Saturday September 24 Hirtshals to Frederikshavn

North Danish Coast, such a contrast to Norway and it's Fjords.
Turned out to be a very quiet night in the lot we overnighted in and surprised to see when we woke that it was all grassed and we had three other campers for neighbours. The sky was blue and really warm, it felt so good.

This morning’s drive was to the Skagen on the northern most point of Denmark and everything looked and felt so different after a month in Norway, especially the roads which are flat (no mountains here!) as well as the housing which certainly has its own look. This is coastal country with sand dunes and grasses.
Skagen is a very popular tourist destination, we parked in the centre of town by the wharf and wandered around the wharf area, very pleasant on a sunny morning. Seemed to be quite a few doing just the same thing. Called into the local information centre and found an extremely helpful lady with lots of local knowledge.
Popped into the supermarket for some fresh supplies and pleasantly surprised with how much cheaper everything was compared to Norway…. even bought a piece of steak (similar to NZ prices) to barbecue for dinner tonight, the price in Norway was prohibitive. Found a nice spot at Grenen, just north of Skagen to stop for lunch then went for a walk out on the coast thoroughly enjoying the fresh warm air.
By mid-afternoon we headed an hour south to Frederikshavn, had been online and found a campground at the marina which looked promising and it certainly turned out to be with a small number of spots right beside the water. Our view is to the horizon with quite a few ships passing by and coming into port. Denmark doesn’t have the free camping like Norway so we had to pay but have power, water and good free wifi. 
But have a small problem, Ian had a few issues putting his driver’s window down this afternoon (he was needing a bit of “maori air conditioning”!) but after a few go’s it worked, then when we parked at the site the window wouldn’t go up. He spent several hours on it, pulling bits apart, checking fuses but to no avail. So tonight we have some plastic bin lids taped over the hole and will need to stay here another day and hopefully find an auto electrician in town on Monday to sort it out. I am not complaining though as this really is a blissful place to spend some time, with no road noise and just the sound of the sea. 
Ruakiwi in it's overnight spot..."Nigel no Mates"!!!

A huge contrast to Norwegian roads

The town of Skagen had a great atmosphere

Everyone rides a bike. The lady on the right had 2 pre-schoolers in the front.

Maybe Ian needs one of these at the lake!


Coastal grasses



Ian counted 18 boats off shore.

Ruakiwi parked up for the day, and a bit of washing drying in the sun.

My impressionistic view of the marina....Ian rolled his eyes at this!!!

Used Google Translate to read what this sign said... "Please remember bags"!!!



Comments

Vicki Bright said…
Yes contrast is the word. What a difference to Norway
Meg Lipscombe said…
It always takes a few days of getting used to being in a different country, finding out what the supermarkets are called etc. And getting new currency.