Copenhagen, 'cousin' Mary and bicycle culture

I'm often asked “How many kms do you ride everyday?” With the expectation of some grandiose figure but quite frankly it depends on factors like terrain, weather, places of interest or fitness level. I could say “oh..100km per day but that would be untrue and being a 61 year-old male I have nothing to prove or be some macho 'hero'. In ideal conditions in Australia or New Zealand where the tyranny of distance determines the destination I can put in a 80-90km day.

Wildflowers painting the landscape

 Excellent cycling infrastructure

Easy flat riding

Enjoying the stillness and space

Here in Europe the cycling infrastructure and compressed web of cities and villages makes the journey very easy with only 5-10km between villages. I've hardly got my momentum going when I start slowing down again. It means I only carry water in my three-litre Camelback and a thermos for those scenic quiet path/river stops. With Copenhagen still three days ride away I wanted to push on so I left my three colleagues to meander along the southeast coastline while I took a more direct route.

But Daag Google Maps said go straight ahead 👀↔️

Easy metro commuting and free Wifi

Copenhagen and Amsterdam both strive to be the ultimate cycling mecca and both are capitals of fairly flat country that supports this mode of transport. Any country you visit will have its own customs, rituals, terms of social engagement and rules for commuting. I like to 'Youtube' research a country to partly remove my ignorance and hopefully establish a survival kit for my interactions and be respectful of the nation's citizens and hopefully not a nuisance. Denmark's pedestrian and cycling fraternity have quite specific rules for commuting and I'm happy to report my preparations were justified. For example - riding in the correct direction on dedicated cycling paths is not different to driving on the roads. Unlike Germany the paths are not two-way so you must ride in the same direction as the car traffic and believe me you will not have a happy reception if you don't. On the previous day one of my riding colleagues almost came to grief when attempting to challenge this rule and a very fast moving road racer sped past while swerving and cursing her in Danish 🚴🏼‍♂️🤬

Tasteful blending of contemporary and native architecture

Denmark also has plenty of green space for camping if you don't want to use the holiday parks. I used a smartphone app called Shelter and happily camped in places over four days that were only a short half hour metro train ride from Copenhagen city centre. Europe has been experiencing unusually higher temperatures and dry days so camping out as the been the norm for me. There were a few wild horses in one stunning location and they happily ate my stale apples for supper but they weren’t getting my locally picked strawberries.

As sweet as my home grown 🍓

Copenhagen is easy to ride around although it does have some hills so you can expect some effort at times. It's such a relaxed space here with a village style landscape and the average age of citizens is about 40 years young. Cycling is very easy and the car drivers are very patient and wait for you to pass if they need to turn right. A lot of them also ride bicycles and therefore respect our presence.....mmmm..would be nice to have this attitude in Australia. I still have memories of bogans throwing beer cans at me in country towns. There will be justice in time when they reach my age with their massive beer gut profile, cannot walk and cursed by drivers when they have to cross the road in their electric senior citizen scooters....yesssss !! 🐌

Where did I park my bicycle?

Commuting with the Danes

A nice welcome with Crowded House song

The colourful Nyhaven district dating back to the 17th century

I love the old architecture with its artful substance and explored some of the urban areas to look at old styles applied in a contemporary space. Denmark is also home for one our recent Tasmanian expat Crown Princess Mary. She is more popular here than her husband their own Crown Prince Frederik. She certainly has a regal beauty about her and the Danes absolutely love her. They live in the official residence in the city called the Amalienborg Palace complex.

Mary and families's abode