Copenhagen to Helsingor - Post 2 24/6/10

Yesterday, 23/6/10, there was a festival for midsummer here, they light bonfires along the shoreline and load's of Dane's congregate to watch the sunset. It was, fortunately, a lovely sunny evening, we took glasses and a bottle of red wine and joined the local's on the harbour wall. The sun finally set at about 10pm but we know it's already full daylight by 3.15am so short nights!

The following day we visited Kronborg castle, the setting for Shakespear's 'Hamlet'. We saw the magnificent ballroom where the sword fight at the end of the play takes place, apparently! Personally I had to study 'MacBeth' at school and Mark did the 'Beano' (his words not mine!)

This is right above where our boat is moored. Location, Location, Location!

Sweden is only a couple of miles away, so, tommorrow another day another country

post 1 24/6/10

Some general pictures taken whilst cycling around Copenhagen

This is the Rosenborg Castle which is in a park in Copenhagen.

By the end of three days we were happy to pack our bikes away, sore bums and knees !! and Sue is a complete liability cycling aound a city, she misses the stop signs, stops when she shouldn't and generally causes chaos for other cyclists!

Post 7 - 23/6/10

After Kalvehave we headed north along the Sjaelland baltic coast to another fishing harbour called Rodvig, this was a much bigger harbour with alot of larger fishing boats. We had a day ashore here to do some exploring and went for a long hike along the cliff walk.

There is a very old church at Hojerup part of which fell into the sea years ago so they built a new church but preserved what was left of the old one, which is perched on the very edge of the cliff. No, I wasn't reading the sermon for the day!

The bit to the right of where Mark is standing is a sheer drop.

We walked so far this particular day we got the bus back! The weather has been good with just the odd cloudy bit.

Our next stop was Copenhagen where we spent a few days sightseeing. To get relatively near the city centre we stayed in a marina in the middle of a mostly abandoned industrial area although there was, what we think is a power station right by the marina. Not our prettiest location! but even from there it was a bit of a hike to the city so we used our bikes alot.

Post 6 - 23/6/10

After Agerso we had to negotiate an area with lots of Islands and we also had a couple of bridges to go through to reach Vordingborg, our next stop.

We are just out of the picture below.

Vordingborg is another town with lots of old buildings and fortifications.

We had to buy some extra charts for the next bit as it is very shallow with winding channels and some tricky pilotage. Sue negotiating the Kalvehave Bridge below. After this bridge we stopped in another little harbour for the night. There were alot more fishing boats here with nets drying everywhere along the shore, they also set fish traps which are stakes driven into the sea bed with nets strung between them which we have to be careful to avoid.

Post 5 - 23/6/10

After Nyborg we stayed a night on a small Island in the Store Baelt called Agerso. It's about 4 miles long by 1 mile wide. There is a village set around the harbour and a duck pond and we know there was a shop (just one!) but we didn't find it. We saw more tractors than cars whilst there.

Post 4 - 23/6/10

Whilst posing for this Mark actually slipped around the barrel and fell off onto to his head! I was too slow to get that picture! He suffered with a stiff neck and bad back for some days after! and has decided he should really start acting his age, I'am just disappointed I missed the good piccy (not really!)

Post 3 - 23/6/10

More from Nyborg Castle, there was a lake and what used to be the moat surrounding the area, along which small cabins had been built into the trees on the edge of the water as what seemed to be holiday homes.

Post 2 - 23/6/10

Nyborg was very picturesque and we stayed for a couple of days to do some sightseeing, this is Nyborg Castle (yes I know not Windsor!) alot of the original castle was plundered to make way or to build the town. The surrounding walks were lovely as well.

Post 1 - 23/6/10

After Kerteminde we did a very short distance to Nyborg, but to get there we had to go under 'The Store Baelt Bridge' which is very very long and huge, we don't have a picture as the fog closed in as we approached and the bridge supports were barely visible from a few hundred yards away, very nerve racking.

This is Nyborg

After Flensburg we moved north up the Danish coast to a lovely anchorage called Dyvig. This picture does not do it justice, we stayed a couple off days it was so lovely. Whilst stayinbg in Dyvig, we walked several 'hot' miles to Nordborg where there is an inland lake which in the middle ages was connected to the Baltic sea, the following are photos of a castle on the lake, part of which is now a school.














This is another lovely anchorage although we could not get a photo to do it justice, think The Lake District without the mountains!?!?!? We went for a long ramble getting very muddy here and it was beautiful.

This is Middlefart, yes the buildings along the old waterfront really are this wonky!

Next stop was Kerteminde where we caught the local bus to Odense, about 14 miles away at the head of a fjord. We did some sightseeing in the rain, this is Mark outside Hans Christian Andersen's childhood home.

This is a more sensible photo!

This is a sculpture of a clockwork camel which was outside the Bazaar Fyn in Odense, We think it looks like something out of a Star Wars movie, no idea what the relevence is but it looked great close up!

We have been exploring some of the fjords north of Kiel and are making our way to Denmark. Just to show it's not all fun!, this was washday in Kappeln Germany. The rigging makes for a very convenient washing line! Another view of Kappln.
We stayed in Flensburg which is at the head of a beautiful fjord and met up with another British yacht of the same design as 'Wishful', this is one of the few British yachts we have seen on our travels.

Mark has had a tooth infection so we stayed a couple of days here in case we needed to find a dentist. He's on the mend now though.

Flensburg on a lovely evening.

This is a church we came accross on a long ramble thru the countryside near Broager also in Flensburg Fjord but we are now in Denmark.

We will be moving on tomorrow going north further up the Danish coast but are only doing short hops each day and are making the most of some amazing hot sunny weather we are experiencing at the moment.