Around the Pond: 5000 km on the North Sea Cycle Route

The weather is better again, partially sunny, partially cloudy, but dry. The route runs through several "Klitplantagen", dunes that have been planted with forests to fight erosion. A beautiful landscape, but not easy to cycle. The route mostly follows dirt tracks, which by itself is not the ideal surface for a recumbent bike. But worse, a lot of the tracks have just been covered with a fresh layer of gravel and sand, making the surface soft. On a regular bike much of the balance is kept by shifting your weight. This is not possible on a recumbent bike, since you lay back in the seat. All of the balance keeping must be done by steering movements. And that is very difficult on a soft surface where the wheel constantly sinks in. And of course it's rather strenuous.

After these gravel tracks I welcome the change when the cycle path runs on gras-covered tracks.

The landscape get more and more hilly. After the first few kilometers up- and downhill I start tracking the altitude. My Garmin adds up 517m for today, my Suunto watch measures a few dozen meters less.

It is nearly 7 p.m. as I reach the camping site north of Fjerritslev. As on most other camping sites most of guests are using campers and caravans. I get directed to a meadow dedicated to tents. I am the only one there.

After pitching my tent and cooking a can of soup I take a walk at the beach. From a height a path goes down through the dunes to the beach, which is deserted at that time of the day. On this tour there are so many places I'd like to stay at for a while, and explore. Somehow three months is not enough for the north sea cycle route.


Day 14 - June 16th: Klitmøller to Fjerritslev

Route

Klitmøller - Hanstholm - Fjerritslev

Statistics

Distance: 97.10 km
Cycle time: 5:57 h
Average speed: 16.31 kmh
Total distance: 1082 km
© Thomas Stets ts.semper.d@googlemail.com
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