Danish treats, flat country and commuter/touring cycling mecca

The small Scandinavian country of Denmark has a population of over five million with most living in urban spaces and about 138 citizens per square km - Australia has just over three. The flat and occasionally windy terrain of Denmark with its numerous free-camping places was welcoming. This and their good command of English along with a strong cycling culture thanks to government policy and social commitment meant I was really in my happy space. It was so easy going by ferry from Germany's northern port of Puttgarden to Denmark's southwestern port of Rodbyhaven. Just simply walk on with the bicycle all loaded for a few Euros and within a short time you're walking on Scandinavian soil.

Simone and son Phillipe

Before boarding I met a German cyclist riding to eventually meet his partner and young daughter in Stockholm, Sweden and a French mother and son cycling through several countries like me. Sophie is a freelance professional photographer and she was happy to 'train' my eye when taking photos. I'm happy to join a riding group if invited and share the journey for a few days but first we need to get some Danish Krone currency for supplies and water. Despite being part of the EU Denmark like Sweden and Norway don't accept Euros but use their own currency.

They all have a strong bias for card transactions in preference to cash and Denmark plans to be a cashless society by 2030. The Government will save a lot by not printing currency or minting coins and as an extra benefit expects crime such as shop, petrol station and bank robberies to reduce significantly. I had to budget for high taxing transactions at 25 percent GST across Scandinavia. I don’t mind paying my way especially in Scandinavian spaces because their higher taxes translate into excellent, fair and equitable societies with priorities for education, health and social infrastructure for everyone. They're known as the happiest nation in the world albeit from my observation a little reserved.

 My first authentic Danish pastry in the land of the Vikings

Listening to the Danes speaking in the native tongue you could be mistaken for thinking they're communicating in some hybrid Scandinavian/Dutch language. I'm part correct in my assumptions as with all 'modern' languages their roots derive from ancient or more contemporary forms. Centuries ago Germanic/Dutch phrasing and phonetics apparently influenced the way Danes spoke. It's like the Dutch with its back of throat almost coughing sound with vowels to the front of mouth trilling with 'rrrrr'. They even have silent vowels and some consenants like 'y' are vowels. No wonder that Danish is extremely hard to learn for native English speaking folk and it has the highest number of vowels of any language. Despite this I could still identify completely packaged supermarket/cafe items getting it right most of the time with a couple of surprises too. Molk is obvious - the trick is finding the low-fat version thanks to initial lessons via Google Translate. Avoiding red and processed meat is easy and tunfisk is another easy one. The worst one for me is diving into what I thought was blueberry yogurt but discovered it was rice pudding with yogurt. Yuk😝 - took me back to my mother's rice pudding desert which I never liked. Her bread and butter pudding on the other hand was divine. And yes Danes, Swedes and Norwegians can understand each other just like English-speaking nations.

Potato crops in flower 

Silverbeet is a major crop for Denmark

Our group's first day riding together was a voyage of discovery as we adjusted to a common riding pace, each taking turns to windbreak for the followers. We enjoyed sharing stories about each other and our journey so far. We had perfect riding weather and now it was close to 4pm and time to decide where we would like to freecamp for the night. The sun does not set till around 11pm so no pressure but thanks to the Danish 'Shelter' app we had plenty of options and decided on a lake shelter 30 mins away that also had water and facilities available at a local shed. Denmark has over 1000 sites in areas like nature parks, public forests and beaches. Unlike Sweden's more liberal laws in public spaces you should only spend one night at each location, take your rubbish with you but no open camp fires allowed. The tall German cyclist used the shelter and the location was perfect and quiet. While we set up camp I enjoyed my first Scandinavian nature experience watching a group of geese flying high above the lake.

Stunning view and quiet 

Sophie preparing Ratatouille