IT’S THE WHEEL THING!
A bike tour of the ‘Danish Riviera’ is poetry in motion, says JENNY COAD
Cycling is as natural to Danes as swimming is to ducks. children might as well be born on bikes and everyone travels on two wheels along the wide cycle lanes in copenhagen. Train carriages are big enough to bring your steed aboard.
The so- called Danish Riviera is easily accessible from the capital. We begin in Frederiksborg, around an hour’s train ride from copenhagen, where the Danish nobility once came to hunt.
Scandinavia’s largest Renaissance castle, Frederiksborg, is the talk of the town — Denmark’s Versailles. Built across three islands, with gratifyingly symmetrical gardens, an audience room with a chairlift to hoist in the king and a dizzyingly ornate church still used by locals, it is everything a castle should be.
Since 1878, thanks to J. c. Jacobsen, the founder of carlsberg Breweries, it has housed the Museum of Danish national History. Then we pedal, following the scenic route marked with a flower, to Helsingor, 17 miles north east.
THe cycle path doesn’t last all the way, but it’s quiet with rolling farmland, pretty red houses and forest on either side of the road. it’s all wonderfully poetic. My one regret is thinking skinny jeans would be up to the job. not after ten miles.
it is with some relief that we arrive in charming Helsingor and make ourselves quickly at home in Kyhns guesthouse.
Opened in 2016, and overseen with huge care by the owners, Ove and Ulla, Kyhns offers six rooms in a historic town house.
There’s a courtyard garden where you can eat cake from the café and the breakfast is a miniature buffet on your plate. Two tiny pancakes, a spoon of perfectly scrambled egg, a shot glass of granola.
Helsingor is easy to explore on foot. We wander around Kronborg castle, where Shakespeare set Hamlet. He called the place elsinore from which the town takes its name. Apparently Jude law first performed Hamlet at the castle itself.
The Hamlet theme crops up all over the place — even the ferry to Sweden ( not remotely Shakespearian) after Denmark. have other the attractions. But fictional has Helsingor been Prince named does of promenade you can follow walk that a cultural includes Anna Queens Straede, one of the town’s oldest streets. There’s an unexpected Maritime Museum, built underground so as not to upset the view towards Kronborg and an indoor food market where you can graze. Helsingor is also a good place from which to cycle the coast suitably path. head beaches swimming This south, with dressed, and time, piers passing gardens more for we e ending After 30 in the minutes, sand. we reach the louisiana Museum of contemporary Art in Humlebaek. it’s in nearly as good a spot as Kronborg, with an Alexander - calder mobile turning in the breeze and a Henry Moore reclining on the lawn, overlooking the island of Ven.
inside, there’s a vibrant depiction of the grand canyon by Hockney, giacometti’s skinny forms, and photographs of Picasso in shorts and Matisse with his paintbrushes. you will go mad for the shop.
i did not have sufficient Danish krone, nor room in my saddle bag to do it justice.
From Helsingor, it’s 20 minutes by ferry to reach Helsingborg in Sweden. The trip is worth taking even just for supper. Helsingborg has an energetic waterside, with bars, restaurants, city beaches and a promenade where people BBQ in the evening. We have dinner in Sillen and Makrillen, on the water, watching the sun set, the cruise ships depart and Kronborg’s turrets disappear into the evening.
Jet skis, kite surfers and paddleboarders are out in the dusk light and, more than ever, i think the Scandinavians really know how to live.
TRAVEL FACTS
NORWEGIAN offers return flights to Copenhagen from £26,
norwegian.com. Double rooms at Kyhns Guesthouse from £125, kyhnsgaestehus.dk. Double rooms at V Hotel in Helsingborg from £120, vhotel. se. Saaby Cykler ( saabycykler. dk) in Helsingor offers bike rental from £11 for 24 hours.