We started with a beautiful sail up the coast to a place called Olpentz. It is an old German naval base that is in the process of been converted into a luxury marina and flats. The flats were stunning (sorry no pictures). We found the marina and it was more pole parking. This time things did not go so well and we nearly gave a nice new 54ft motor boat a spare anchor through the side. Thanks to Jenny’s fending off we narrowly avoided disaster. (Took me a while to recover, two skint knees and a couple of pulled muscles, but no hole in the neighbouring boat!) After checking-in, I met a German called Olaf and persuaded him to come and show us how to park in the poles.
The first thing you need is 4 ropes, each one twice as long as your boat. So we failed at the first hurdle as we did not have ropes that long. With a bit of knot tying we rigged some up.
OLAF Parking
Anyway, thanks to an hour of Olaf’s time, Jenny and I are still talking and hopefully Jenny will not feel the need to place a limb between our boat and the next to prevent a collision (unless the limb is attached to me).
The next day, following Olaf’s recommendation we went up a river to a beautiful little town called Kappeln. Here we did our first demo of Olaf parking and then went off to purchase some excessively long ropes.
Olaf parking in action ( all went to plan ), and a paddle steamer that did not paddle and did not use steam ( big electric motor drove the paddle at the back for effect )The tourist office was an old windmill. The town was indeed beautiful and for some reason unknown to us had a Danish Band marching through it ( maybe the Danes had invaded north Germany, but no one seemed that fussed)Inner workings of the windmillIt had been fully restored, there was also a saw millthis is where they inspect the flour ( I think it is in this box to prevent dust explosions). It reminded us both of the still safes you get in the distilleries.A model of the herring traps they had in the river. The fish swim in from the right and end up being funnelled into the nets on the leftThis is the last remaining herring trap in the river ( as the picture above)The town is popular for its smoke house. I had to try some eel as this is the local delicacy. It is ok. Very oily. A bit like heavy and more oily version of smoked maceral. Not sure I would spend my beer money on it…… you did spend your beer money on it!!
A Driving school with an interesting name. Not sure it would get much business in the UK. Made us both laugh though!
LYO – 25th May
Now off to Denmark. We had a cracking sail out to this little island. It is only about 6 square Km with about 140 people. I gather it can get absolutely packed in the summer.
First flight of the Danish courtesy flag. I decided I had to declare our Scottishness and, as there’s no way to do it with the ensign, we decided to fly a Saltire as a ‘club flag’ on the port halyards.Some more Olaf parking – this not quite as smooth as the last one as we had a 20 knot wind blowing us off. We had a quick change of plan and got in the old fashioned way. The one comforting thing is watching others coming and going. We saw some horrendous parking, and departing (one German boat managing to cross 2 bays to hit a beautiful wooden Danish boat). So it appears that parking by collision is just a fact of life. Having watched others fail at this pole parking, it has made us a bit less nervous about trying it but, we have mostly managed to avoid it ever since!Not just us having problems as this old sailing barge had got it self stuck on the sand. It was adopting the ” more power Scottie “approach to getting off. I thought the engine was going to leap out and run off.It was a beautiful little islandA wee touch of the Inner Hebrides, felt very at home here.That Lurpack has to come from somewhere.Nice walk in the woodsOld Danish BarnStunning little village complete with pond ( Frogs were clearly in love by the noise they were making)Do you think there is a detective that lives here and they have a high murder rate like that other quant English village called Mid Summer?Hare today, gone tomorrowNow to start coiling the 80 Meters of rope we have lying aroundMy Danish look ( Thanks Jo, cannot wait to see my new hat)
Midlefart and Odense – 27th May
Next stop was Middelfart. Jenny is convinced all sign writing is done by boys in Denmark, especially as MidleFART marina had a limit of 3 knobs….
I should also point out that all of the poles in the marina were under 3.6 Meters apart. Luckily we found a slot at the end of a pontoon that we could use. Glad we did not try as later on we saw a hire boat the same as ours with 8 big Germans on it park between the poles. This consisted of the crew forcing the poles wider to fit the boat. When they left both poles were off by about 25 degrees. God knows how the boats next to them got out.
Another nice sail
We decided to catch the train to Odense and have a look around Denmark’s second biggest city. You need to remember that Denmark has a population the same as Scotland (smaller than London) so was more like a large town. Purchasing tickets was slightly confusing , but as everywhere, a local Danish person ( a very nice young blond girl, not that I noticed) came to the rescue. She asked if we wanted tickets to travel now. We said yes. Once we got the tickets she told us that now meant NOW in Denmark. They are only valid for the train that is leaving in 90 seconds!!! RUN……….On the train, only slightly gasping for breath, honest….Nice town Centre – all pedestrian which makes it a pleasure to wander through.Her name is Oceana but not sure of much else, other than I would not argue with her, and the kids use her as a slide.Nice church, pity about the worksHanse Christian Anderson lived here. He is a really big figure in Denmark. I would say that we have seen more reference to him than any other Danish individualwhere the Man himself used to live.According to the guide book this is called the eye of the needle. “Aye Right” it was fairly clear from the teenagers playing around it they were not fooled by the name either – Andy had to come back several times to get a photo that didn’t have hoards of teenagers sitting on top of the statue in it.Even the plugs are happy in Denmark – It is not known has the happiest place to live for nothing – I have to admit to smiling every time I see a plug socket, they are just so darned cute.The Vikings brought the Monks back from England to teach them how to make brick. Until then everything was wood. Looks like they got the hang of it.Nice little park dedicated to the great author himself.
Juelsminde – 28th May
Now a sail north through the very narrow passage between mainland Denmark and the large islands (that contain Odense and Copenhagen). It was like sailing up a Loch
Jenny wearing the latest in sailing fashion – the jumper has been off on a couple of occasions as has the buff, but not that often….Looks just like Loch LomondLooks Just like Loch Lomond – being followed by Cruise Loch Lomond?!It really does look like loch LomondOK , maybe not quite like loch LomondSome big bridges
Nice wee marina and I recognised this boat from when we stopped at Cuxhaven. It is a Danish Naval training vessel. As you can imagine it is immaculate. They were on a month of getting the permanent training crew sorted out , then they would be taking out the cadets over the summer. One thing we both noticed is all of the Navy people on board smoked. This was one of the few times there was not a guy (or girl) standing outside with a cigarette on their bottom lip Nice Stop over – notice we are parked alongside the harbour wall…….not a pole in sight!
Arhus- 29th-30th May
Tim had given us a call and said he could join the boat for a few days if we picked him up in Arhus. So we headed there for a couple of days to await Tim. This is Denmark’s third biggest city. We got a nice slot with no pole parking. This was the start of a 3 day holiday in Denmark as we found out. Everything was on a Sunday timetable. There was a big antiques (junk) fair next to the marina that also did speciality foods etc ( bit like a country market). We got some nice cheese and frankfurters – lucky they were there as we had no food and the supermarkets were all closed for the holiday. In our time in Denmark, most days seem to have been holidays and on the other days, people stop work before 5, a really healthy work life balance, if you ask me.
Relaxing in the bar ( before they presented the bar bill – one glass of wine £12!. To be fair this was massively expensive even for Denmark.A wee visitor, it was nesting in the boat next door. (probably not obvious, but we are moored alongside again – we’re getting good at avoiding these darned poles)Yes , ok I am smoking. I tend to only smoke about 4 cigars a year so I figure if that is going to do for me so be it.wee visitorwee visitorwee visitorWe found this in the marina. A 1930’s Fife. Millions of pounds of collectors item. Apparently 2 people own here and only one has been on board. The permanent crew member ( these boats normally have one or two to do nothing but permanently clean them) had no idea what it was. Only when I talked to him did he say “oh yes , there is a plaque on the bulkhead below with that name on it”. I explained that it had been built one mile from where our boat is kept in Scotland.
We had a day out waiting for Tim. We spent some time in an museum where they collect old Danish buildings. It was fascinating. It is a little town that has been built buy moving old buildings across Denmark into one location. Fantastic bit of engineering. They even had one street from the 1970’s . A bit scary thinking that what I grew up with is now in a museum.
One of the many streets – we could have spent hours here, you can go into every house and they have all been set up to showcase different aspects of Danish life, however, the weather was rubbish so we just had a quick visit, will maybe go back again on a warmer day.Simple Still. Forget all the curly copper piping – directly down through a bucket of cold waterI loved this stove. Brilliant design. It allows the heat to flow through a number of compartments to heat the whole roomJenny choosing a new car – I wanted the yellow one to go with my jacket
We also went to the botanic gardens. Very taken with the butterflies. Especially the ones with the translucent wings .
Bonnerup – 31st May
Having found Tim, we motored off to Bonnerup in the sunshine.Tim was so impressed with how well Andy cut my hair, that he volunteered to be next – Sorry Maggie!When the sun is shining and there’s no wind, Andy gets bored so he finds important jobs to keep himself out of mischief.Guess what? Still no pole parking!Locally made gin and tonic, it would be rude not to…..
Bonnerup is one of the prettiest places we have been, beautiful beach just over wall from the marina and a stunning sunset too.
So many photos…..The harbour entrance is easy to find as it has it’s very own windmillsAndy getting all arty farty……more arty shots……and another one….To make up for the total lack of wind yesterday, we sailed to Hals in the Limfjord, fully reefed with gusts of 35 knots and Captain Tim making sure the windows were thoroughly washed by putting them under a foot of water. Looked liked a washing machine from inside!
So lovely to be sitting on the sofa with a glass of vino reading about your adventures. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed Denmark, I loved my wee drive though last summer and have a desire to return very soon keep blogging and enjoying life on the sea. Xx
Feath 
So lovely to be sitting on the sofa with a glass of vino reading about your adventures. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed Denmark, I loved my wee drive though last summer and have a desire to return very soon keep blogging and enjoying life on the sea. Xx
LikeLike