The rail journey to Skagen is seven hours. Who would have believed Denmark is so big? My level of ignorance is astounding! Turns out Denmark consists of the Jutland peninsular and hundreds of islands the largest of which is Zealand where Copenhagen is located and the adjacent Funen.

So in order to get to Skagen (pronounced ‘Skain’) we traverse the 18km long Great Belt Bridge between the two. In fact it is actually two bridges and a tunnel. From Funen to the Jutland peninsula we cross the Little Belt Bridge.

The Oresund bridge connecting Denmark and Sweden is still one of the largest at 8km long. It also has a motorway tunnel and some open road and all up is 16km long. Just amazing the things you learn when you travel!!!!!

Our journey included a change at Aalborg where we met Christoph. A retired Lutheran pastor, living in Germany, he was on a cycling trip with two friends. They had completed 800km in the past two weeks and were about to catch the train home as the others had to return to work. He was seeking companions for a 6000km journey he wants to complete in three months through the Sahara and into Senegal. He has no takers yet and while he entertained us with his mini guitar which he played particularly well I was thinking of my cycling friends and who among them would be most likely to agree with me and think that that is just plain ridiculous!!!!!

We had two hours to go. The local train was crowded and we struggled to find seats together and a place to store our luggage. Eventually we settled so while John guarded our luggage from these dastardly Danes I struck up a conversation with Nicholas the Faroese. He was disembarking at Frederikshavn to take on a new job as skipper of a fishing vessel which would see him at sea for a month or two depending on their catch. He plied his trade between Denmark, Norway, Greenland and Iceland. I learned a great deal about the Faroe Islands, their history, climate and even a bit of politics.

His daughter had just graduated from High School and he shared photos. He told me about the Scandinavian tradition of wearing a graduation cap. We found Christine and Sophia in a bar later in Skagen proudly displaying their graduation caps.

In Denmark, graduation is all about the hat

Finally we reached our destination- Hotel Marie, Skagen. Now Denmark is a bit on the expensive side so when the concierge offered us an upgrade from a hotel room to a two bedroom apartment we were a bit, shall I say, chuffed! OMG it was beautiful!

The only thing left was to walk to the harbour and find a place to dine. Of course John knew where to go. It was an amazing finish to an amazing ‘day’.