Skip to main content

Cycling Holiday in Denmark - Aalborg to Skagen

12 to Gjøl. Less to Vejlen
Intersection in a rural area of Northern Denmark. The fully separated bike lane next to the road, typical for areas like this, is visible on the right of the photo.

A travel writer friend of mine, Tom Hall, has posted his account of his cycling tour of northern Denmark on his blog. Cycling in Denmark - Aalborg to Skagen.

Fits well with the recent post about the national cycling routes and downloadable maps and all that.

An excerpt about the national cycle network:
"The result served as the blueprint for our own National Cycle Network – and is a boon for holidaymakers. It only goes wrong when you ignore it and attempt to build your own route visiting nearby places with silly-sounding names like Pajhede Skov and Uggerby. I learnt this to my cost mid-morning, when pondering that the bloke I was passing on my left hitting golf balls looked just like the bloke I’d passed twenty minutes ago on my right. He was the same chap. Lesson learnt: stick to the signed route.

Chastened, I returned to route 3 and, turning back into a London cyclist, started chasing the only other riders I saw all day. They seemed to be wearing their Sunday best and riding bikes straight out of Last of the Summer Wine. I expected to catch them quickly. They disappeared over the next hill and I didn’t see them again.
"

It's a cracking travel article and almost makes me want to visit the provinces this summer. Almost. Alas, a decent café latte is hard to find. But definately a good read about cycling holidays in Denmark.

Popular posts from this blog

Overcomplicating Winter Cycling - Why It's Bad

One of the main focuses of this blog has always been on how Copenhagen and other cities have succeeded in increasing cycling levels by approaching the subject using mainstream marketing techniques. Tried and tested marketing that has existed since homo sapiens first started selling or trading stuff to each other. Modern bicycle advocacy, by and large, is flawed. It is firmly inspired by environmentalism which, in turn, is the greatest marketing flop in the history of humankind. Four decades of sub-cultural finger-wagging, guilt trips and preaching have given few results among the general population. When sub-cultural groups start trying to indoctrinate and convert the public, it rarely ever succeeds. For the better part of a century, people all over the planet rode bicycles because they were quick, easy, convenient and enjoyable. In hilly cities. In hot cities. In snowy cities. After the bicycle largely disappeared from the urban landscape because urban planning s...

A Walking Helmet is a Good Helmet

At long last logic prevails. A new campaign has hit the streets of Denmark, thanks to the visionaries at The Danish Road Safety Council [Sikker Trafik] and Trygfonden [an insurance company]. Intense promotion of walking helmets for pedestrians has begun. This logic has been sorely missed. These two organisations have happily promoted bike helmets but pedestrians suffer just as many head injuries, if not more. This Danish campaign poster reads: "A walking helmet is a good helmet" "Traffic safety isn't just for cyclists. The pedestrians of Denmark actually have a higher risk of head injury. The Danish Road Safety Council recommends walking helmets for pedestrians and other good folk in high risk groups." The slogan is catchy in Danish since it kind of rhymes. All in all it's a brilliant project. Let's save some lives. The new walking helmets will be available in the Danish Cyclists Union's [Dansk cyklist forbund] shop. Although, as the...

Driving Kills - Health Warnings

I think it's safe to say that we have a pressing need for marketing cycling positively if we're to encourage people to ride bicycles and begin the transformation of our cities into more liveable places. Instead of scare campaigns about cycling [a life-extending, healthy, sustainable transport form], wouldn't it be more appropriate to begin campaigns about the dangers of automobiles? Many people in car-centric countries no longer regard cars as dangerous. Maybe they realise it, but the car is such an ingrained part of the culture that the perception of danger rarely rises to the surface of peoples consciousness. Sure, there are scare campaigns for cars out there, but what if we just cut to the chase? Much like smoking. Only a couple of decades ago, cigarettes were an integral part of life, whether you smoked or not. That has changed radically. We think that we could borrow freely from the health warnings now found on cigarette packs around the world. In order to be tho...