Sjelborg 2023

These figures were looking out to sea, I’m not sure what they were meant to be expressing but, from their posture and faces I’d say apprehension and terror. 

This morning I was woken by thunder. Prepared, I had coffee in bed and packed inside before emerging as the rain stopped. I folded up the wet tent and headed into Ribe to explore. 

Ribe is reputed to be the oldest town in Denmark and honestly, it looked very like York. It is very pretty, a lot of half timber houses and little streets to wander around. The Viking museum (disappointed that the weather put my off my planned visit to the reenactment centre) was informative as museums should be. I learned about the manufacture of glass beads which apparently was a speciality. 

I visited a bookshop and got a better map - it shows all the major bike paths so I can see where I  and plan routes  properly. After that I decided to have some lunch. £10 for a sandwich seemed pricy but when it arrived I decided it was worth it. 

Happy with my purchases I headed off, not before a visit to the bike shop after a missing screw in my cleats nearly caused disaster. Lucky for me a lamppost broke my fall and held me upright while I wrenched my foot - and the spinning cleat*- free. 

Then it was off into the wind. I think today should be the only day travelling west and for that, I am grateful. It’s a slog along straight roads into a headwind. I feel sure I’ve moaned about it before so I shan’t repeat myself. Suffice to say that I endured.

 

I promised myself I’d stop when I got to the sea. The advice is always to set times rather than places for breaks because you run the risk of wearing yourself out should adverse conditions strike. Sound advice that.  I was about 500m from the sea for a good portion of the day. The seaside town turned out to be largely industrial so a big factory scuppered my plans then. I did eventually get my sea view though and ate my snacks being blown around in the sunshine by the refreshing sea breeze. 

At this point I was fairly done. Too much excitement for one day so I found the nearest campsite and settled in for the evening.  Tomorrow I’m heading north. The weather is predicted to be overcast and damp with a strong southerly wind. 

*cleats are the little metal things that go on the bottom of your shoes to attach them to your pedals. I’d been fiddling with mine to adjust the angle and obviously didn’t tighter that screw properly.