2008
Part-2, Kiel to
Copenhagen
then back to Copenhagen
urse
for it and, once past it, followed the buoyed channel for the marina at
Burgstaaken. Here, like most places in this part of the Baltic, you moor bows to
with your stern between posts, a box mooring. However, the visitors moorings
in this particular marina are arranged around 340 degrees of a circle with
boxes on the inside and outside of the circle. We had some difficulty
mooring up as the wind was fairly strong and we had forgotten our techniques
for mooring to posts, however, mooring up was finally achieved without too
much embarrassment. A short while later Shahbanou came in
and after a drink we all set off to pay our dues and then
went to look at the beach and show Pat and Keith the German double deck chairs
("Hun traps" according to Barry). An ice cream on the way back then time for dinner.
We could see
the skyscraper hotel standing out on the skyline for many miles. The
sky looked threatening with the forecasted thunderstorms but fortunately it
held off until we had tied up. As we approached we saw the masts of
the Passat( see below and follow this
link).
The harbour master came out in his launch and showed us
to a berth between posts. We still have not mastered this technique again! I only
managed to get the rope halfway over the post but fortunately the harbour
master came and helped us out and the man next door had leapt off his boat
and held the bows so all was soon se
cure. We looked for the washing machine
but could not find it so had to wait for the harbour master to direct us to
a laundrette in the town so we left the washing for tomorrow. Later we heard
music and went on deck to see the warship which had been berthed further
along was going to sea with the ships company lining the decks. As we are
berthed on the side of the entrance the large Ro-Ro ferries and cruise ships
pass by making surprisingly little wash.
dicted had
increased and the wavelets were slapping under the stern but we had planned
to visit Lubeck today anyway so it didn't matter. We were going to catch the
train but discovered it was easier to go by bus. After a coffee in
Lubeck we went to
the St Jacobi church which has two beautiful organs and Barry and Pat both bought
CDs of the organ being played.
One had faces painted on the pipes with the mouth for the opening. There was
a damaged lifeboat to one side of the organ which
was from the Pamir, a sister ship of the Passata.
It was being used as a training ship and was caught in a typhoon and this lifeboat
carried some of the
survivors.(Note one of the true sisterships to the Passat is the Peking
which we knew as the Arethus when it was moored at Upnor many years ago.
After leaving the church we walked on further to see the old hospital but it
was here that we
discovered that all museums (in Germany) are shut on a Monday, B****r.
We
did manag to see into the hospital though (more like a church) as they were painting
the doors and had them open. We then walked up to one of the city gates which we had
entered on the bus.
After lunch we went
into St Marien church which had been burnt during the war and the bells had
partially melted and fallen down. Outside the church was a statue of the devil
and this interesting clock caught
our eye inside. It appeared to be an astronomical clock
but with saints names for each day. After
visiting the market we decided to find the bus stop to go back to the boat
but, unfortunately, Lubeck has
a one way system so it was not too easy. We eventually walked to the city
gate that we had entered by and found a bus stop there, but we had to walk from the
railway station in Travemunde as we had got on the wrong bus. Very tired
feet!!
de
in the middle of the morning for short sail to Klemens. The wind was behind
us and we sailed well on the jib alone. We were planning to anchor in
the lagoon but Shahbahanou who had set off before us grounded with her deep
keel while trying to anchor so
had gone into the marina so we followed suit. After a late lunch we had a walk
along the beach and saw a lovely new thatched house. When we got back to the
marina we noticed the sound of lots swallows as they flew around and perched on
the mooring lines. We finally fitted the large rope fendering that protects the boat when going into box moorings between posts, normal fenders are not good for this manoeuvre as the get caught if you have them in place as you go between the posts. Later we all met up for an evening a meal in the bistro with a view of the lagoon.
gainst
us and after a long while sailing into the wind and seas and not making
great progress we both decided to divert to Gedser.
That is one of the few problems that can be encountered in the Baltic, if
you have a strong headwind you will also find a small wind driven surface
current also on the nose. The Nato war ships were obviously on an exercise and we could here them
calling each other most of the day. We managed the long channel into the
marina and attempted to moor between the posts but with our protective ropes
we were now too wide and got stuck before we were far enough into the berth
to get ashore, oops!. Despite the encouragement from the boat next door
Barry decided not to ram the boat in with the engine as we've done before
when the posts are fairly bender but to go for an alongside mooring on
the other side of the marina with Shahbanou moored behind us where we were
promptly invited onboard for a drink
and to discuss what seemed like a very long day.
d
got up in the night and was quite strong but it had gone round to the
west
which is what had been promised yesterday. As the wind would be behind us
Barry decided to go on the Henaes, a short sail around the peninsular. We
sailed on just the jib and made extremely good time surfing down the waves
at times. We logged 9.7 on one occasion made
7-8
knots all the way. After a reviving snack we went for a walk around this
very little village which has several traditional thatched houses. The village shop had closed since we were here last
and the fish shop on the quay seems closed but I am still hoping it might be
open in the morning. Later the
wind died completely and it
was
like a mill pond in the harbour which we were sharing with the fishing
boats. Keith decided his hair was too long so Barry took his clippers to it
on the quayside, much to the amusement of the natives.
ather
forecast looked promising with less wind than yesterday but it promised the
odd shower. Barry predicted that we would have to motor all the way? We left
the harbour and there was a good wind so the sails were set and off we went.
After about an hour and a half we heard thunder and the wind increased
slightly. Then from nowhere an almighty squall hit us. We had not seen it
coming so Barry was unable to roll up the jib properly and we just had to weather it
out until it passed. During passing squall the jib had been flogging for
some time and some of the stitching had become frayed. Two hours later there
was very little wind and we were motor sailing past the island of Mon. where
we undid the jib to let it dry a little
before taking it down ready for the sail makers to repair. Another rain shower
hit us later but with no wind and we motored into Rodvig where Shahbanou had
found us a berth as the harbour was quite crowded. We were expecting the
harbours to be increasingly more crowded as we approach Copenhagen as the Danish
school holidays start tomorrow. That evening we went out and had hot smoked
salmon and potato salad for dinner in a fish and chip shop.
ley day. We decided
not to sail anywhere today. We went to the superm
arket which was well
stocked and only a short walk away and we decided to get the train to Stor
Heding one stop up the line as it looked quite interesting in the guide
book. We had some difficulty getting tickets from the machine but with the
help of some Swedes we succeeded. We were soon there and started looking for
the church but were stopped by an English chap we met on the train who lives in Rodvig.
He told us he was taking his daughter to a children's concert in the church
starting at 1pm. With his directions we hurried off to have a look before the
concert started. We made it with about twenty minutes to spare and they let us in.
Like a lot of churches in this part of the world there were two model
sailing ships suspended from the ceiling. After a fairly mediocre lunch in a
pizza place we found the water tower and statues on a house both mentioned
in the guide book and then went looking for the "lively town with dancing in the
streets" also mentioned in the guide book but found that the place was deserted an
d
all the shops shut at 1pm on Saturdays so we made our way back
to the station. Not quite the riveting tourist experience we were expecting
!!
until
we could take a more northerly route when we got out the cruising chute
as we did not have a jib. We had a wonderful run up to Copenhagen and only
took it down when the wind increased as we approached Copenhagen airport. It
then clouded over and threatened to rain but it was only a few spots. We
approached Margrethehamn marina and found it quite crowded very few boxes
for boats of our beam. We eventually found a
suitable mooring and managed to moor up bows to. We learnt a long time ago
that it is waste of time mooring up stern to in box moorings as the
walk way is usually too high for anyone to get ashore but in this case, if
we had tried to moor stern to we would have done some serious damage as the
depth near the walk way was less that 1 foot! . After we were settled
and found the HM office closed we went looking for a berth deep enough and
wide enough for Shahbanou, which is larger than Lucia in all dimensions,
but found nothing. After taking advice from a couple of local berth
holders/club members we waited by the crane until they arrived where, we
were told, they could tie up until tomorrow when the HM's office would be
open and a proper berth found. 
It
was a lovely sunny
day with no wind so we all set off on our bicycles to explore Copenhage
n.
On our way we stopped for running adjustments on the bikes by this war ship.
It was a bit bumpy on the cobbles but I saw these very pretty manhole covers
in the road. We cycled on into the centre of Copenhagen and found the
underwater statues which we had seen before. We then went to see Georg
Jensen silver and the Royal Copenhagen China. After a very expensive coffee
we went meandering through the streets and saw the old to
wn
with the classic boats along the canal. We had a hot dog at a stand by the
Royal theatre and then walked along the river bank and say the new O
pera
house which had been built since we were here in 2001. After a visit to a
marine antique shop we went back to collect our bikes form the centre of
town
before cycling back and doing some food shopping on the way. A busy and
quite tiring day.
ack
of his bike and off we went. Unfortunately we lost our way and went much
further than we needed but on the way we saw this London bus in a car park,
obviously used at some time for excursions. We eventually arrived at the
sail makers and found that they had done a remarkable of bringing the old
sail back to life, should last another couple of years. The sail was loaded
onto the trolley tied to the back of Barry's bike and we returned without mishaps
(just). We arrived to find Pat had put my laundry into the dryer so it was ready
for folding and stowing when we got back, exhausted. This afternoon Barry
borrowed Keith's dingy to polish the hull and I sorted out the aft cabins as
Ken arrives today and will need somewhere to sleep but his flight was
delayed. He finally arrived about 9.30 pm so dinner was little late today.
We were up fairly early and off
to the bus stop to meet Keith and Beryl Boddy who had been slumming it in a
hotel in Copenhagen for a few days after flying in. They went on Shahbahanou
and after coffee we set off for to Rungsted, about 10 miles north of
Copenhagen, which the temporary home of the Royal Danish Yacht club. The
wind was light but we managed to sail part of the way but the wind all but died so we had to motor the second half. As
we entered the marina we
could see all the boats dressed overall rafted near the entrance. We managed
to take on fuel after a protracted fight with an automated pump and various
credit cards and were then ushered into a mooring next to the quay from
which the harbourmaster removed a boat. Everyone
came over for a late
lunch and then the female members of the party set out to the supermarket
while the men dressed Lucia overall. After a rest we all met up for the
welcome barbeque on the balcony of the of the yacht club. A pleasant evening but the prices of yacht club
drinks, like every in Denmark, were a bit prohibitive.
Most people departed on the
coaches for their trip round Copenhagen and the Carlsberg brewery. We had a
quiet day part of which we spent cycling around looking for the fish shop on
the quay only to discover it was virtually next 
to the boat and we had cycled right past it. We
cycled up to the supermarket and bought more food and wine. After lunch we
cycled to the Karen Blixen museum a short distance away. The picture on the
right shows some of the house which was originally and inn. She was a famous
Danish writer who wrote in English. One of her famous books that was made
into a film is "Out of Africa" which tells of her life running a coffee
plantation. Another very hot day and the afternoon sea breeze does not seem
to arrive.vist to Roskilde
We cycled up to the station and then had difficulty deciphering the display on the ticket machine but with the help of a kind man we managed it just as the train arrived. We had to
change
trains twice because, it being the weekend, there were engineering works in
progress. Just outside the
station at Roskilde were these three large vases which are there to commemorate the 1000th
anniversary of the city. We walked to the
church outside of which were these lovely traditional houses.
We
had not realised that virtually all the
Danish
royal family are buried here. There were several side chapels with
large, ornate tombs or coffins with more behind the altar.
Leaving
the church and headed down hill through a park where we stopped to eat our
packed lunch in the sun then carried on down to the Viking museum. We saw more house martins
flying around, they seem to be everywhere. We have seen lots of them
recently and thought they
were swallows but Ken says they are house martins. The remains of several Viking ships had been found sunk at the entrance to the fiord to prevent intruders entering. Afloat
outside
the museum building are several reproduction boats from various
eras and
from different areas some of which take out with tourists
rowing and hoisting sail. One
of the large reproduction boats was sailed from Roskilde to Ireland last
year and we shown a documentary film about the voyage in the museum. Conservation work is still going
on on one of the wrecks. There were also workshops showing various Viking crafts
including a forge,
someone making bows and of course boat building.
The parts of the boats they
have conserved were held in metal frames so that you could see the shape of
the complete boat but some had so little of the origin wood you had to use a
lot of imagination. I was a little disappointed as I had expected that there
would be more of the original boats and that the big reproduction boat was
in the museum however, after seeing the "Vassa" in Stockholm even the Mary
Rose would be a dissapointment.
We
all dressed in our best bib and tucker and set off for the club house
between the showers. They cut two birthday cakes for the 50th anniversary of
the Cruising Association and then we sat down to dinner. The meal started with marinated redfish with beets
followed by chicken breast and summer vegetables with a desert of berries and sorbet,
all very local and very nice. Then the entertainment began, coordinated by Stuart Bradley with items from various members. We really enjoyed Brian Hammett's version of the weather forecast and someone gave a story of God asking for an ark to be built and when he asks why it had not been built after 6 months she explained about building regs. environmental impact etc. It was very amusing. As the evenings entertainment was about to end the skies opened and there the most amazing thunderstorm so Stuart continued with more songs and there were several other impromptu songs and recitations from the audience. The evening finally ended at about 12.45. I think a good night was had by all.
over
and most of the boats depart today. We are staying as I want to visit the
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. It rained on and off in
the early morning and in a break in the showers we said goodbye to Keith and
Beryl who were flying back to England and then cycled up to the station
where we managed to buy tickets without too much difficulty. I think we are
getting the hang it now(not) but it's a very complicated system the Danes
have. You buy tickets with
ten sections on them, on the platform you have to ding it in a machine a
number of
times depending the number of persons travelling and the areas being travelled
through and the machine stamps a date and time on the ticket each time. We never
really how many times
we had to ding it, we just did as we were told. We only had a few stops to go to Humlebaek and quite a little walk to the museum. It was originally an old country estate and the original house is there but new galleries have been built. Many of the sculptures are arranged in the gardens and it is a be
autiful
setting overlooking the Sound with several large Henry more
sculptures. It had stopped
raining as we arrived so we ate our packed
lunch in the grounds before looking around the galleries. Their summer Exhibition was on with paintings by many famous British, American and Danish
artists.
It was disappointing that
one of the galleries was shut for redevelopment and their special exhibition
of museum
architecture was not of great interest to me. We were quite exhausted after
a late night and our trip to the museum.
Pat and keith came over after
dinner for a team
talk on where we were going for the next few 
days. 
d
we ended up motoring again.
We passed Helsingor reputed to be the site of Hamlet's castle.
We
also passed a small tall ship with some of its sails up, there are lots of these
around as they are holiday charter boats and this one was German. We arrived in Hornbaek in the middle of the afternoon. The narrow entrance was made even narrower as there was a dredger in the entrance. Keith touched the bottom but soon got off and found a box to moor. We could not find a box mooring so we had to raft up against another boat. After a rest we went out to do some shopping. There was a good fish shop on the quay so we bought some fish for dinner. The town was bigger than we expected with two supermarkets so we took the opportunity to stock up again. Shahbahanou was offering the pre-dinner drinks tonight.
t
the ladies from Victrix on the way to the
facilities which we found clean
and comfortable and did some washing. There was a rock to attach the marina
trolleys to but somebody seems to have made off with them. Later we all walked into town
and on the way we found three very arty
shops with lots of interesting (expensive) things to look at. One shop had lovely pottery and silver jewellery,
the next was a glassware shop and the last a large shop with an art gallery and sculptures.
further up the road to town Barry found a clothes outlet type shop with lots
of other junk in it, Ken could not resist a bargain. The town itself which was larger than we expected
and bank and the supermarket had to be visited
again. After lunch the sun went in and we had more rain although it cleared
up enough later for us all to take a walk right around the marina after
dinner.
the
Fjord and west to Odden Fiskery. The winds came up quite strong later but we
were in the harbour by then. This is a small village and we just managed to
get into the harbour and raft up against another boat but of course this is
holiday time for the Danes. It was Ken's Birthday today so we had champagne and candles before going
for a posh dinner in a very nice restaurant before returning to Lucia for cake
and coffee. The weather forecast for tomorrow was not promising, westerly winds
and we are heading west
but we will wait and see.
sail
westward with south westerly winds. We sailed through the gap in the narrow reef
NW of Gilleleje heading for Samso. We sailed nearly up to the beach to the north
of the island before
tacking south until we reached the narrow channel entrance into the harbour
and nature reserve at Langor, about
halfway along the east dide of Samso where we turned the engine on. Keith and Pat
were
there before us so we rafted up next to them. The harbour was very crowded
with three large sailing barges from Holland in the entrance.
After dinner we had a walk round the village where
we saw these near life size statues in someone's garden. 
Further on we met
this life size concrete cow a concrete seat with artistic fish on it
and we saw more birds which we think are swallows but there again
they might be swifts?
up
and doing early as the inside boat wanted to leave at 9 and after that the
bicycles
were unloaded
and we were soon ready for our exploration of the island which Barry and I
had done on our previous visit. We set off north across the isthmus
through the village of Marup to the scenic village of Norby where we
stopped for our picnic lunch beside
the pond complete with floating duck house. On the way we saw this totem pole
in the school grounds. It had
lasted well as it was new in 2001 when we visited last. On our way back we
saw two horse drawn caravans on the main road 
before we took a detour to a small
but well known local lady silversmith has her
workshop. She specialises in mounting the locally found amber (but she
wouldn't tell us where to find it!), some purchases were made. We continued
on the detour into the woods past small shacks or holiday homes hidden in the woods
and on to the long beach where Keith and Barry braved the cold and went
paddling.
When we were here last it was warm and there were
people bathing
(nude) along this beach, not today! It seemed a long cycle back to the road
from the beach and we arrived back at
the boats exhausted. That evening after dinner it was all on Shahbahanou
for farewell drinks as we going separate ways tomorrow. They are heading
back eastwards to see friends and to find somewhere in the Balic to leave
their boat until next year and we are heading south through the big Belt and
back to Copenhagen from where Ken and I are flying home.
It
was goodbye to Shahbahanou as they
headed eastward and a fairly early start for us on a sunny
morning with a good west/south westerly wind. When we came into open water
it was fairly lumpy and the wind increased little to give us a good sail. We sailed down
the big Belt and under the Korsor bridge. The bridge is in two halves the
suspension bridge which is high enough for us and then an island which is
partially man-made and then another bridge towards Nyborg. After passing
under the bridge we tacked across the sound into Nyborg where we had to raft
up outside two Swedish yachts
who promptly told us they were leaving at 8am.
Up early to let the
Swedes
out. There were 7 boats on a rally so although Several left a
8.30
but the two inside of us didn't so it was the middle of the morning
before we could get settled and head to the supermarket which was
close by. We had an early lunch and then planned some sight seeing but
before
we could set out musicians and dancers in traditional
dress set up nearly next to us so we went over to watch.
The lady in the
middle with many white scarves around
her
neck and a lot of silver jewellery is dressed in the local costume of one of
the islands in the Kategat and the amount of scarves and jewellery indicate
that she is very rich. Folklore has it that, with so many scarves, she
cannot turn her head and therefore can do no work but, being so rich, she
can afford to have servants to do all her work for her !
We visited the local tourist office guide books and started our tour with
the church. The windows were all clear glass which made the church look
unusually
bright inside. On the way we saw the first of the rusted sculptures which we had
seen in 2001.
It had lasted well and looked no different than before.
We
continued on around the town and although the church had no stained glass
this roundabout did. Continuing the tour we came to the old city gate and
bastions with cannons on top and then on to the castle. Barry and Ken went
in for the full tour and, amongst a lot of other interesting things found
one room with amazing painted patterned walls and a mummified cat in the
cellars. Outside was another rusty sculpture titled "Hip Hip
Hurrah" seen here with the castle in the background.
A reasonably early start and,
as the wind was perfect, we didn't bother with engine but
sailed off the quay and straight back out to the Big Belt
to head for the small island of Vejro. We had tried to come here before but
it was very rustic, quite shallow and very exposed the south easterly winds
we had that day. Today we had more favourable winds and found that the
marina has been completely remodelled and dredged. Many of the boxes are quite wide apart and there is
now some mooring alongside. We had some difficulties
mooring with the quite
strong winds but eventually managed it then went ashore and found the big drawback to this lovely place,
the cost! It is nearly
three times the cost of most other marinas in this area, more like the south
coast of England. On our way to the shop to pay we saw a deer grazing in a
cornfield,
passed a row of new, purpose built, stainless steel barbeques,
each with it's own pile of fire wood, and at the shop was the island's fire engine,
probably necessary because of the number of barbeques! After paying the
punitive cost of one nights
mooring we took a walk along the beach to look at the lighthouse. Later in
the day, when Barry had recovered from the price of mooring here, we walked
in the other direction along the "road" and saw pheasant and hares and the
same or another deer grazing and on
the way back this one was right in front of us.
These
carvings were by the road and seemed to have been
carved from dead trees,
Thor with his hammer and opposite him a sea monster.
with
the wind behind us and sailed all the way with just the jib to Kalvehave. On
the way we
had to go under three bridges one of which was only 20 metres clearance,
only just enough for us we thought.At Kalvehave we finally managed to find a berth with posts wide enough
for us just before the rain started. Note; not the most interesting or
picturesque place we've visited but that might have just been the weather.
wind
feels a bit warmer today and continues to stay behind us so
another
day with only
the
jib. We had to navigate a very tortuous, shallow but well buoyed route
to get back into open water, note the bottle
brush buoys which are the norm in Denmark. We arrived back at Rodvig .
Although the weather looked threatening all day it stayed dry while we were sailing
to Rodvig to
complete our circumnavigation of Seeland but again, as soon we arrived the
heavens opened and it poured down. After a late lunch we read the guide book
again then visited and photographed the flint oven, a very prominent
landmark just to one side of the harbour. We think the product of this old
oven was used to make ceramic glazes but we aren't sure.
were
rafting three or more. We decided to try the shallower southern marina and
found a berth rafting up against only one boat but very shallow. If it had
not been for our relatively shallow draft of 1.5 metres we would not
have got in as we estimated we had less than half a meter under the keel
where we were, we went to bed that night
hoping the wind wouldn't change and send all the water to Poland as we have
seen in the past. Beside the marina is Fort Dragor, build in 1910 and still
in use. It is really only earth works but now inside part of it is a
restaurant and a museum. Looked out to sea from the fort gives a good view of the
massive bridge that joins Denmark to Sweden which starts
in
Sweden as a bridge and as it nears the
Danish coast becomes a tunnel. Looking south we saw this bathing
facility, you obviously walk out to the bit on the end where I expect you can change and then swim
in the sea. Too cold for me so we did not investigate further. Dragor itself
is a pretty town with a waterfront that attracts holiday makers, it
was quite crowded while we were there as it was the weekend but with a nice
atmosphere though.
Some
of the local ducks liked to sleep just
beside the pontoon, can you see them they are very well camouflaged? It was probably out of the
wind there and mother duck is guarding her babies while they sleep on the bank. We let the rain pass before we set out for half an
hour's sail north to the large Kastrup Strandpark marina half way up the
island just off the runway at Kastrup airport. Not very many visiting
boats here, mainly locals but quite comfortable and very well organised. It
was also very easy to get to the airport from here apparently, just a short
walk and two stops (10 minutes) on a local train that goes right into the
airport. We had a quick look around the marina area after paying and getting
our prepay card for electricity then after lunch Ken and I took the Metro into Copenhagen. It
was very quick and convenient as the trains (no driver) run about every 4
minutes or so. We bought some souvenirs and I showed Ken the Royal
Copenhagen china shop and the Georg Jensen silver shop/museum. On the way
back to the boat we took the Metro
to the end of the line to check out the airport connection as Ken and
I are flying home on Wednesday morning. I think we may try and
catch the bus as it is not so far to walk but we will see.