Finally, onto Denmark with a night in Stege, Denmark (July 5, 2023)

July 5, 2023

Our original plan had been to take the 11 am ferry from Rostock. The ferry port is actually in Warnemunde, a 12 km ride from downtown Rostock. Given that our day is now loaded up with a bike ride twice as long as we had originally planned along with an additional train ride we opted to take to foreshorten our trip to Stege, we opted for the 9 am ferry instead. We are NOT early morning folks (especially Jill) so departing at 7:15 am was a little stressful. It worked out because Jill awoke at 4 am due to a coughing fit and never went back to sleep and woke Dave up too. The weather forecast was bad with consistent rain projected all day all over South Zealand, the region in Denmark to which we were heading off. It rained on the ride to the ferry but things went smoothly at the terminal. It was pretty quiet in terms of pedestrians and cyclists. There were four other riders, and we talked to three of them: one guy from Slovakia who was on an extended bike-packing adventure, and a German couple who were riding to Copenhagen to see Bruce Springsteen. They were taking the train back and the woman said she booked the train slots for the bikes all the way back in February; a lesson learned for Jill’s future planning (treat booking long-range train tickets like reserving airline tickets……). The ferry ride was smooth, timely and pleasant with a place to recharge our electronics and enjoy a good latte. Thanks to Jon Ayling for his reassuring comment on taking ferries: this was our first one with bikes and indeed it was a piece of cake.

The coast of Denmark nears and we can finally begin our Scandinavian adventure.

We arrived in Gedser, Denmark in wind and rain and rode the 30 km to Nykobing as fast as we could. I had mapped a somewhat indirect route along the east coast and it was a mistake not to have adjusted the route after the bad weather forecast. The wind was howling near the coast and abated somewhat more inland. We rode on roads, cycle trails, logging roads, and a goat path or two (see photos) and arrived in Nykobing at the train station right at 1 pm.

I could barely hold the phone still in the wind for this shot.

One thing about riding in Denmark, it may be, probably will be windy, but the terrain is pan flat.

We had determined we could take a regional train from Nykobing to Vordingbord (two places pretty much in the middle of nowhere) which would eliminate only about 10 miles of riding, but on this particular day it seemed worth the hassle. Nykobing train station is actually a big bus station with one hourly train that runs north up through the interior spine of South Zealand. We bought our tickets at the station's 7-11 (in Denmark we learned you have to buy a bike ticket for a specific train time) at 1:04 pm with the train departing at 1:08. Given our well-documented insecurity for train travel, we doubted we could figure out the track number, lift access, proper train car location and bike loading in the four minutes allocated to us but believe it or not we did. Sometimes it helps not to think too much about the small stuff. It also helped that it was a quiet day, the designated bike car was empty of bikes and the kind conductor could tell we needed a little extra time. He helped unload our bikes and panniers on the other end 20 minutes later.

The only downside to riding from Vordingbord to our destination in Stege was that it was now a 30 km ride directly into the wind. There were parts of the ride that were great (in the forest) and not so great (riding over a long spanned bridge rising over a body of water with a bad headwind, and riding in traffic and construction on the last few km into Stege. Drivers were courteous. I was really at the end of my physical and mental rope though, still suffering from my cold and cough and tired from the logistics of the day.

We pulled into Motel Stege around 4:30. Dave cracked up when he saw our accommodations, as it was one of Jill’s more frugal choices. In my defense, accommodations in Scandanavia are pretty challenging. (Dave: Jill has no need for a defense in this regard.) They are expensive and few and far between in rural areas. This place didn’t even run to an on-site hotel manager who left our key inside a lockbox. It also didn’t have shampoo. It was verging on dumpy but not awful. The town of Stege itself is still working on its tourist infrastructure (there is a big pawn shop on the Main Street, perhaps its biggest store). We split a burger at a cute brew house for dinner. It was good but it clearly was the best choice compared to the few other, not so appealing places to eat. Regardless, we were extremely relieved to be on the road and healthy (enough). Since our accommodations didn't include breakfast we will be scrounging in the morning.

On to the span. Fortunately, the bike/pedestrian path was plenty wide. The headwinds were stiff.

Stege is a quaint but mostly nondescript village.

Our luxurious motel. To its credit, however, it did have a covered bike garage in which we could recharge our bikes.

Today's ride: 78 km (48 miles)
Total: 273 km (170 miles)

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