August 2, 2019
Friday 2nd August. Modern Art in the Morning; Historic Hillerod in the Afternoon
2nd August 32Kms
Modern Art in The Morning; Historical Hillerod in the Afternoon.
It’s light by about 4:30am, and though the sky looks overcast there’s a warmth in the air that suggests the possibility of a sunny day. Which is what comes to pass. Following a hearty breakfast of yoghurt and muesli with an apple chopped in, I make the daily coffee using our trusty filter system. The challenge is to achieve 2 cups of coffee of equal strength. I like to think I have it down to a fine art. Curiously, the coffee brand is called Siesta, something I thought coffee was designed to prevent.
Our camp spot has a small wooden jetty close by that is several metres short of the reed ringed lake it faces, but it has proven useful as a breakfast table, a packing bench, a drying rack and a sun trap for our solar charger. As I collect our bread rolls from the jolly lady in the office, I tell her about the small mouse I have just seen running about under the step. She says she’s not worried about it as long as it stays outside. It sounds like it could be a pet.
The camp ground is gradually coming to life. Our non-communicative motor cyclist neighbour, from the Czech Republic takes off with the barest of perceptible nods and the German girls on the other side have already embarked on what looks like a day lolling in the sun. Time to leave.
The ride to the art gallery is leisurely and pleasant in the sun as the cycle path runs between pretty thatched cottages on one side and the blue sea on the other. There are yachts yachting out there and Sweden looks a mere biscuit toss away. It looks pretty green and hilly, though fuel storage tankers dominate the shoreline.
At the art gallery, we stash our bikes along with all the others against an ivy covered wall, in a courtyard with a Henry Moore figure in its centre. Leave our panniers attached. The galleries present quite a varied collection. The large oil paintings of Eugene Leroy Frankrig, are intriguing because up close they look like a swirl of daubed colours but from 3 metres away a figure emerges. They remind me of the Frank Auerbach ‘face’ which was in the house we lived in in London. Only from the other side of the room was all revealed.
Another exhibit called ‘Homeless Souls’ portrayed ideas about exile as a political and existential reality. The artists worked from their own experiences. The ‘What are You Looking At?’ exhibits is also interesting in that it they question what we see when looking at art. Hockney’s pencil panoramic line drawing of the Grand Canyon was impressive.
The gardens outside the gallery overlook the sea and have wide green spaces for wandering about, which we do, enjoying the Miro ‘ET’ (my interpretation) and “ thighlights “, the lines of clean white undies hanging neatly from lines strung beneath the trees. Does art always need meaning?
In looking for a lunch spot we are about to enter what looks like an ornate hedged and treed garden, when we realise it is, in fact a cemetery. We spot a couple more of these ‘gardens’ on the trail. Following a late lunch beside the sea, we head for Hillerod a mere 20 kms away. As with all our cycling here so far, the need to move along a main road holds no fears because one just knows there’ll be a cycle path- and there is! And so we reach Hillerod and the Fredriksborg palace, fairly quickly. The camping sign had directed us this way, so we rolled along raked the gravel path through ornate gateways , right up and past the magnificent edifice to reach the town and campground.
This proves to be no ordinary campground, having won top Danish campsite 2019. Owned and run by Annette since 2005 she has developed the old Showgrounds to this beautiful flowering space. There’s a kitchen with pots, pans, stove provided and the toilet and shower area is par excellence. A request to remove shoes is made for all areas. Following a speedy supermarket visit we dine on Ann’s vegetable pasta, perhaps regretting a little the we haven’t give the classy kitchen a real culinary workout. This time it is dark when we hit the hay but there’s a clear sky which augurs well for tomorrow.
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Today's ride: 30 km (19 miles)
Total: 75 km (47 miles)
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