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DeeXTour of Danmark 2005 - The Ride Out - 3

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International Tandem Rally 2005 The Ride home Over Natning

Sjælland Odde is a peninsular that projects from the north end of Sjælland pointing in a westward direction.  There is one road along it and a cycle route.  The road is very busy for about 15 minutes after a ferry has arrived at Odden Færgehaven, then it is quiet until the next ferry.  We followed the cycle route as far as Lumsås.  Sjælland Odde has a very windswept appearance with windmills and turbines.

©Stephen Dee

20 July 2005 ID P7204767

The cycle route along Sjælland Odde followed its south coast, and went up and down.  This was the only hill that I used by lowest 20 inch gear whilst in Danmark!  It was this road which reminded me a bit of Jersey - roads up and down around the coast with nice almost English rural views. 

©Stephen Dee

20 July 2005 ID P7204778

Having realised whilst reading the map on the Ferry that its was about 350Km from Sjælland Odde  to the western end of Lolland at Tårs, we decided some train assistance was required.  So from Lumsås we followed the road to Nykøbing S. From there we got the train to Vordingborg at the southern end of Sjælland.  This involved two changes of trains and some confusion over tickets which meant on the first train, see picture from Nykøbing S to Holbæk only Ceri-Siân had a ticket!  The ticket inspector on the train was helpful and after sorting out our tickets at Holbæk we continued on our journey, changing trains again at Høje Taastrup. The S in "Nykøbing S" I presume stands for Sjælland, as there is also a "Nykøbing F" on Falster - which would make an interesting train ticket from one to the other!

©Stephen Dee

20 July 2005 ID P7204781

All trains in Danmark seemed to be cycle friendly, some more then others.  What struck us was the laid back attitude of the railway staff and fellow passengers.  The train we got from Nykøbing S,  had a nice cycle/pram compartment.  However it was somewhat crowded for a lot of the journey.  At the point the photo was taken there were 10 cycles, a baby trailer blocking the door on the left and a pram.  Passengers climbed over the cycles to board or get of the train.  One cyclist had to carry his bike from the far side of the pile to the other doorway behind me to get off as the door on the left was blocked.  We had got on the train first, so our cycles were placed either side and are at the bottom of the pile.  It was a good job we were getting the train all the way to the end of its journey. 

©Stephen Dee

20 July 2005 ID P7204784

From Vordingborg we headed across the Stor Strømmen bridge on to Falster.  The bridge starts from Masnedø, a small island just of Sælland and is 3.2Km long.

©Stephen Dee

20 July 2005 ID P7204812

The crossing was originally by train ferry, which was replaced by a joint road/rail crossing in 1937.  For around 30 years it was the longest bridge in Europe! (it is 77m longer then the Tay Railway Bridge).  The age of the bridge is seen in the fabric of the road etc.  There is a parallel modern road crossing for the autoroute now. The trains that use the bridge are "Inter Regional" push pull trains using either older rolling stock as in this case or modern double  decked stock and the 2 hourly Euro city service to Berlin. 

©Stephen Dee

20 July 2005 ID P7204817

On Falster we camped at Sunby, at site 736, before crossing by bridge on to Lolland.  We rode into Sakskøbing and enquired about ferries from Langeland to Ærø .  There was one at 17:35.  No problem - plenty of time to ride to Tårs, at the west end of Lolland, get the ferry to Langeland, and ride across to get the ferry to Ærø.  After leaving Sakskøbing we turned into wind and rain.  Then common sense dawned and it was a slog into Maribo where we got the train to Nakskov.  At Nakskov I wanted to take photos of the railway depot, but Ceri-Siân told me off.  Note the dark clouds  - that was the heavy rain storm we rode into on our short ride from the station to Tårs.

©Stephen Dee

21 July 2005 ID P7214851

At Tårs, we just got the 15:15 ferry to Spodsbjerg on Langeland.  This is a 45 minutes crossing.  As can be seen on Langeland they too caught the storm we had on Lolland.  After we got of the ferry on Langeland, the day brightened up.

©Stephen Dee

21 July 2005 ID P7214866

 

Langeland - the remaining storm clouds give a dramatic background to a common view in Danmark.

©Stephen Dee

21 July2005 ID P7214867

By the time we were on the ferry to Ærø, a blue sky  was dominant.  The alternative route off Langeland was by bridge on to Tåsinge and Fyn.  By taking the ferry route via Ærø , in addition to missing out the joys of riding across the long bridge, we cut a few miles out cycling with our luggage.

©Stephen Dee

21 July 2005 ID P7214881

 

The ferry from Langeland to Ærø , arriving in Rudkøbing on Langeland.  The ferry to and from Ærø  was the only place we had to pay full fare for Ceri-Siân, 12 and older its full fare.  There was no ticket office at the port, you boarded and the ferry master came round and collected fares - just like on a bus.  This ferry crossing was 1 hour long.

©Stephen Dee

21 July2005 ID P7214869

We camped on Ærø at Over natning site 556, Marstal Bugt.  As we had a glorious evening I went for a nice ride back into Marsal via Ommelshoved to phone home whilst Ceri-Siân was left home alone.  I woke early and could not get back to sleep, so I went for an early morning ride setting off at 5:22am.   This was an early morning view across the bay outside of Ærøskøbing.  The pleasure of an early morning ride, included seeing wild deer and hare run across the road.  

©Stephen Dee

22 July 2005 ID P7224905

 

Another pleasure was queuing up at the bakers in Ærøskøbing just before 7am to buy fresh bread and pastries for breakfast.  The bakers sold some nice Ærø Latte, bread rolls with two types of seeds.

©Stephen Dee

22 July 2005 ID P7224928

 

After breakfast we struck camp and headed into Ærøskøbing on our way to Søby to get the ferry to Fyn.  We got there in time to visit the bakers again to get some pastries for elevenses and food for lunch.

©Stephen Dee

22 July 2005 ID P7224936

Ceri-Siân climbing the hill up from the coast to Tranderup.  In the middle distance is Urehoved a spit of land that forms a bay north of Ærøskøbing.  In the far distance are the islands of Tåsinge and Fyn

©Stephen Dee

22 July 2005 ID P7224944 

We got the 12:25 ferry from Søby to Faaborg which is seen here backing into Søby.  This crossing was another hour long crossing.

©Stephen Dee

22 July 2005 ID P7224959

A view of Faaborg, on Fyn, from the ferry.

©Stephen Dee

22 July 2002 ID P7224966

403Km done, another 3Km to do!  Ceri-Siân looking forward to camping for a week at the Tandem Club rally in Tommerup Stationsby.  After striking camp each day, leaving the tent pitched for a week would be a holiday!

©Stephen Dee

22 July 2005 ID P7224979

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