircut! All ready to be snipped and remembered to ask about payment – they only use mobilepay which I can’t get. So the shaggy look continues.

Anyway, satnav took us right through the centre of Copenhagen which was great (and easy) and can add that to the cities we have driven right through (remember New York and Marrakech for example).

Took a detour (although in reality distances are tiny compared to what we’ve been used to) to Hillerød and the summer palace Frederiksborg Slot. Fantastic gardens and palace.

Then to the hotel at Rungsted (see map above) with a nice balcony.

Appalling dinner on the marina but lovely beach.

Starting with a run. Both felt a bit weary so not especially quick but really glad we did it.

Then headed off into town for a few more sights, some shopping (including a wonderful old map of the North Pole and Greenland for Jo’s new flat).

It had been forecast to rain all day and occasionally the skies were pretty angry but it held off until we were deluged going home. But found time for a couple of beers.

When you start thinking that £8 for about 3/4 of a pint is reasonable you know you’ve gone native. The bank account is weeping under the strain!!

Anyway, lovely view from the lounge.

Bastille Day, but wasn’t able to get croissants for Adrien so had to settle for coffee and baguettes.

Anyway, I keep banging on about normality, and so won’t stop now. Took a metro and wandered down a busy street and felt absolutely fine.

Then plain old sightseeing.

It really is a lovely city – small and not overly busy. It was a sunny day and not too hot. Just don’t think about prices ….

Adrien had to go home later on back to work. He did explain what he did, but apart from “nano” and perhaps “DNA” we’re a bit in the dark.

But some nice photos from Jo from last night.

Journeys are pretty dull. Which really means they are uneventful and pretty quick.

Nearly 200 miles in 3 hours (although the £30 toll to cross the Nyborg bridge – even if it is over 10 miles long – seems a bit steep even for Denmark).

View from the flat.

That’s the bridge to Malmo in Sweden in the background.

Checked out the beach.

And then did that crazily normal thing of getting the metro into the city. It’s only 10 minutes and yet again felt weirdly normal.

And then a wonderful warm evening to enjoy.

Much more of Copenhagen tomorrow.

Another hanging around domestic sort of day. Adrien is making Jo a table for her new flat, so we had to go to Bauhaus (think Homebase) to get wood and stuff.

Took ages but will be worth it.

Botanical gardens for lunch

And down to the beach – think yesterday but less sun.

And just when I thought I had got payments sorted by getting the Monzo card, along comes danemobilepay or whatever it’s called. Need a mobile phone (fine) and a Danish bank account (problematic). Which would be fine as long as they also accept cards, which some places (coffee, Petrol today) don’t.

Anyway, having loved Jo’s flat and turfed her out after she had only been there a couple of days, it’s time to move on. So off to Copenhagen today for a few days. (And Jo and Adrien are joining us which will be great). Then they’re coming back and we’re heading off up north for another few days.