Stubbekobing (Falster) to Faxe Ladeplads (South Zealand): What a day - 4 Islands and we meet the Queen of Denmark - Exploring Holland, Germany and Denmark on a Recumbent Tandem - CycleBlaze
Stubbekobing (Falster) to Faxe Ladeplads (South Zealand): What a day - 4 Islands and we meet the Queen of Denmark
Arose early wanting to get the first ferry to Bogo and stop at the bakery for breakfast. Lissy ran out with the exciting news to look for the Queen's ship. The Queen of Denmark was supposed to visit Klint on Mon Island, but the winds prevented this so the plan was for her to come ashore at Bogo and travel overland to Mon. The ferry from Stubbekoding to Bogo is a short crossing but it is noteworthy for its ferry, the M/F Ida which is the only wooden ferry still running in Denmark. Volunteers work tirelessly to keep this route running and we were looking forward to our 12 minute crossing on this historic vessel. The First Mate was very proud of his ship and invited us down to see the engine room.
As Barry gets on the ferry, we see that the ferry crossing is part of the official Cycling route 8.
As we crossed to Bogo, we looked for signs of the Queen, and sure enough, at anchor in the channel, was the Queen's Royal Yacht. As our ferry came ashore, we were greeted by crowds of school children and Islanders waving Danish flags - the Queen was on her way!
Charmaine RuppoltWow, that's pretty cool you all got to see the Queen of Denmark and her husband! :) Timing is everything! :) Reply to this comment 6 months ago
She thought that our bicycle trip to Denmark (and Bogo) was more newsworthy than the Queen's visit! Few cycle tourists come from abroad and she was most interested in why we were there. It seems that the majority of tourists from outside of Denmark are German. She took our photo and interviewed us for their paper. Once again, we are struck by the humility of the Danes as they continue to express their surprise that we have chosen to travel in their country. We continue to be surprised as well, that we are the only Canadians that we have met. Last night at the campground in Stubbekobing, Lissy told us that she has had 6 "foreign" tourists camp in her campground - Australians and us.
We have been looking forward to getting to the island of Mon as we have heard about its beauty. However, Bogo also offers dramatic scenery.
Crossing the causeway to Mon over the Baltic Sea, the deep blue of the water and the rolling yellow wheat fields are strikingly beautiful. Battling the wind, we followed a winding route up and down countless hills.
Of interest on Mon are the Stone Age burial mounds. We got to see 3 sites and were able to go inside one of them. We marvelled at the living history we could see and touch. Mon is indeed a special place.
From a distance we could see the huge bridge spanning the distance to the next island, South Zealand. As there was construction, the bridge had one lane open and we were able to ride on the sidewalk with less traffic zooming by. The hills continued on our route north. Even though we are feeling strong and fit, heavy winds and hills do take their toll, so we stopped for a rest at Sandvig, a beautiful picnic spot at a small marina on the open sea. To our surprise, we discovered a free campsite for cyclists - but it was too early to stop so we pressed on.
Our goal was to get to a campground in Faxe Ladeplads. The final 10 km of our route followed the water and was extremely windy. It was the hardest part of the day and we were determined to get there. When we arrived, we were exhausted and the office was closed. But, one of the residents came to us and welcomed us with shower tokens, showed us around and best of all, made dinner for us and brought it to our campsite: barbq'd Danish hot dogs. What a warm welcome!
