Day 4: To Frøslev

August 13, 2022

We all woke up at 7 am and it was so nice to open my eyes and see my son’s big blue eyes staring at me with a smile on his face. I got up and cycled down to the beach to use the public toilets as we didn’t have access to any at the house. At least I got to go to the beach in the end.

We had a nice surprise when I got back. The nice neighbour who had come by the night before had left us a hamper with coffee, buns and cheese to enjoy for breakfast. They probably would have invited us over but they were leaving early themselves. This was a very thoughtful gesture and we enjoyed the breakfast sitting in the garden.

Then it was time to cycle. First down to the water, where Dea spotted some porpoises out in the bay. “Just like when we saw those pink river dolphins in the Amazon,” she remarked. “Or the whales in Mexico.” Then we climbed up a very steep road away from the water. “Just like Kotor Bay,” she said, this time being reminded of a day of switchbacks we had done climbing up a mountainside away from that bay. She had now been reminded of travelling in Peru, Mexico, and Montenegro, and we were barely even out of Aabenraa.

Then we cycled past a field of crops and she said, “It looks like soy, like we saw in Uruguay. Or is it, maybe it’s quinoa. Do you remember we saw quinoa in Bolivia. I don’t know what it is.”

“I could use my plant app,” I volunteered, an app I have on my phone for identifying plants. So I came to a stop and tried to take a photo. “I’ll keep going,” Dea said, for she was towing Kevin today. “And you catch up.”

Unfortunately the app failed to identify the plant from the first try. I thought I needed to get closer, so I, still standing over my bike, edged toward the field. At this point the heavy bike began rolling down a hidden slope and I was soon mowing down some of the mystery crop as I disappeared into the field. I was in quite the situation now, stuck in the field of whatever it was. I was able to take a close up photo now I was very close up, but hadn’t bothered to wait for the result before getting off the bike and trying to haul it back up the slope before Dea and Kevin disappeared to Germany without me. That would have been quite the sorry way for this tour to end. But luckily I was able to find some hidden strength and extricated myself, and pedaled quickly to catch up with my family. I was now quite relieved that she hadn’t witnessed my misfortune, as I’m sure she would have laughed and said, “this reminds me of the time you fell into that bush in Panama.” Of course, when I checked the results on the app it still had no idea what the crop was.

We had some nice roads to cycle on, following cycle route eight again. At one point it looked like we were back on the Tour de France route when a group of road cyclists came by with one of them wearing yellow.

I’m pretty sure it wasn’t. We took our first and only break of the day at a church in Kliplev. There were already two touring bikes there, and the owners soon came along. They were a Swiss couple who must have been a good way into their seventies. It was really inspiring to hear that they had been on the road seven weeks and all the way up to Nordkapp. They were on ebikes, but I think that’s fair enough. I’ll be alright with that if it means I can still tour in four decades time.

After a couple of hours it was time to hit the road again. I took over the role of towing the trailer as Dea was feeling tired. We had been taking it in turns each day but Dea hasn’t done much major exercise over the last year and also has to breastfeed, while as I usually work as a bicycle courier, this tour actually represents quite a decrease in my weekly mileage, so I really should be able to take on a bit more of the work.

Kevin seemed tired and he probably fell asleep quickly, but after a couple of kilometres Dea and I discussed what setting the fan should be on. It was a hot day and we both agreed it should be on the higher setting but weren’t sure which one it was on, so we stopped to check. It was on the higher setting, but stopping to check might have woken Kevin up because he started crying. We stopped again and got him out, and after a bit of soothing from his mum we were good to go again.

He was soon fast asleep back there but we pedaled quickly to make it to our planned campsite before he woke up again. “I think it’s good if you can take the trailer a bit more, it works well,” Dea said as we pulled into the forest. She obviously hadn’t noticed I was panting and gasping and desperate for a drink of water.

It was a much happier Kevin who woke up in the forest.

The camping place was a free site in the forest just a few kilometres from Germany. We had arrived by early afternoon and enjoyed some hours off the bikes to relax and recharge ahead of crossing into a new country tomorrow. It was really nice to just hang out with Kevin, and especially in such a place, surrounded by nature. The campsite is in a clearing in the forest, with water and a simple toilet and everything we need, and nobody else is staying here overnight (although it is also a forest where dogs can run free off leash, so we had a few canine visitors). I like it so much to be in a place like this with Kevin, and I enjoyed holding him up and showing him the different trees. He liked to touch the leaves and watch them move. I couldn’t tell him what any of them were though, of course.

The locations of our first four nights. Tomorrow we sleep in a new country!!!

Today's ride: 28 km (17 miles)
Total: 289 km (179 miles)

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