July 27, 2022
Day 2: To just north of Aars
I opened my eyes at 5 am to see a wide awake baby beside me, looking eagerly around him, keen to get on with life. On the other side of him was a considerably less enthusiastic Dea. “He thinks it’s daytime,” she said wearily, and who could blame him? Scandinavian summers are quite light and I must admit I had thought it was the middle of the day myself given how bright it was in the tent. I was feeling quite awake so I volunteered to take Kevin up so that Dea could get a couple hours more sleep. She had been doing most of the parenting through the night of our noisier-than-usual young boy, although I had got up for a 3 am nappy change; one that I proudly conducted in record speed to avoid a repeat of the peeing-everywhere-in-the-tent-in-the-middle-of-the-night incident.
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I walked Kevin around the garden and showed him the animals, changed his clothes, played with him a bit, and he soon realized that it wasn’t the middle of the day and he was in fact still quite tired and began yawning and rubbing his eyes, so I converted the bike trailer into a push chair and took him for a walk up and down the road. He thought this was great fun and looked eagerly out at everything until eventually after 20 minutes or so he nodded off and I could return to the garden to sit and eat my breakfast. My two favourite people were getting some peaceful sleep, the wind had died down, the sky was a beautiful blue, and the whole day was ahead of us.
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My two favourite people in the world both woke up - one of them, no prizes for guessing which, with poop all over their clothes that the nappy hadn’t been able to hold back. This was on top of the clothes that had just a couple of hours earlier got pee on them, and Dea and I realized we were going to need a good system for washing and drying Kevin’s clothes if this was going to work!
Breakfast was eaten and then it was time to brush Kevin’s teeth for the first time. His two first teeth had just started coming through, the latest in an ever expanding list of firsts in his life, and Dea enthusiastically brushed the tiny little teeth with a tiny bit of toothpaste on a tiny brush. Another first ticked off, this one perhaps never to be forgotten, due to it taking place on the grass in a stranger’s backyard near to some geese.
Shortly after nine we were ready to hit the road to do some actual cycling. Dea and I wished each other a great day, as we always did when we cycled the world, and it just felt so good to be out doing this again. We both beamed with happiness.
Today I was pulling the trailer and Kevin was soon asleep as we followed a bike path beside a road for 10 kilometers or so to the town of Nibe. It was now overcast and we still had a headwind but it was nowhere near as bad as the day before, and we were soon arriving in Nibe. This little town is situated on the shore of Limfjord, just like the holiday home we were heading for, but Limfjord is so big and contorted that didn’t mean much. We still had a long way to go.
We took a break in a park in Nibe and laid Kevin out on a blanket. “I’m worried this way of travelling isn’t good for his development,” Dea said, as he lay there, not rolling over as he often did at home.
I went off to get some shopping and soon received a text from Dea. “Oh he is still developing!” It read, “He just got up on his knees.”
I got back to the park and we spent some time hanging out, during which time Kevin continued his rapid development by not only pushing up onto his knees but wriggling forward. For the first time ever our son was moving himself forwards! Not with great elegance, it has to be said, but it was amazing all the same. Our boy could move. Then the implications dawned on me. “We’re in trouble now,” I said, as I picked up the knife our precious baby was edging himself towards.
We strapped Kevin back in his trailer where he couldn’t edge himself towards any sharp things and continued. Soon we left behind the road and were just following a bike path through the countryside, the fjord to our right, trees to our left, heather lining the path. It used to be a railway line which explained what it was doing out here away from any roads. The sun was trying to shine again and it was lovely cycling.
Our next stop was in Vegger, village of the year in 2020, for this remote corner of Denmark at least. I could see why with a lovely picnic area and mini football pitch. I did my best to get a game going with Kevin but it seemed like he was done with ‘firsts’ for today. So I settled for a tickle war with him, something I usually won with ease. Not today, though, young Kevin fought back and began licking my ear, which tickled me a lot. So much so that I think he won. I guess he wasn’t done with firsts after all.
After a couple of hours of fun in the park we hit the bike path for our third and final cycling session, Kevin as ever falling asleep in the trailer and missing out on seeing more nice bike path cycling. He awoke just as we reached a picnic/camping area in the forest where we planned to spend the night. There was another cyclist taking a break here, a German man who had quit his job and bought a bike and was cycling around Europe. He said he was on his way to Nordkapp, but he also said he didn’t like rain, or mosquitoes, or remote places, so he might not enjoy it that much.
Kevin was a bit fussier than normal in the evening, although he has always tended to be fussy in the evenings and today was another big day for him. There’s so much for him to take in, it’s no wonder he needed a bit of a cry. He is fine now though, sleeping peacefully beside me after his mother nursed him to sleep. He is such a good boy and I am enjoying it so much to introduce him to the cycling lifestyle. We are spending more time together than we do at home when I’m working and I feel like we are bonding more. Maybe that’s not just because of the extra time, maybe it’s because this cycling me is the real me. I feel like myself out here, I am happier, and I love so much that Kevin seems so happy to be out here too.
Today's ride: 34 km (21 miles)
Total: 50 km (31 miles)
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