This week we first headed up the west coast of Sweden to not far from the border with Norway and then headed back to Denmark, this time the island of Funen, all the time by the sea.
We were joined in western Sweden by Gloria and Camilo in another camper van and we stayed in shipyards and marinas. It was great. First stop was Marstrand where you have to catch a ferry across to the island. The ferry goes every 15 minutes all day and every half hour right through the night! It’s a glorious 5 kilometre walk round the island on huge bare rocks, past light houses and lots of wild flowers ( I counted 46 different types).
Then up to Smögen where we camped in the shipyard and watched the supermoon through the clouds.
This is the sunset in Mölle the next night where we sat and ate fish as the sun slowly went down.
We parted ways in Malmö where they took the ferry to Lübeck and we went back over the bridge to Copenhagen and drove on to the island of Funen which involves crossing an even longer suspension bridge which was pretty hairy thanks to very strong winds.
We were going to camp but the owner of the campsite advised against because it was far too windy so we found the nearest hotel which turned out to be the moated castle of Broholm. We spent a lovely afternoon having tea and cake in one of the original rooms before an excellent dinner. The bathrooms were down the corridor and the wiring was interesting but it was really fun. A very happy chance.
The next day we visited the museum in the castle grounds which houses the collection of 70,000 Stone Age flint axe and arrow heads which the owner had found in the course of only three years in the 1870s. He also found Denmark’s largest hoard of gold bangles from the Migration Period (300-600 AD).
They were busy in the hotel with a wedding party arriving in two hours as well as a get together of 150 Broholmers dogs (and their owners). These handsome dogs were first bred in the 1500s at the castle and every year they compete in the field opposite. It was a sight to behold. Here are just a few of them, all very well behaved.
There are several castles (and Hans Christian Anderson seems to have stayed in many). Here is Hesselgergard.
And this is Denmark’s largest rock, the Damestenen. At first it didn’t look all that big but when I stood beside it, it was huge.
Now we’re camped in Lundborg right by the sea with a view of cormorants, the bridge and many happy swimmers.
I spent this afternoon drawing a Danish rose in a vase and Alex spends a lot of his time designing camper vans so here’s one of them!
And here is the map!
