Day 23: Copenhagen to Koge

August 10, 2013

When we left the camping reception was still closed, so we failed to apologize, and happily saved about 150 kroner! Another early bird was our new friend Hironaka Hiromi, cycling from Madrid to Amsterdam. He was using non waterproof packs and an old racing bike with skinny tires and radial spokes. We felt like weaklings, with all our fancy equipment. Now retired, he had been a chemist, and consulted on mercury poisoning on reserves in Canada. Interesting!

Our way now led through a marine lowland nature preserve. Here we had the blessing of numbered cycle routes that also stated where they were going! This is now the Berlin-Copenhagen main cycle way, and we over a dozen long distance tourers. One was Sesc, from Barcelona, had cycled in Norway and now was flying out of Copenhagen.

We also talked to the only racing type guy on the paths who would slow down for long enough. He said that he would normally go on the paths at 30 kph, but in speed trials could go 60. Downhill in the Tour de France speeds could easily be over 100. On the other hand, in a peleton where no one wanted to take the lead, they could all dodder along at 10. After a while the fellow had to go, and chuckled at my amazement that he could truly beat our current speed:13!

We proceeded down the east coast of this island that contains Copenhagen. They call it "zeeland", spelled sort of like SJAELLAND. We were following the Koge Bay, which features many beach parks, and also those great bike routes. However, Grampies are fickle and when we reached the direct route south - highway 151, we hopped on.

The cycling on-51 was totally boring, and a head wind also made it tiring. Approaching Koge, boring also became ugly light industrial, yet our notes told that Koge was an old and beautiful town. So we veered off, toward the town centre. Indeed, it did pass the "town" test, with intriguing row buildings, a square, cafe, and old church.

We sat by the church and made some sandwiches. There a local family asked us about our trip. They called it a "vacation" and we tried to correct this to "adventure". The lady had worked at the Canadian embassy here, but never visited Canada. We invited them to our place - and meant it.

With its beaches and well preserved town, Koge really is a good destination. Proximity to Copenhagen (by car) also puts it in a good position. The camping was correspondingly luxurious, but at 150 kr, not too bad.

We continue to lag our original time estimates - thought we would be in Berlin by now. For the present we are responding by taking highway shortcuts, but later we may train past less interesting bits, or accept that in October we will train to the Amsterdam finish line.

Right now, after captioning a few photos, it's off to bed. Gotta get up early and make tracks!!