July 5, 2023
Day 2: Føns to Assens
We all slept reasonably well in our cabins and Kevin even slept unusually long - until 7 am! This wasn’t quite as welcome as it normally would be though as we had kind of planned on cycling early before the rain started. But the rain was already starting at 7 so we stayed under cover and had a nice breakfast instead.
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We eventually rolled out at 9:30 and after stopping at Føns church for water we cycled past Føns beach. “Must be lovely in the summer,” I quipped. When planning this trip we had envisaged stopping and enjoying such beaches, swimming in the sea, playing in the sand. The Danish weather was not obliging. It was a wet, windy, miserable day. There wasn’t much to do except cycle and hope that the kids didn’t complain about being in their trailers. The landscape was open and there were no places to find shelter for the first 20 kilometres. Luckily Anna slept and Kevin, who had become fussy earlier in the morning, found his inner calm and remained patient in there for an hour and a half. He may have simply realised that it was the best place to be. Outside, it was pretty tough touring. I just got back a week ago from a 1,900 kilometre bike race around the Netherlands doing 300 kilometres a day. It was a doddle compared to this. What challenge was whizzing about on a racing bike compared to cycling up steep hills into the wind and rain on a heavy bike towing a kid behind me? This was real adventure cycling!
Eventually we made it with some relief to the shelters and it was a great place to take refuge from the elements. There was one big shelter and the kids loved being in there. We had a lot of food and were able to dry off and warm up for a bit. Then Lukas said that it looked like the worst of the rain would soon pass and he was right. The rain did stop and we could cycle on to our goal of Assens in brighter weather. It felt like a miracle.
In Assens we headed to the library to get inside for a bit and take a break from the wind. It was a popular choice with the kids. Meanwhile, Lukas had had some more problems with his rear derailleur so he and I went outside to take a look. This was when my competent bike mechanic mask slipped. We did manage to fix the problem by randomly tightening a screw but then Lukas decided he wanted to get the derailleur aligned properly. “I usually watch a YouTube video to see how to do it,” he said, looking at me like I might take over. “So do I,” I said, and he found a YouTube video. Even with this there was quite a bit of just randomly tightening and loosening the high and low limit screws and the barrel adjuster, which is how I usually bodge my way through it, before I slinked off to eat some food with the others. I think Lukas eventually got it aligned in a way he was happy with.
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After a few hours in the library we grabbed supplies at the supermarket then headed out to the shelters we had pre-booked for the night. They were in a nature area on the edge of Assens that involved a bit of adventure cycling to reach. Apparently this whole big nature area only exists because of the big factory in town that for over a century processed some kind of Danish sweet potatoes. They washed the potatoes and dumped the dirt that they washed off here and that was why this large area of raised land exists! And it was a really picturesque location next to the coast where we had two little cabins just exactly the same as the night before. There was no extra shelter for sitting but the weather just about held for us to make some food and settle in for the night. Kevin fell asleep quite easily - the little guy is experiencing so many things these days he must get quite worn out by it all - and Dea and I even had the chance to sit outside together and talk while watching seagulls hovering over the ocean. This trip is such a nice chance for us to slow down and spend time together, and appreciate such moments. Hopefully from here the weather gets better but it feels great that we have got through such a tough day weather wise with everyone still smiling and having fun.
Today's ride: 36 km (22 miles)
Total: 67 km (42 miles)
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