Heading north
The car 'Turtle's snout was once again facing north. The last time it had been was when we drove from Tuscany in Italy, through Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to eventually cross the Danish border and end up in North Jutland. This time we were not going near that far. The plan was to drive from Aalborg and up to Frederikshavn Municipality.
It was now 2 weeks ago, we had come to North Jutland, and we were already on our way into week 2 of our summer and autumn project “Northern Jutland Everyday Adventure”, Where we drive around to all the 11 North Jutland municipalities and go on small everyday adventures. Last week we had visited Aalborg Municipality, and this week it was at Frederikshavn Municipality.
We had an appointment in advance with Morten's cousin, who lives in Frederikshavn, on Tuesday evening, and we were to give a lecture at Frederikshavn Library on Wednesday evening, but in addition we had no idea what the week would bring.
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We like to travel without plans. That way, there is room to improvise and to just take things as they come. If we drive past a sign with an exciting sight, we might stop and investigate what it might be.
Or if we come across a small potholed dirt road into a forest, we like to drive in there to see what it has to offer. Sometimes such a road ends in a dead end and we have to turn around and drive back. Other times it ends up at an empty 'shelter place' that we can have all to ourselves, or at a small holding area all the way down to havet with the most beautiful view.
And it’s one of those times where we feel the joy of driving around the way we do; when we have suddenly discovered the most beautiful little oasis in the middle of nowhere and we feel like the luckiest creatures in the world.
So when we drove towards Frederikshavn Municipality, it was once again without having the big plans for the week. In return, we had received a sea of tips on what we could go out and experience in the municipality.
We were on Radio Nordjyske on Monday morning, where the listeners had the opportunity to write in with their tips for everyday adventures in the municipality. In addition, we had also shared a video where we drove across the municipal border, various places on Facebook, and people had grown up to share it and come up with suggestions for what we could visit.
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Everyday adventures everywhere
We almost only managed to cross the municipal border before we made our first stop in Voerså Harbor. Typically us! We do not have to drive very far before one of us exclaims: “No, just try to see there! Shouldn't we try to drive in there? ” - and as said, so done.
Voerså Harbor was one of the places we had been tipped about in advance with information that it is the longest pier in the municipality. So now that we were here, of course, we had to take a trip all the way to the end of the pier - even though it was just before we were about to blow away on our trip out there.
It was a really windy day - yes almost stormy - but so much more fun to walk out of a long straight pier and stand completely on the tip and be well blown through. Right there we really felt the forces of nature up close.
In addition to having the municipality's longest pier and the usual facilities in a marina, such as motorhome parking and public toilet and shower, which we especially notice when we drive around our car 'Turtle', there are also shelters, a lookout tower and 15-20 idyllic red fisherman's houses in a row.
It is a really nice and cozy place, so we stayed here to eat our lunch and spent the afternoon here before driving further into the municipality. Once again, however, we did not get that far before making the next stop.
Only 5 kilometers up the road we reached before we came to the sign in Lyngså, which pointed to the town's playground. Because it was also one of the places we had been tipped off about, we knew that here we could find a few more shelters, and we would really like to sleep out that night.
So we parked Turtle by the playground, packed a picnic basket with all sorts of goodies for an evening, night and morning in the shelter. There were cold bowls, chamber junkies and strawberries, a game of Uno and a reading aloud book, LED candles and much more in the basket.
We took sleeping bags, sleeping pads and pillows under our arm and the picnic basket in the other hand and settled into one of the two shelters that stand next to the playground. Sleeping in shelters is one of the very best examples of everyday adventures; it's free, easily accessible and smashing fun - and then it's out in nature, which is just a big plus!
In the morning, after eating breakfast, lying on the grass in the sun and reading aloud to each other, we both took a few rides on the cable car before packing the car and driving on. What a fabulous way to start the day!
The next stop was not surprisingly only 2 kilometers away - namely Lyngså Strand. Here Morten took a dip in the blue wave while I got some work done.
Next stop: Frederikshavn
In the afternoon it was about time to drive to Frederikshavn, where we had an appointment with Morten's cousin in the evening. It was one of the longest stretches we drove in a row this week: A full 30 kilometers without stopping…
The evening in the family sign was terrific. It started by showing the boys around Turtle, where the roof was pitched so the boys could crawl upstairs, and we let them sit in the front seat. Here they could 'drive away' together with Morten, where they could decide for themselves where in the world they wanted to drive.
In addition, the youngest of the 4-year-old boys exclaimed delighted "for yoga!", Which was obviously the wildest place he could think of to go… After the visit, we asked Morten's cousin where she would recommend us to drive. hen. She mentioned Knivholt Hovedgård, and that became our goal.
When we arrived, we just lay down to sleep, so only the next day did we go exploring on the main farm and ended up spending the whole day in a flash until well into the afternoon there.
Actually, we just wanted to sit down by the lake and eat our oatmeal, but already on the way down we were entertained for the first time by Nanna, who was cuddling for a hen. We fell into conversation with her, and it turned out that Nanna, who is mentally handicapped, was in day care at Knivholt.
She would just rather enjoy life by the lake with her beloved hen - and her rooster, which we later found out she also had - than do all that the educators put her to. Therefore, it did not take long before she came and settled down by the rug where Morten and I sat and ate, along with both his rooster and his hen.
After breakfast we walked around the yard and quickly found out that it accommodated all sorts of activities. There was a wood turning workshop, a beer collection of 15.000 different beer bottles, a renaissance garden where you can grow organic vegetables, a nature nursery, an organic farm shop, campfire hut, shelters, lookout tower and SO much more, so I can not remember it all. in writing.
It was a surprise to us that so much was happening out there - and then on a fairly ordinary Wednesday in June. Luckily we had a good time - and we used it too.
Never come north of Frederikshavn
Now that it's this way we travel, where we only drive a few kilometers before we find something new that excites us - and that we then spend most of a day there - it may not surprise anyone when I tell , that the rest of the week we never reached north of Frederikshavn.
Even though Frederikshavn is only a little over halfway up in the municipality, and that there is actually plenty to experience north of Frederikshavn, including cities like Ålbæk and Skagen, we stayed in Frederikshavn for the rest of our Frederikshavn week.
Mainly because there were just so many things there that caught our attention while we were there. And why drive further north, when there were now lots of North Jutland everyday adventures to experience right here where we were?
The following days were therefore an overnight stay at Pikkerbakken, which has a fantastic view over the entire city and a trip past Frederikshavn's landmark, Krudttårnet, followed by an afternoon on Palmestranden, where in summer temperatures you can confuse its exotic appearance with Southern Europe.
At the end of the week we went for a walk in Bangsbo Botanical Garden and then in Bangsbo Deer Park, where we both took time to take a walk on the swings and the cable car and afterwards went for a walk to the animals.
There were SO many more things we could have experienced in Frederikshavn Municipality, but a week goes by quickly, and unfortunately we did not reach more this time. We turned our nose to the south again and enjoyed the trip across the Jyske Ås towards Aalborg only interrupted by two small breaks - one of them at the rest area in the hills between Frederikshavn and Understed, where there was the most beautiful view over the landscape and all the way to Læsø.
This was a wonderful end to our Frederikshavn adventure.
More tips for Frederikshavn
We were given the following tips for places we did not manage to visit ourselves, but which we encourage others to visit.
- Tolne forest pavilion
- Skagen and Grenen, Råbjerg Mile, the sanded church and the flag hill
- The professor's plantations in Sæby
- Karup and Understed churches - for the fantastic view.
- Skovsøen in Gybels Plantage, Sæby
- Sæby mini city
- Nelleman's garden
- The Museum Sognefogedgården in Frederikshavn
- Jernkilden and Skovlyst
- The remains of the bunkers in Sæby on the beach at Sulbæk just north of Svalereden Camping
- Søparken in Dybvad
- Clasen's Garden
Have a good trip to Frederikshavn - there is plenty to see!
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