Blokhus, Denmark

The camp site at Fano puts up the Union Jack flag for us - it wasn't one of the flags flying when we arrived, but was there the following morning.

Waiting for the ferry back to the mainland in the sunshine.  Ferry No. 19 and 20, to Fano and back again.

Just outside the port of Esbjerg are four 'Men Looking Out to Sea' sculptures - fantastic against the amazingly deep blue and cloudless sky.

A picture of the four of us, you'd think we were in Greece somewhere with the sky that colour.  The men were so photogenic - as you can tell from the number of photos...

Found a fiber glass 'cave' like resting spot at the side of the road offering shade and a respite from the heat and glare of the sun.

Along plenty of gravel tracks, often through forests and nature reserves, with great variation in both quality of riding surface and also how flat, undulating or hilly they are.  Barry is doing an amazing job to keep the extremely heavy trailer rolling on some of he tracks we have been down/along/up.....

Through army ranges and across tank roads etc

We camped just north of the small village of Hvide Sande, in the sand dunes at a very large and spread out campsite - spent the afternoon cycling up a narrow peninsula or spit of land that separates the North Sea from Ringkobing Fjord.  One small settlement after another, with huge numbers of small holiday homes nesting in the sand dunes to give them maximum protection from the wind.  Very busy with vehicle traffic as the peak season for holiday visitors at the moment.  Barry celebrated our arrival at the camp by sampling the delights of the Danish version of the trampoline - a huge plastic covered pillow of compressed air.

The Danish campsites are really excellent to stay at, even if slightly on the expensive side.  They have kitchens with hobs, microwaves etc for you to use, and usually there is somewhere to eat in comfort and under cover.

The daily photo of the camp site... the guy ropes in use for the first time today    
as a trial in case required later on in the trip.

A lovely walk along the beautiful beach jut the other side of the sand dunes behind the tent...

Followed by more sampling of the trampoline by first Janet,

... and then joined by Barry making it impossible for Janet to stand up, made all the more difficult because the timer for the compressed air filling the plastic cushion turned itself off for the night and gradually deflated itself. 

Next morning we woke to heavy rain which rather surprised us.  Had breakfast sat in Janet and Barry's tent then whiled away another hour or so listening to the Ipod with one ear piece each, singing along to the eclectic mix of songs I have.

Luckily the rain stopped long enough for us to pack up the tents and get on our way once again.

But then the rain started once again,a real torrential downpour.  Time for the waterproofs to be donned... 

Half an hour later we were soaked through, but as we turned off the road onto a track through the woods,next to a church, noticed two local cyclists sheltering in a small wooden garage/tool shed so we decided to take shelter there as well. From what stored there we decided that the shed belonged to the church - but even when the two lads decided to make the 5 km dash to home and left us in there, and a lady came into the shed to get a petrol can -nothing was said despite all the tools and equipment being all around us, ripe for being stolen.

So while Barry boiled some water up on the stove for a Cup A Soup each ...

... Roger made the butties for us to eat with the soup ...

... Roger is getting very artistic with his lunch time offering - we had open sandwiches the day before with slices of tomato and cucumber and tastefully decorated with thousand island dressing....  

... while Janet dances out in the pouring rain singing (what else?) but 'Singing In The Rain' ....

The rain finally stopped and we were on our way again, past the army firing ranges once again.

On one particular steep incline over a sand dune Barry managed to 'spring' the back wheel out of his bike, causing him to (naturally) fall in a heap.  More fettling  was required once we reached the next bit of proper road. 

A very grey afternoon through the never ending sand dune cycle paths ...

Another morning, another campsite, packing up the tents once again - sun out again -note yet another trampoline in the background - all the rage on the campsites here.

Off on the dune cycle path once again, towards the light house.

Up the 250 or so steps and crawl out of the tiny door at the top onto the viewing platform - very high up here for Denmark.

Good view on the way down of the spiral staircase - once I had managed to get myself back inside via the tiny hatchway - not a pretty site as my knee joints wouldn't cooperate.... 

Found a lovely spot for lunch - overlooking a ? trout or salmon lake- half a dozen or so anglers around the edges - didn't see anyone catch anything while we were there but the fish were very visible in the clear water and they were leaping out of the water in gay abandon after insects. Every time Barry had his back to the water, or his attention wandered a big fish would leap, and by the tim he looked it would have disappeared once again .... eventually managed to spot one though. Plenty of tadpoles, shoals of tiny fish, dragon flies and may flies in the shallow water at the edge of the lake.  Barry teased the tadpoles and tiny fish by causing a dark shadow with his arms over where they were and causing mass panic amongst them - they immediately reacted by swimming off in all directions as fast as possible.

That night at our campsite by the side of a fjord I spent hours stitching up the three legged stool Roger acquired from the Freegon pile all those weeks ago in Edinburgh - it was rapidly becoming unusable - I had a go at stitching it before Janet and Barry arrived, but only lasted a day or so before starting to rip once again - so made use of the piece of thick tape that I managed to rip off my new sleeping mattress (bought in Ribe as mine had sprung a leak on the seam by the valve) the first time I put it away, to reinforce the various weak places on the stool and then made use of the canvas back from the broken seat of Barry's.  Made use of the various sewing kits I have acquired over the years from hotels - so in a variety of different coloured threads from yellow to red to black to white to pink to blue etc  

Roger then attached the repaired and reinforced seat back to the legs ...

...the wind suddenly got up and the previously quiet campsite was suddenly taken over by kite surfers taking to the water at the edge of the camping field

and Roger tested his char to watch them in action.  I'm really impressed with my repair - the whole seat stands us at nil money, including the repairs.

Breakfast the next morning,  once again bathed in warm sunlight,

It's very late now, the campsite has been very quiet for hours now - and time I went to sleep.  Will fill in the missing words, as an edit, to the following photos next time I get the chance of some free Wifi.