Denmark

Miniatur Wunderland

We are going back to Svalbard. Last year we had a brilliant land-based week there doing dog sledding and snowmobiles. This time we were going to sail right around the archipelago with HX (formerly known as Hurtigruten Expeditions) on the converted ferry boat, the MS Spitzbergen.

First, we needed to get to Oslo. We chose to drive. Partly because I liked the idea of a short road trip in the newly repaired Range Rover. Also to visit a few friends along the way. The friends all turned out to be unavailable, so we went to Miniatur Wunderland instead. A converted warehouse in Hamburg is home to what Guinness World Records describes as the world’s largest model railway system. Apparently one of the most popular and visited sights in Germany. 1,230 digitally controlled trains with 12,000+ wagons. 5,280 houses, more than 11,800 vehicles, 52 airplanes and around 290,000 figures.

It is all quite remarkable. The entire train set spans several rooms and two buildings. The scenes are all interconnected. Here and there are glass panels set into the floor where you can see trains travelling between the different areas. Every 15 minutes or so the room lights fade and the models go into night mode. Tiny little lights, thousands of them, switch on everywhere. The first few rooms are areas around Hamburg and then things get progressively ambitious. The airport features planes taking off and landing. Austria has working cable cars. There is real water, with tides, in the North Sea. Antarctica obviously has penguins as well as a detailed model of the wreck of Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance. Elsewhere we could see scenes of Peru and the altiplano being created.

There are numerous scenarios being acted out. Some sort of criminal heist on a bridge. Several buildings on fire. Racing fire trucks. A car crash. A petrol station sign displaying, electronically, real fuel prices. Cars and trucks run on the roads. A model of the Monaca F1 racetrack features a live race. An enormous amount of electronics and computers must be used to control everything.

A sense of humour pervades all the model scenes. I did not expect this in Hamburg. Looking carefully, you can spot kangaroos in unlikely places. The odd dinosaur. Quite a lot of penguins. One of which was jumping in a bouncy castle. There is a crashed spaceship in the mountains and a motorised toilet in Monaco.

We spent about three hours there by which time it was starting to feel a bit stuffy and claustrophobic. Probably a wonderful place for spreading Covid. It was however interesting and quite rewarding – the more time you spent studying the detail, the more you could spot. In some ways Miniature Wunderland, is a testament to what happens if a gang of nerdy types have too much time on their hands. On the other hand, it a great demonstration of just how far you can go with a model train set.

Leaving Hamburg, we drove north to Denmark where we stumbled across sand sculptures in the town of Søndervig. Advertised as “more than just sandcastles”. This is an annual event where artists from around the world create elaborate sand art. I think they must then do something to stabilise the sand. When we arrived, it was drizzling but the sand was not being washed away. The theme for this year was the history of Greenland. The kingdom of Denmark includes Greenland – a fact which has received considerable attention lately since Trump suggested that the US could purchase it. I suspect Denmark is actively trying to draw attention to this.

We chose a beautiful scenic route up the west coast of Denmark. The rain and mist unfortunately made it look like just about everywhere else when it is raining and foggy. Arriving at Hirtshals, we took the ferry to Larvik. About three hours of sailing in the fog and rain. Eventually we arrived at our hotel close to the airport.

Next day we found Oslo airport to be remarkably busy. We arrived at lunchtime and there were long queues at the security check. An hour later, the security woman was complaining at me. We get told not to put electronics and batteries in hold luggage. It goes in the hand luggage and gets checked on a conveyor belt through an x-ray machine. My luggage typically contains a lot of camera gear. Usually this goes straight through the machine. At least nine out of ten trips. In Oslo, the very stern woman declared that it all needed to be unpacked and sent back through the machine separately. I was trying to hold my trousers up at the time because I had been instructed to remove my belt before walking though the machine with a green light. The woman complained that I was wasting her time by putting my belt on before emptying the case. I was not keen on dealing with a grumpy security person with my trousers half down. Thus, we arrived at the interesting situation where she was visibly annoyed with me for wasting her time while I was similarly annoyed at her for wasting my time. I have long since learned that expressing annoyance, or any emotion really, at border officials is to invite extra delays, searching and worse. My face was in the fixed, vacuous smile saved for such occasions. She complained that she had a protracted line of people to check. I thought that maybe if they did not insist on unpacking everything that it might go a bit quicker. And I maintained the smile. Eventually, once all my camera parts had been round at least twice, I got to repack the bag. This caused further annoyance because I needed to use the counter space that she might otherwise have employed for being grumpy at another passenger. Finally packed and ready to leave I was stopped by another border official who wanted to see my passport. It was the sole occupant of my breast pocket. I handed it over and he carefully checked to make sure I was not smuggling anything inside it. Even gave it a little shake. The smile almost slipped.

Four hours later we arrived at the very tiny airport in Longyearbyen, Svalbard. It was still a bit cloudy, so we saw little during the aircraft’s approach. Fortunately, it began to clear just as we landed and I could spot tantalising splashes of snow on the hillsides.

We were heading north, to Svalbard, but on the way, we dropped in to visit the incorrigible Lars and his lovely wife Inge. It was nine months or so since we had seen them in Normandy so there was some important catching up to do and wine to be drunk. We drove to an old farmhouse near Aalborg owned by Lars and Inge’s daughter Lea and her husband Theis. They have set up home in a collection of buildings on a large plot of land. So, far, they only really use one of the buildings as a home. We set up camp in another one and this proved to be a very comfortable base for exploring some of Northern Denmark.

First day out we drove up the beach. For the most part, in Europe, driving on the beach is frowned upon or simply not allowed. In contrast, there is a section of coastline in NW Denmark where driving on the sand is both allowed and quite popular. It was a fun thing to do on a dull and overcast afternoon. We waded a couple of streams and avoided getting stuck. The day was rounded off with a bite to eat and beer at one of the many coastal cafes. Then back to the farmhouse ready for when the cows come out.

Next day there was a buzz of excitement in the otherwise quiet rural area. Today was the day that the cows come out. A lot of people turned up. Several hundreds of people turned up and brought their children. There were traffic jams and queues to par by the roadside. We ended up with quite a long walk before we finally got to the cause of all the excitement. The cows in question are mostly dairy cows that spend winter in covered sheds. In the middle of April, they are let out into the fields for the summer. As you might imagine, for a cow, the first time into a field for six months is the cause of great celebration and no little giddiness. The locals like to share in this and turn the whole day into a big party. We got to wander round the sheds where the pre-release cows were biding their time. We saw brand new calves and various displays of farm machinery. There were dairy themed games for children and cow shaped space hoppers. We tasted free samples of milk, cheese and several yoghurt-like foods that are somewhere in between. Eventually the moment came. Everyone wandered out into the field and jostled for an unobstructed view. The cows, possibly as many as a hundred, were released and skipped cheerfully round the field. The crowd cheered, there were shouts of encouragement and some of the younger children burst into tears. I don’t think cows can stay overly excited for long. Within a few minutes most of the had done with the minor stampedes and chasing round the field. Instead, they settled down to some steady grazing. Chewing the cud does not hold the public’s attention so much as a mad stampede and people began to disperse. Rural bovine excitement over for another year.

To the east of the farmhouse in Lille Vildmose. A wildlife and nature preserve where, it was rumoured, there were Moose. We went for a short walk around and saw some ducklings. All very pleasant but there were no Moose. We visited several look-out towers and hides. We walked along wooden walkways above the bogs. Still no hint of moose.

In the morning Lars and I put the car through its paces. We were given use of a old gravel quarry by a friend of Lars’. Here we tried out some of the Range Rover’s off-road features. Turns out that it is very capable. The Serbian winter tyres that we bought in Slovakia gave good grip on the muddy surface. After that the traction management with two automatically locking differentials did its magic and the car made easy work of most of the tracks. I was especially impressed by the descent control. Even on a very steep and loose hill the automatic combination of engine retardation and ABS brakes meant a steady and controllable ride down the slope with my feet on the floor. A steep bank of loose sand proved impassible. Possibly we could have reduced the tyre pressure to handle this. Overall though we were very happy with the results. I now have a much better feeling for the limits of the vehicle, and this should help keep us out of trouble in the future.

The northern tip of Denmark’s Jutland peninsula, where the North Sea and the Kattegat meet, is a surprisingly popular tourist destination. North of Skagen, a shallow sandbank running northwards, called Skagen’s Odde, exacerbates the impression of two seas colliding. Opposing currents in the shallow water whip up crashing waves. The spit of drifting sand grows by about 10m a year towards Sweden. The whole area is a nature reserve and a lovely place for a walk. There are also some WW2 bunkers to keep the history buffs happy. After a light lunch in the tourist orientated town of Skagen we out to the beach south which was famously buried in sand. It is not buried now. It got buried and could no longer be used. Sand in the pews is a terrible thing. So it was mostly dismantled and sold leaving just the tower which, these days, is no longer buried. I did find this a little confusing. The tower, however, is quite interesting. You can climb to the top for a view out across the dunes. Finally, we went to the big dune. The biggest in Denmark. In fact, with an area of about 2 km², Råbjerg Mile, is the largest sand dune in Northern Europe. We walked to the top and were rewarded with a view from the North Sea to the Kattegat.

On our last day with Lars and Inge we went off in search Moose again. There is an approximately circular walk near the visitor centre at Vildmose. In the car park, I was changing into my walking boots when I realised that the surrounding sounds of birds was not coming from birds. In fact, there were very few birds around at all. No. The bird song was coming from speakers mounted in the trees around the car park. I will admit this created a nice ambiance, but at the same time it seemed a little like cheating for a nature reserve. We were out walking for several hours, and we came across moose spoor, some droppings, and a few tracks. Even so the prospect of moose remained a bit of a joke. We walked through some woods by a lake and through open area that seemed more like farmland than nature reserve to me. Finally, we started closing in on the final leg bag to the visitor centre when we saw two moose. They were way away in the distance but were moose. I have included a picture which, I realise, constitutes no proof of moose presence at all you will just have to trust me.

Sweden

In two months we have to be back in the UK. We figured this was just long enough to circumnavigate the Gulf of Bothnia. We would see a bit more Scandinavia, this time in the summer, and more of eastern Europe.

We took our time heading north. Settling back into the rhythm of travelling while exploring some of the wonderful forests in northern Germany. The forests are suffering at the moment. Extreme weather events, three successive droughts, storms and forest fires are taking their toll. Some areas have massive bark beetle infections. Vast tracts of forest are being clear-felled, leaving the hills bruised, battered and bare.

Suburban camping – sorry about upsetting the neighbours

In the very north of Germany we visited Kai and his wife Urte whom we had first met outside the walls of Taroudant in Morocco. We had a terrific evening eating, drinking and listening to some remarkable and scary tales of their desert travels in a Unimog back in the days when it was actually possible to drive south to north through Algeria. Next day we crossed into Denmark and spent a couple of days with the ever wonderful Lars and Inge. They loaded us up with fantastic homemade and home grown produce before we headed for the coast.

A quiet night on the beach and we were ready for the ferry to Sweden. Two years ago we had driven over the bridge from Copenhagen. The bridge is an awesome engineering achievement and fun to drive across. It is also very expensive. This time we took the slightly cheaper and much more sedate ferry to Halmstad. By the evening we were parked next to some woods in Sweden.

North and still further north. For the first couple of days it rained. We plodded along in the drizzle watching endless forests and lakes go past. Before long the roads were getting quieter and we felt we were leaving the bustle of holiday season in southern Sweden behind us.

We both enjoy being in and around woodland. In years past, we owned a small plot of ancient woodland. This was a complete delight and the perfect retreat from the stresses of running a small company. It also taught both of us a lot. We achieved a formal qualification in woodland management but more importantly, we also learned to deeply appreciate what goes on in the forest. The way balance is achieved and the delicate interactions between the vast multitude of living things deep in a forest is quite remarkable. These days we are very happy to spend time exploring and experiencing new forests.

The weather cleared up just as we happened to find ourselves in a quiet, secluded area of forest. So we stayed there for a while. Exploring the forest we discovered discarded antlers and other traces of reindeer. We also found an abundance of fungi. I was particularly proud to find an example of the mushroom featured on the cover picture of my mushroom book. We also found a wonderful edible fungus called Hedgehog mushroom. This is a firm, white mushroom that makes excellent eating. After a bit of sorting, we gently fried them in butter with a dash of fresh thyme and black pepper. Went perfectly with a glass of white wine.

Denmark

A tremendous rainbow marked our departure from the workshop and the start of a long trek North. In Denmark we met up with some old friends, the marvelous Lars and Inge, who thoroughly maintain the Danish reputation for being the happiest people in the world. We left Denmark via the Öresund Bridge – a magnificent feat of engineering and possibly the most expensive toll bridge in the world.