7/29: Day 3: Bike trip

 Up a bit earlier this morning for a run in Amager Faellen before heading off on a bike trip. I was actually planning on taking this day off, but Kate wanted to go, so I figured I might as well. Great dirt running again, followed by some pastries from a neighborhood bakery.

     Picking up bikes with fairly smooth as the place opened at 10. It was busy though with people trying to rent for the day. It was smart to have booked ahead of time. Got our bikes and packed up at the apartment before heading to the train station. We were lucky enough to have our host willing to store luggage at the place while we were gone, so we were able to leave a good chunk of our stuff without having to pay extra at the train station. 

     The train ride to Roskilde was ~20 minutes or so. We had to book an extra spot for the bike, which on this leg at least ultimately meant we didn’t have anywhere to sit. Not the end of the world, but not amazing. 

     Roskilde is home to the Viking ship museum. There were 5 different excavated boats that had been skulled in the channel as a defense mechanism in the 1000s or so. Most were just chunks of wood, but it was pretty cool to see the re-designed models on the water and learn about the process as well as the history of the area. Not an amazing stop, but still cool.

     Set our sights for Hojby afterwards, with 40 miles yet to bike in the day and the time already after one. We made good time though and were already well into the ride when we pit-stopped at a gas station to split a sandwich. Stop again at Gundestrup for what couldn’t have been a better timed ice cream shop. I assumed we’d be having to stop at a gas station to get a treat, but lo and behold, a pizza place/ice cream place popped into view right at the time we planned on stopped. Got a little help from the flavors from a couple of Danish kids behind us, but I was also happy to know a couple via German and my scant Duolingo Swedish lessons. 

     Rolled into Hojby around 5 PM and checked into our room. It’s a restaurant/hotel, so we rested/showered up and then headed over for a higher-end dinner of a 3-course meal including crab, beef, and ice cream. Not cheap by any means, but it was delicious and earned after eating on the cheaps the first couple nights on vacation.

     Wandered around the village a little (not a whole lot to see) and back to relax at the hotel as I write this. Much less biking tomorrow and Sunday, maybe 20-25 miles compared to today’s 40. We were lucky in that I didn’t book ferry tickets ahead of time as I figured they’d be quite frequent. This is true to Aarhus, but not to eebeltoft where we are headed. I first thought they were sold out for tomorrow, but luckily had the locations backwards and we snagged some tickets for tomorrow’s 10 AM ferry. Earlier than I had hoped, but there’s only two that run a day. Such is life.

Another great day of vacation.