Blog 15 Hesnæs, Klintholm, Rødvig, Denmark

A change of plan, a change of tempo. The Danish Islands have that effect, there is a sense of peace and tranquillity. I am reminded from my time here back in the late 90's that this comes with the ethos pervading the Danish nature - to make time for the things that matter in life and to value freedom, nature and human needs. True, there were times when this conflicted with what I thought was important, like finding garden centres closed at weekends only to be told by everyone that the staff should also have the weekend off.

Lucky Danes with so few people and such an extremely long coastline and where the landscape rolls away in soft undulations punctuated only with old fishing harbours, low farmsteads nestling behind screens of trees and here and there, thatched cottages coloured in mustard or ochre, some with walls faced with reeds. The golden evening light goes on and on, the sun seeming reluctant to meet the horizon, casting every shade of a peach on the scene and captured so well by the Skagen school of painters in the late 19th century.

Hesnæs is a small harbour on Falster where we moored bows on the stone jetty, small fishing boats were tied to wood plank piers running out from a boulder embankment where tall grasses clung for existence in this almost tideless world. Beyond the harbour I swam from a pebble beach having first noted that the other swimmers were ignoring the jelly fish which had moved in for the Summer and as usual, it was great - once you were in. What more could we want - then a local Dane called on each boat with a basket filled to the brim with ripe cherries from his garden - and shared them out among us all - how thoughtful. Swallows had built nests inside a tyre slung alongside the harbour wall acting as a rough fender, their wittering chirps grated the air as they darted and fed on sand flies emerging in the cool evening hours.

We moved on North to the Island of Møn where the spectacularly sculpted chalk cliffs stand at the SE corner. En route, the whole sea surface was streaked with yellow pollen blown from forests in Sweden, there had certainly been a long spell of Northerlies blowing and we had seen this before on which occasion our decks had acquired a yellow coating overnight - I think you could assume the pollen count was high. - Klintholm harbour was more crowded than when we were there before - only us and one other - now in full holiday mode with sand dunes too hot to walk on but I found a sheltered spot and painted the grasses and hardy plants which thrive in arid sand with almost no nutrients - what determination. There was a wonderful light mist early the next morning, you know how it hangs there as a promise that the day will be hot but just see how beautiful and magical it can be in between hours. We said goodbye to our Dutch chums on "Fleur" who were heading homeward - sorry to see them go.

On then to Rødvig, our first stop on Sealand, the island home of Copenhagen. Still the chalk cliffs line the SE edge but not so high here but where we are told the black line in the chalk is evidence of the asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million ago. Baked by the sun, fields of ripe corn almost hide the farmsteads and provide shelter for large flocks of sparrows we disturbed walking the cliff path. Sand martins sped back and forth over the sea beneath us but despite my best efforts I did not manage a photograph worthy of showing - it would have been good though. The separate fishing harbour provides overflow accommodation for late or large yachts unable to fit in the marina section and also a characterful place to stroll as the evening cooled and the waxing moon grew in luminosity. The aroma of Holland tobacco was in the air when the maritime sounds of an accordion floated across the harbour from a beautiful old Dutch sailing boat, the wind died and only a low enduring swell caused masts to gently sway on boats anchored in the bay.