North Jutland everyday adventures
It was the first week of June and we had almost just returned from our first half year abroad in our red VW California Coach 'Turtle' from '92. More precisely, we had been at home in Denmark for 2 weeks and only just managed to see the closest of the family and a few friends. But now it was already on new ones adventure, namely 'Nordjyske Hverdagseventyr'.
It was an idea that had arisen because we had been hired by the North Jutland libraries to drive around to 8 of the Northern Jutland municipalities and give presentations about saying everything up and moving out in a car to travel around the world as part of their project 'Kulturkaravanen'.
And then Mark asked from Radio Nordjyske, who had interviewed us every 3-4. week since we left, whether or not we should do something fun on the radio over the summer when we were home in Denmark. We participated in it - and then the idea of 'Nordjyske Hverdagseventyr' was created.
Travel deals: Short break in the Danish mountains
What is 'Nordjyske Hverdagseventyr'?
In short, the idea is that we - Morten, Mette and the car Turtle - during the early summer and autumn of 2018 visit all 11 North Jutland municipalities for a week at a time and drive around and experience 'everyday adventures'. Our term for adventure is something you can take on in your own local area, without it costing anything special, and without it requiring a lot of time or preparation.
And now it had become week 1 in our project 'Nordjyske Hverdagseventyr'. Meeen we had probably come to push it all a little too much together here after our return to Denmark…
Monday morning this week we woke up in Flensburg when we had been to a team meeting in connection with a lecture we were to give the next day in Barrels. All pretty far from it North Jutland, where the everyday adventure was waiting for us, so it took a few days before we could drive away.
When we finally arrived at Aalborg Municipality, which we visited this week, we actually drove as the first thing directly to an old acquaintance, namely the park in the town of Svenstrup. We were to give our first presentation to the libraries in Svenstrup on Wednesday evening, and from several previous visits to the park, we knew that it is a wonderful oasis in the middle of the city - a small perfect place to sit and enjoy your packed lunch. So we did.
In fact, we had a good friend down there too. He was handsome, white as snow and seemed to enjoy life. His name was Svend - at least we call him that. The Swan Svend. This afternoon we did not see him now, because we did not sit all the way down to the water, but stayed a little further out on the edge of the park, as we did not have that long before we had to give lectures.
Take the bus from Copenhagen to Aalborg - see the offer here
Everyday adventure in turtle pace
After such a hectic start to the week - and in general after our return home to Denmark - we did not really need the big activities in the coming days.
We asked the participants at Kulturkaravanen what nearby places they would recommend for an overnight stay, and several of them mentioned Poulstrup Lake, which we had both actually visited before. We therefore knew it was a great place right in the area.
As is already clear, Aalborg Municipality is not completely foreign to us. On the contrary, it is actually very homely for both of us. For Morten even more, as this is where he grew up and has lived for most of his life both as a child and as an adult. I am moving to the municipality, but I have still lived in Aalborg for the past 6 years, so it has gradually become home for me.
So we drove down to Poulstrup Lake and parked on the first floor, all the way down to the water. At night we left the sliding door open and it felt like sleeping outside in a shelter.
It was so amazing. The only sounds we heard by the lake all Thursday and Friday morning were the cuckoo's cock, the frogs' croaking, the blish chickens' rapping, the whole school class' eager voices as they ran past both Thursday and Friday morning - and saw a few cars driving past on the gravel road. Aaah, what peace.
We spent the day just getting completely down to gear after some hectic weeks: I settled down with a book in hand and subsequently went on a nice bike ride. Morten chose to take a nap, which was followed by a walk.
On everyday adventures at the dentist
On Friday I had an appointment with the dentist in Aalborg and chose to cycle there. There is another thing that is quite cool about Poulstrup Lake: That there is so calm and idyllic and beautiful nature - and yet so close to the center of Aalborg that you can cycle there.
So I cycled into the center and got here - despite the fact that I just needed a trip to the dentist - my next everyday adventure, namely Aalborg's probably most beautiful ascent, which is located on Boulevard 5.
Here is a large part of old Aalborg with Jens Bang's Stone House, City Hall and the river painted really extensively and beautifully on the walls in the entrance - a work of art that is definitely worth a visit, whether you go to the dentist there or not.
After a visit to the dentist, I cycled out to what is known as Hesteskoen to meet Morten. A place that we have both heard about many times, but unbelievably never visited - despite the fact that it is less than 10 km from Aalborg city center.
What we found was a really nice oasis. A stretch of beach with bathing jetties, green areas, shelters, campfire site and public toilet - with the only drawback: That there is a view just over to Nordjyllandsværket on the other side of the water.
It's not a super charming view, but on the other hand it's also very cool to see that even though Aalborg's characteristic industry is so close, it's still a super nice place to come and bathe, while the surroundings are delicious and well attended.
Rock music on the shore
Unfortunately, Morten and I had gone awry earlier in the day, which was perhaps just a sign that we had had a little too many things on our ears after our return. But here Hesteskoen was just a good place to stay, because there were many places in the green areas where it was possible to be alone and undisturbed.
The next day I had made an appointment with a girl named Astrid from "Astrid's Universe", who like us also lives in her car full time. We were to meet at Fjord Rock in Aalborg; it is a free concert under Kulturbroen in Vestbyen.
Morten was not in it - he wanted a home day. This is one of the challenges we have in living in a car: that one's choice affects the other more than if we lived in an apartment. Because if I wanted to take the car to Aalborg, then Morten had to follow in there and then have his home day there, because I also took his home with me.
And that's what we ended up doing: Morten let himself be persuaded and took me in, as I had agreed with Astrid after all that I should have the car with me. It ended up being a lovely day for both of us.
It felt good to get out and be with some other people, drink beer and hear good music. In the last six months, Morten and I have spent almost all of our time together, so it was good with some other inputs and stimuli from other people.
We stayed once again on the first floor, which was right next to the stage. Therefore, for good reason, we were with until the party ended, after which we went to bed.
Flight demonstration and tastings
In the morning we drove out of town - now it should be good with a little peace again. Or so it actually did not turn out quite. Because we drove out near the airport, where there was an Air Show that day, and therefore jet fighters, passenger planes and helicopters rumbled through the air and did various tricks and shows for more or less 6 hours.
All this scenery Morten sat down and looked through his binoculars. In the meantime, I took the bike and cycled back to Aalborg, where I met my sister. We went for a long walk along the harbor promenade while we got picked up on some of the neglect of having been away from each other for half a year.
We ended up down at the city's Street Food Market, where neither of us have been before, and we sat down comfortably in a Bordeaux Chesterfield sofa where the conversation could unfold. Afterwards we walked around to the many different stalls and tasted some tastings, before we went back along the waterfront with a cup of coffee from Pandekagehuset in hand.
Adventure right outside the front door
This is how our first week of North Jutland's everyday adventures went. It was a hectic start, but by the time we got to the middle of the week, we could start taking things in stride and just relax where we were without rushing around from one to the other. We had some lovely, diverse experiences in Aalborg Municipality, which offered both fantastic nature and a festive city atmosphere with a concert.
When I look at the map, which places we visited, it can be seen that we basically only drove around in a radius of 20 km from Aalborg, and that we did not get out to the east coast at all, but it was probably mostly an expression of, that our need was not to move us too much around when we had been busy in the week up to.
And that is also exactly what is the great thing about everyday adventures: that you do not have to go far from your place of residence to experience something. The adventure awaits right outside the front door.
We received recommendations to visit these places that we did not reach, but we encourage others to visit:
- Drastrup gravel pit
- Lake at Dall Møllevej
- Huul Mill (v. Vokslev)
- Lille Vildmose (center)
- Sønderholm
- Rehabilitation Center Mou
- Mulbjergene by Dokkedal
Enjoy travel - the adventure is right on your doorstep!
You can watch the video from Aalborg at the top of the page.
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