DENMARKA PEDAL WINNER
SALLY McLEAN From cosmopolitan Copenhagen to coastal paths and countryside, a cycling trek is the perfect way to see one of best – and flattest – tourist destinations around
BY MARK McGIVERN m.mcgivern@dailyrecord.co.uk COPENHAGEN is officially the world’s hottest tourist destination, so it stands to reason that most travellers would want more than one crack at it.
Lonely Planet voted the Danish capital the No1 place to visit in 2019 and that makes it a great departure point for a cycling tour of Zealand, the nation’s biggest island.
Our Freewheel holiday – one of many trips run by a firm that lets travellers do the pedalling while they carry the bags – started and finished in the city, giving us the chance to earmark top-priority pursuits for the return visit.
The six days of easy riding in between involved cruising along the flat, coastal paths and deserted farm roads that divide Zealand’s thousands of lush green and golden fields.
The summer tour, totalling about 200 miles, took in towns and cities not often travelled by British tourists and gave a great snapshot of Danish culture in both the big smoke and the seaside towns that line the Baltic coast.
It also took us into the heart of the country, where pristine homes and villages offer a clear reminder of their origins a century ago.
Denmark is reckoned to be the third happiest country in the world and after arriving in Copenhagen on a Saturday morning, we soon got into the appropriate mode.
The city is awash with cyclists, with dedicated bike lanes on almost every road, making it easy to pack a load of sights into a few hours.
Our first evening took us to the Meatpacker District, a Mecca for young trendy types, where craft beers and street food are sold in bulk in warehouse units such as the Warpigs pub and Kodbyens Fiskebar.
This style of trip is easy to extend at the beginning or end, so a few more city days can easily be factored in for sightseeing, plus the 21st-century cuisine and design that earn Copenhagen such high grades on every city break league table.
Other tourist hotspots include the famous Little Mermaid statue and the huge Carlsberg beer museum, as well as many Michelin-starred restaurants, cool bars and city waterways.
Our schedule for the following morning meant rising for breakfast and checking out the supplied city bike that would take us on our travels.
Getting out of the city can be the toughest part of a day’s navigation but the on-board GPS unit meant we never missed a turn and within 15 minutes, we were off-road and cutting past the pastel painted buildings of the Nyhavn Canal.
The pathway duly turned west and we were on the river path at Sydhavnen and soon cruising past some of the stylish apartment blocks that have merged with historic Copenhagen to give the city such a fantastic feel.
Heading westward, we got to the paths that would form the main part of our 38-mile trip to our next stop, the seaside town of Koge, with the Baltic Sea on the left side the entire way.
Koge is a quiet residential town with a pretty harbour close to a market square that is the biggest in Denmark and it’s a pleasant place to stroll around.
The next day’s target was Naestved, about 40 miles away, which took us into the wheat, rapeseed and corn fields that would dominate the next few days of riding.
At Ronnebaek, there’s a path
cut from an old railway line that runs all the way into Naestved, where we stopped at the Hotel Kristine, an old building with a modern wing that mirrors the cosmopolitan and traditional elements of the town.
The old, red-brick Naestved Museum relates the full history of the town, from pre-Viking life to present day.
Day three involved a 45-mile trek towards to formerly important coastal outpost of Korsor, where the 11-mile Great Belt Bridge links Zealand to the island of Funen.
A tough headwind meant a coffee stop at the picture postcard harbour town of Bisserup, 18 miles up the road. Other highlights of the ride were the Holsteinborg Castle and Borreby’s pristine moated castle.
One notable highlight of Korsor is the Biograf Teater, which opened in August 1908 and remains the world’s oldest operating movie theatre.
From Korsor, the voyage headed north to the middle of the island, with a 40-mile traverse of rolling fields taking us to the modern town of Ringsted.
An option on this day is a slight detour to the Trelleborg Viking fortress, dating back to 980AD, where a complete ring wall is preserved.
The 1000-year-old market town of Ringsted isn’t the most exciting on the island but has pleasant pavement cafes and several decent restaurants to get the carbs in for the next day’s ride to Roskilde.
This 42-mile stage was another rustic jaunt on slightly hillier terrain, which cut through several forests and brought in some gravelly roads.
The day offered the option of a detour to take in the Roskilde Fjord, a real highlight of Danish natural landscapes.
The 25-mile inlet features 30 little islands, and historic remnants offer a glimpse of life for the area’s Stone Age forebears.
Best known for its massive rock festival, the city also hosts the towering Roskilde Cathedral, dating to 1200, which was the first Gothic cathedral to be built of brick and led to many others in northern Europe.
The cathedral has been the main burial site for Danish monarchs since the 15th century and, since 1995, has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Roskilde’s Viking Ship Museum is Denmark’s national museum for ships, seafaring and boatbuilding in the prehistoric and medieval period.
A permanent exhibition of five original Viking ships excavated nearby in 1962 offers a modern and interactive experience, adding up to what is a world-class exhibition.
From here, the Freewheel experience was entering its last leg, heading back to Copenhagen, one of the most progressive European cities.
The farm tracks of Roskilde soon give way to unpaved roads, which connect to the city traffic system and the massive network of well marked cycle paths.
Here you will see how cyclists flow through the many municipal areas, with children riding to school and professional types taking the daily commute – there’s even the chance of an occasional mini traffic jam of riders at bottlenecks as riders join and exit underpasses that connect various paths.
Approaching Copenhagen on a sunny Saturday, we crossed the bridge on the Damhus Lake, leading on to the Ved Vesterport in the heart of the city, where a couple of cold beers marked the end of the bike tour and the start of the party.