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Cycling in Denmark
©
If
like me you haven’t been on a bike for longer than you care to
remember, don’t worry it’s
all very easy and safe.
What makes it different from here is
that there are 46,000 kilometres (28,500 miles) of cycle track
to keep you away from the cars and that much closer to nature.
With a bike you don’t drive through the country scene, you
become part of it. The plus side is that you hear the birds and
smell the hay, the minus side is that you can sometimes smell
the other things that the farmer spreads around.
Fortunately the
land is largely flat and you can put a spurt on when necessary.
We
were kitted out with panniers and a carrier which would carry as
much as you would really want to push along under your own pedal
power and as we set out on the road two British families and a
Dutch couple arrived, the former like us, on a package holiday
the others hiring by the day.
Within
fifteen minutes we were getting to grips with the ‘wrong’
side of the road and the mysteries of the back pedal brake which
for me always seemed to stop in the wrong position to have any
push for starting. I began to wish I’d asked for a mountain
bike.
We put it down to a Danish sense of humour and set of in
search of the country and what country it was, just perfect for the bike.
There were quiet gentle winding
lanes with thatched cottages and fields lied with hedges.
It was
harvest time and I stopped to take a picture of hay being
pitched on to a cart it all seemed rather familiar then I
realised it was just like that well known painting ‘The Hay
Wain’ by Constable. Sticking my undeveloped ‘old master’
back into the camera case in the cycle basket
we took again to the road with the soothing sound of
whirring wheels.
Tummies
became empty and we began to count off the little white
kilometre posts that marked off the distance to the next little
town where we could either
go native and demolish a platter of smorgesbread in a cafe or
raid the local bakers.
 These
are every bit as good as Scotland in providing sticky bun and
things that give more fun than health but what the heck when you
are cycling and burning of the calories you have earned the
right to indulge yourself. After doing so we decided to push our
bikes up the cobbled streets. where ancient houses
painted in terracotta and pastel yellow had either giant
hollyhocks growing at the door or the National flag sprouting
from the roof.
Funen
is definitely a ‘bike friendly’ island and you are never
more than 20 miles away from a Youth Hostel. There is so much to
explore, it has harbours, manor houses and castles. If you are
there between May and September Egeskov Castle is certainly
worth a visit with its park, vintage car museum and maze.
You’ll be lost in admiration for it all.
For
information about cycling
holidays in Funen, contact the Danish Tourist Board in London on 0207 1259 5959.
Report by Allan Rogers
Fact
File
Danish Tourist Board. www.visitdenmark.com
Tel: 020 7259 5958
Map
of Denmark & Funen (Fyn)
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