Day 97 – to Houens Odde

Back to the Baltic this morning, though I am at the section where it connects to the North Sea. The mist of yesterday had cleared, but still the temperatures were up way above normal.

This peninsula, at Trelde Næs, is renowned because of its south side, where the forest comes to the sea. I was out quite early, but by midday it was much busier. It is easily accessible from the nearby towns.

Something the Danes to well, is their camping pads. I spoke to a couple of German guys who were using them having driven up for the weekend from Hamburg. They had a selection of fine foods, and were intending to use their wok over the fire to rustle up something quite special, an Indonesian recipe involving grilled chicken with vegetables.

In the afternoon I found a place in Kolding for a sauna and a shower. I got talking to a guy who worked at a nearby outdoor adventure centre. He offered me the place to stay for the night, which suited me, as I wanted to find somewhere quite quickly as of course, it’s a big sports Saturday. He had a group of kids in the swimming pool, but they were camping out tonight on the land used by the centre, another smaller peninsula just north of town. It’s good to see children out on residential adventure trips again. Having worked on them for so many years myself, I can’t imagine how the students I had would have coped with two years of cancellations.

So I’m at a place called Houens Odde, which is owned by the town council of Kolding, and only about 12 kilometres away. There’s no one else where I am, though there were a few hikers earlier. The paths are open to the public, and we will investigate more tomorrow.

But now for some international rugby, a Danish beer, and later something suitable to start the Halloween festivities.