5-9 August, 1996 - Northern Denmark
Took the Color Sea Cat from Goteborg, Sweden
to Frederikshavn, Denmark on 5 August 1996. Drove from Frederikshavn to
Skagen in northern Jutland - took pictures of characteristic
red & white roofed architecture, and an 1850s era windmill at museum.
Lighthouse buried in sand
Stopped in north Jutland to see a famous lighthouse near the ocean partially
buried by encroaching sand dunes and abandoned in late 1800's. Wonderful
photographs, but leathers and boots are not the best apparel to wear for
tramping around sand dunes! The cameras didn't like the sand much either.
Buried lighthouse buildings, from the
top of the lighthouse
10 August, 1996 - Motorcycle Rally, Thisted,
Denmark
Extremely windy conditions along the coast, to the point where Grant
was nervous about the safety of the bike. Front end felt light and ready
to take off at any moment. Very strong side wind, est. 50kph. Landscape
features lots of windmills and sand dunes covered by grass.
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Skagen windmill - c.a. 1850's
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Bike in front of enormous modern
windmill in Denmark
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We attended the MC Thy Traeffen (Thy Motorcycle Rally) - an international
rally, but we won the prize for coming from the longest distance! We hadn't
known about the event, but noticed many bikes passing the gas station
where we had stopped and figured something must be going on, so we followed
them to the rally site close by. Danish rallies are a bit wild - this
year's featured contests where teams of males and females build a "rope"
with their clothes and get a prize for the longest rope - i.e. stripping
to the buff. Last year's contest, we were advised, included the women
whipping the men with ropes!
Dinner at the rally was "Whiskas" & mos (mashed potatoes)
(advertised by a picture of a can of cat food). It is actually a meat
only stew - apparently this is a standard joke.
We met Ove Jensen of Als, Denmark, who went around the world on a BMW
ten years ago (his bike has 300,000 km on it and still going (just got
a new motor). We have an invitation to visit him in Als and see his photos,
and also to attend the MC rally in Als next weekend. These rallies are
hard, though, even if you're not partying. Band plays until 3:00 a.m.,
then there's a discotheque until 6:00 a.m., and very noisy throughout
the night. Not much sleep for either of us.
Also met Veronica and Karsten Madsen who live nearby in Glyngore, Denmark,
and accompanied him to their place for tea the next morning. She is Canadian,
he is Danish, a mink rater who works 5 months of the year in Seattle.
We saw a huge windmill "farm" at the Folkecenter for Vedverend
(Renewable) Energy on route south - Hwy. 11 - this is a very windy country,
and the Danes make the most of it.
12 August, 1996 - Brande, Lillund (Legoland),
Kolding, Denmark
Brande, Denmark- famous for its wall paintings
and unconventional looking Baptist Church. From the tourist brochure:
"In 1968 Brande became world famous in spite of its 6500 inhabitants.
This happened because Brande invited 7 Danish artists to put some colour
on the gable ends of its town houses. After several months and many paintbrushes
later, the result was seen, 23 gable ends were painted, giant sized colourful
works of art. People came from all over Denmark to see the painted houses.
Today there are 17 gable end paintings left, 7 are from the 60's, the
rest are from the last 10 years. Evidence that the original idea conceived
in Brande lives on."
Legoland version of the village of Reine,
Lofoten Islands
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