To Stege on the Island of Mon

August 10, 2012

We are not the most efficient of campers and certainly looked like real amateurs beside the others but we had a reasonably good sleep and miraculously got breakfast eaten, everything packed up and loaded onto the bikes and were away by 8.30.

Our first stop was at Praesto where we found a great café and could have stayed in that cozy place for the rest of the day. After that the going changed a lot and it was very undulating and the map had arrows on it. They were only single arrows though and it was actually lovely cycling, a bit of a drag going up a hill then you could zoom down the other side. For Ken it was just the sort of agricultural country he enjoys going through. We saw farmers heading white clover and they told him they go through it three times and are very pleased with the yield for which they get 50kr a kg. I like the Danish houses, to me they all look as if they have been made out of Lego. They are invariably neat and nearly always have a tall flag pole out the front flying a Danish flag which is so long and skinny that it looks a bit like a streamer. These are great indicators of both the strength and direction of the wind. We passed through the hamlet of Kindvig. Ken and I used to live in Kinvig St in Dunedin and I had never realised there was a Danish connection.

At Kalvehave we came to a bridge that is about 1.25km long. Approaching it it looked daunting but in actual fact it was very easy, it wasn’t nearly as steep as it appeared in the distance, there was a dedicated cycle path over it and the wind although strong was half way behind us. The bridge took us to the island of Mon and when we got to Stege it was really too soon to stop as it was only 12.45. However we decided to look for accommodation as the next possibility was a long way away. It was freezing so after we eventually managed to find a free room in a motel we had to go to bed for a while to warm up. The price of accommodation in Denmark seems very high to us (this very small ‘motel’ is 750kr a night). Stege is an old town built around a harbor with an ancient town centre and rows of very old Lego houses. It was fun to explore and as usual for Denmark all the people we met very friendly and welcoming.

Its a miracle, it all fitted back on the bikes

Ken felt better about this 1966 Volvo which was being used to tedd the clover

We felt rather intimidated when we saw the bridge

Some of the images I see carved on stone are so similar to the ones my friend Karen is working into a beautiful Danish wall hanging

This ship was donated to the church in the 18th century. Every 10 years it is taken down and cleaned, there is a huge ceromony when it is returned to its position

Today's ride: 50 km (31 miles)
Total: 215 km (134 miles)

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