Germany → Denmark

The weather was great! The sun was shining and it was dry. Everything perfect!
Early the next morning I grabbed my laptop and planned the route for the first day! No motorway, along the water and across the Ny Lillebæltsbro to Funen. Funen is a small Danish island. There I’d picked out a wild campsite by a lake. Planned, ridden. Over those roughly 160 kilometres the landscape changed, and I realised I was already a fair bit further from home. And when you consider I’m riding all the way to the North Cape… that’s still a good deal further. In the evening I pitched my tent in the loveliest sunshine, around 18°, near the lake.
Sitting in the sun, I made myself pasta with pesto. I’ll probably end up writing that quite a few more times. Simple, quick and cheap, after all.

While I ate, I got to hear from several passers-by just how beautiful my motorbike is and what a great colour it has.
In the evening a couple pulled up next to me in a practically brand-new, fully kitted-out Sprinter. After a quick chat about the van, it was off to bed for me.
My plan for the next day was to tick something off my bucket list: spending a night in an eight-bed dorm. (It had nearly happened once already in Flensburg… but back then the room could only be filled with three people, since those were the Covid rules at the time.)
I also wanted to go to Copenhagen, so that worked out nicely. I rang round a few hotels and hostels to make sure there’d be somewhere to park on site.
Parking somewhere on the street in cities usually isn’t all that great. I found an A&O Hotel near the station in Copenhagen.
About 20 minutes on foot into the centre. Good location, hotel chain, secure parking in the hotel’s own area. On the phone I was told I’d have to ask on site whether the parking cost anything. A helpful tip, of course. At check-in I made a point of mentioning that I’d been told on the phone that parking was free for motorbikes. After a bit of back and forth — and my argument that I basically only needed half a parking space — they made an exception. Otherwise the parking would have cost 23 € a night… I got room 39. On the way to room 39 I passed the wash room. Which was also the kitchen. When I saw a big family preparing their dinner in there, I decided against doing my laundry. Otherwise my things would probably have come out dirtier than before. The fact that the room was only about 4 m² and the extractor hood clearly wasn’t working properly is, I think, not worth mentioning. Chased by the smell of food, I carried on down the corridor to room 39. Standing outside the door, something already smelled off. It smelled roughly like the foot end of a sleeping bag after a 4-day festival. Without showering, needless to say. After a quick glance into the room, which explained the smell, I went back to reception wanting to upgrade to a single room. The plan to tick that box off my bucket list I put on hold for now. It was explained to me that the system automatically fills the eight-bed room and then opens a new one. But there was an alternative… I could move to another eight-bed room where, so far, there was only one other person. I said yes, of course. Room 35 smelled better and was also five times cleaner. After quickly repacking my clothes, I rode an e-scooter towards downtown Copenhagen.

To the harbour, to Amalienborg Palace and to Frederik’s Church. At sunset I headed back to the hotel.
After a quiet, restful night, I set off for the harbour again in the morning. After a quick stop at Netto to grab breakfast, I found myself ten minutes later sitting at „The Kissing Stairs“ by the water. That’s where I wrote the first part of this blog post and edited the first photos of the trip. After a photo on the tall bench (the cover image of the blog), I carried on across the Øresund Bridge to Sweden. But first I wanted to see the Øresund Bridge in its full length, so I rode to Dragør Fort — right at the eastern edge and within sight of the bridge.

After exactly 7,845 metres, and with 18 € less in my pocket, I reached Sweden. It was a bit like riding across the bridge into another world. Much more nature, much greener, and simply bigger. After a quick photo stop at the „Turning Torso“, I rode past the supermarket and out into the countryside. I wanted to wild camp again. In a small patch of woodland between huge fields, I found a great spot for my hammock.

Lying there facing the sunset, I watched a few deer and hares that passed barely 5 metres in front of me. When I moved a little right after, one deer bolted into the forest, bellowing and grunting. That deer can be that loud… I honestly had no idea. Since I’d already ridden a fair way north, the sun naturally came up early in the morning, around 6 a.m. It looked magical….