Dane blowers
It's been very windy in Denmark since we got here which has made driving the van very stressful. My arms ache from constantly wrestling with the wheel to keep it on the road as the high crosswinds try to blow me into a ditch/a bridge/oncoming traffic. I might as well be driving a sail. It's equally stressful for Claire too I imagine as she watches me shriek like a girl, clinging to the steering wheel like I'm Gollum and it's The One Ring.
On Tuesday I manfully piloted us up to Skagen and Grenen right at the very tippy top of Denmark – it's that little nipple bit, top right if you look at a map. There we found a beautifully desolate beach littered with a few WW2 gun emplacements. Because the beach goes to a point, there's this weird phenomenon where the waves of the North Sea
crash in from the left and the waves of the Baltic Sea crash in from the right and where they meet at the tip there's this sort of ridge of surf as the two seas collide. So mesmerised were we by this that we failed to notice Claire getting stranded on a sandbank as the incoming tide(s) made Denmark just a tiny bit shorter.
Danish people are just so damn nice. We'd already been given money off our campsite the night before because we'd turned up late so hadn't had a full stay! That threw us. Then in Skagen, I practically ripped the wing mirror off a parked car in the narrow high street. As I pulled over, the portly chap whose car it was, came jogging up and asked me to go and inspect the damage with him. He showed me the mirror, told me it was nothing really, not to worry about it and to have a nice stay in Denmark! He even shook my hand! Unbelievable.
On Wednesday we went to Jelling which is of great historical importance to the Danish. There are burial mounds and giant rune stones belonging to King Gorm The Old (when he died did Denmark become Gormless?!) and his son King Harold Bluetooth. Whatever. The most fascinating bit to me was that the Bluetooth on your phone was named after King Harold Bluetooth (he was a great communicator) and, fact fans, the little Bluetooth symbol is a runic depiction of an H and a B! Vikings invented wifi!
We also went over the massive bridge that connects the two danish islands of Fyn and Zealand. It is a magnif
icent and awe-inspiring thing to drive across. Just a shame that when we got to the other side we were met with a magnificent and awe-inspiring toll to match. Cars have to pay about 220DK (£25), caravans about 330DK (£38) and lorries 660DK (£77). Guess which one of these categories they felt our mobile cottage slotted into. Claire was not happy because she wanted to use the automated system and say we were a caravan. I, of course, had to go and ask the attendant. I currently owe Claire 330DK worth of washing up.
Today we went a bit touristy – we saw some Viking ships they'd dug up in Roskilde, visited the castle in Helsingør that Shakespeare used as the setting for Hamlet and now we've just tipped up in Copenhagen for the night. It's still very windy.
On Tuesday I manfully piloted us up to Skagen and Grenen right at the very tippy top of Denmark – it's that little nipple bit, top right if you look at a map. There we found a beautifully desolate beach littered with a few WW2 gun emplacements. Because the beach goes to a point, there's this weird phenomenon where the waves of the North Sea
crash in from the left and the waves of the Baltic Sea crash in from the right and where they meet at the tip there's this sort of ridge of surf as the two seas collide. So mesmerised were we by this that we failed to notice Claire getting stranded on a sandbank as the incoming tide(s) made Denmark just a tiny bit shorter. Danish people are just so damn nice. We'd already been given money off our campsite the night before because we'd turned up late so hadn't had a full stay! That threw us. Then in Skagen, I practically ripped the wing mirror off a parked car in the narrow high street. As I pulled over, the portly chap whose car it was, came jogging up and asked me to go and inspect the damage with him. He showed me the mirror, told me it was nothing really, not to worry about it and to have a nice stay in Denmark! He even shook my hand! Unbelievable.
On Wednesday we went to Jelling which is of great historical importance to the Danish. There are burial mounds and giant rune stones belonging to King Gorm The Old (when he died did Denmark become Gormless?!) and his son King Harold Bluetooth. Whatever. The most fascinating bit to me was that the Bluetooth on your phone was named after King Harold Bluetooth (he was a great communicator) and, fact fans, the little Bluetooth symbol is a runic depiction of an H and a B! Vikings invented wifi!
We also went over the massive bridge that connects the two danish islands of Fyn and Zealand. It is a magnif
icent and awe-inspiring thing to drive across. Just a shame that when we got to the other side we were met with a magnificent and awe-inspiring toll to match. Cars have to pay about 220DK (£25), caravans about 330DK (£38) and lorries 660DK (£77). Guess which one of these categories they felt our mobile cottage slotted into. Claire was not happy because she wanted to use the automated system and say we were a caravan. I, of course, had to go and ask the attendant. I currently owe Claire 330DK worth of washing up. Today we went a bit touristy – we saw some Viking ships they'd dug up in Roskilde, visited the castle in Helsingør that Shakespeare used as the setting for Hamlet and now we've just tipped up in Copenhagen for the night. It's still very windy.
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