I was saddened to have to say goodbye to my lovely little pitch inside Charlottenlund Fort. It was without doubt the best camping experience I have had on this trip and at £13 a night was ridiculously good value. However I had a ferry to catch to Denmark that departed from Elsinore, a mere 37 km up the east coast north of Copenhagen .
14 km into the ride I stopped Coast side to celebrate passing through the 4,000 km mark of the ride. It just happened to be at one of the many swimming jetty’s that dot This part of the coastline. On ridiculously good weather days like this you’ll see scores of swimmers flock to the water and then when done with their swim sit there in thick cotton bathrobes soaking up the sun whilst socialising with fellow swimmers.
4,000 km done. Who would’ve thought.
Morning swim about to occur....
.. and then sit in the sun with friends
Right along the coast from Copenhagen to Elsinore you’ll pass beautiful houses of unimaginable value that are split from the beach by the main road running along the coastline . To that end quite a few of the private swimming jetty’s also have their own
sunning terraces.
The road is approximately 43 km long andundulates moderately but never wanders far from the coastline. On a weather day such as this the views across the sound towards Sweden were stunning.
“Lane 8 for bicycles “ barked the ticket booth lady. Who was I to disagree. Lane 8 it was and all to myself. The ferry trip from Denmark (Elsinore) to Sweden (Helsingborg) takes all of 20 minutes crossing as it does just 4km of water and costs the equivalent of £6.50 .
Elsinore Castle. The last view of Denmark, and not too shabby either.
20 minutes later it’s hello Helsingborg in Sweden.
Even though it was just 10.00 am when we boarded there were already a few very drunk men on board. Transpires many people make the short trip from Sweden to Denmark to take advantage of the cheaper alcohol in Denmark and then return home with a headache. You could only buy alcohol on board whilst it was in Danish waters and you could only buy cigarettes whilst the ferry was in Swedish waters.
Swedish looking gent on horse with typical Swedish looking manor in background in downtown Helsingborg.
From Helsingborg I had another 100 km to my campsite just outside of Halmstad . Most of the countryside was open farm land however it was rudely interrupted by a 9 km hill that took 35 mins to conquer .
Appropriately named village not far from “the Hill”
Another appropriate village sign at the bottom of “the hill”.
Half way up the hill this beauty trundled past .
Comes complete with flower vase and pipe holder. Class.
Once “the Hill” was done with it was back to open farmland and a headwind as I trundled ever onwards before eventually the road ran down to the coast . Here I had small country lanes to myself that weaved their way through pine forests drawing on air rich with the sweet smell of pine needles.
Even passed a few Bronze Age burial mounds.
Eventually after 136 km of riding on the day I was given my pitch number and off I went to pitch a tent. Crowded as you can see.
8 mins later . Tent for one.
Back on the bike after a shower and some stretching and a 2 km cycle to the local pizza house that had an upmarket golf putt-putt course in its garden.
Then down to the beach for an hour of evening sun at 9 pm .
