Jutland & Læsø, April 2003

Just before Easter we (that is McBear, Roger and Pinbear) went to Jutland and Laesoe in Denmark. We stayed at an B & B in the city of Aalborg.
Then we drove up to see the amazing Skagen and surroundings. After a couple of days we sailed to Laesoe and after that, we visited the amazing Loenstrup and Rubjerg, where the sea eats of the coastline every ear... Click the map to enlarge it and check out our route in Northern Jutland

At Aalborg port we discovered this fine old ship, and Roger nearly went hyper. It reminded him of his past on the seven seas.

Grenen, April 2003

On our first day in Skagen we went to see Grenen, the very end of Jutland, where two seas meet, The Kattegat and The North Sea (or Skagerak). On a stormy day you can actually watch the waves from the two seas clashing against each other. This morning it was calm, but you could still see the waves formning a cross pattern.

Many, many places along the west coast of Jutland you find bunkers as a reminder of the German occupation of Denmark 1940-45. Also on Grenen you find bunkers. Somebody had painted the walls with ugly graffit. Just typical! Roger said it couldn't have been a teddy bear, and Mcbear totally agreed.

Skagen Teddy Bear museum, April 2003

Surprisingly we ran into this Teddy Bear museum in Skagen. There was hundreds of bears, even thousands, and the oldest bears dated back to 1930 or so.
It reminded McBear that 2003 was the 100 Years Teddy Bear anniversary!

McBear was a bit concerned about the health and wealth of the teddy bears, but when he asked them whether the owner took good care of them, they all nodded their heads. Phew! McBear was relieved - he had imagined he would have had to fill in hundreds or thousands of reports and send to TARG - one for each teddy bear! (Toy Animals' Rights of Glostrup)

Many years ago the sand started to sand up in Northern Jutland, and around 1795 the people of Skagen gave up unsand their parish church. Today, the tower still stands while the roof of the rest of church is gone and the lower part of the walls lies buried under some 6-9 feet of sand.

Raabjerg Sand dune, April 2003

When a hurricane stroke Northern Jutland in late 16 hundreds it left this huge sand dune. Roger, McBear and Pinbear went all the way up on top of it. From here they could see the two mile trail of sand that the sand dune for centuries had left moving west to east at a speed of 20 feet a year, strangling all vegetation beneath it. In 1910 the dune was protected as people decided to let nature have its own way.

We went by the ferry to Laesoe, a small island in the sea, Kattegat. Here, we saw some amazing roofs constructed by using seaweed in the oldern days!

Vesteroe Havn, April 2003

We stayed at a hotel - the one with a red roof to the right in the background, and we had a look a the harbour of Vesteroe Harbour. Roger had a chat with local sailors about navigation in the shallow waters surrounding Laesoe.

We built some great sand castles on the lovely sandy beaches on Laesoe - though we had some disagreement about the castles. Roger made a strong fortress, but McBear claimed it looked like a round pyramid. McBear built his walls vertical.
Roger said they were like the walls of Jericho: They would tumble at any noise.
McBear didn't fully agree.

Sand Castles, April 2003

We finished off by covering the castles with lovely shells from the beach. Pinbear had built a castle like Roger's castle. Roger asked McBear about the twig on top of his castle.
"Have you no imagination?", McBear asked. "It's an antenna for communication with a NASA satelite!"

Back in Jutland we went to the west coast to see the church at Maarup. 10 years ago or so the church was standing some 100 feet from the cliffs, but today less than 40 feet separates the church from falling down on the beach! Roger said he wouldn't mind helping the people by shovelling some soil. McBear replied Roger might have to shovel for 300 years then!

Rubjerg Knude, April 2003

We went to see the sand covered hills of Rubjerg Knude, shaped by the ice at the last ice age. Here, a light house had been built in 1900, but because it got sanded up, the light house was given up and abandoned in 1968. Today, one of the buildings is completely covered by sand to the roof! Roger claimed somebody ought to clear up the mess.

On the last day in Jutland we hired a car and did 200 miles of the roads of Jutland. Our friend from the B & B in Aalborg went with us, and he had a lovely day out.

Duus's Wine Cellar, Aalborg, April 2003

In 1624 the great grocer Jens Bang built a large renaissance stone house. The teddy bear from our B & B told us about the place in the cellar; Duus's Wine Cellar. A very popular place. Roger said, that people ought not to drink!

To McBear's surprise we met Paddington after arriving Copenhagen Airport from Aalborg, and McBear nearly was hyper. Paddington and McBear have something in common: They both have been to Peru. Roger also was delighted: This was the famous Paddington's chance to meet the famous Viking Roger.

Mid air between Copenhagen and Dublin, April 2003

On the return flight to Dublin the weather allowed a superb view of Denmark. Unlike Roger, McBear had certain difficulties reaching the window, but Roger is strong and with typical Leo generousity he solved the problem...