Waking up a bit flat and stalked by a Duck!

Day 39 - July 2^nd

It was a pretty slow start from Ribe the next morning, as I had somehow managed to leave the portable cooler box running off the van all night and it drained the battery (may have been a bit inebriated and forgot to turn off I think)!

After a few attempts with other campers in the grounds to get it started and disconnecting our leisure battery and trying to start using that, it was to no avail and I had to succumb to the Danish AA.

I should also note here the very rude French woman who wouldn’t have a bar of giving us a jump start, which was then redeemed by another couple of French blokes who pulled their 4WD over to help, only to find that the jumper leads wouldn’t reach from his car to our van. We thanked them and wished them well on their journey around Iceland that they were just about to take in their short wheel based Land Rover.

Oh…and when did car manufacturers decide it was smarter to put batteries inside the cabin, under seats and god knows where else so it is nigh on impossible to jump start from another car? Gone are the days when you could go nose-to-nose, hook up the leads and bang….you’re away!

After finally getting the van started (it took the Danish AA bloke two battery jump packs by the way), we headed east towards the Danish island of Funen. Having read that Odense was a bit of a dive and our increasing avoidance for large towns/cities, we decided to cross over and head around the southern coast of Funen.

Danish AA Bloke who had to get two battery jump packs to get Maxi started. It was pretty, pretty, pretty dead.

Our stop for lunch that day was at a huge marina in the town of Middelfart. Yep they called it Middelfart and it is directly next to another town called Assens!

Not sure which town I would rather come from?

There are two types of people in this world - those who think a crap is disgusting and those that find it fun and exciting. Which are you?

Anyway, despite the inappropriate naming the marina itself was lovely and a perfect spot to have lunch and wander around, taking in the local golf course, little sailboats moving in and out and a young teenager struggling to windsurf while his Dad froze his arse off in the water trying to hold him up.

Lunchtime in Middelfart Marina.

Our next stop for the afternoon was Faaborg, which is another shipping/marina town on the southern coast of Funnen. It was a quaint little town with a few shops, cafes and bars but nothing hugely remarkable other than a statue of a giant man laid out on his back under a cow sucking its udders. WTF?

After a bit more investigation and research, it turns out the giant was a guy by the name of Ymir who had a strong desire for the freshest milk he could get. He also had some offspring that went on to create the world. Who ever thought milk could produce such results.

The milk loving Giant.

Faaborg Marina.

We then made our way down to the marina and were dazzled by a couple of fighter jets doing some practice not far above the town itself. The noise was incredible and watching these machines duck and dive after each other was truly a great sight.

Although we originally contemplated staying in Faaborg that night, we decided to move on further along the coast as there wasn’t a great deal on offer.

We made our way through some fantastic rolling countryside and really picturesque farmhouses. It was great to see this side of Denmark as before venturing in, we had been told by a couple of people that Denmark was fairly flat and boring. This certainly put those comments to rest and we eventually arrived into another shipping/port town of Svendborg.

We followed a wild camping spot that was recommended to us and ended up just outside of town at a place called Christiansminde. It was a great recommendation, as we were only 20m from open parkland and 100m from the beach itself. We could of actually got closer to the beach; however, a big circus was in town and had taken up the original spot. 

Our little stalking Duck.

Really? Do we need to be that organised?

The circus (and Carnies) arrived just before we did.

We parked the car up and did a reconnoiter around the area to see what was on offer. We were amazed by the white sandy and beautiful waterside area just 5 minutes out of town. Even the wildlife was extremely friendly as a duck came screaming in over my left shoulder, landed and then started to follow us as we walked down the waterside.

After dinner, Claire and I rode into town to take a closer inspection and were again amazed by the lack of people around for such a large town. Unfortunately, Claire got a puncture early on in the piece so we wandered the rest of the town by foot with me finally towing Claire’s bike home while she ran beside me.

On Svendborg Harbour just before getting a flat tire :(

Another busy night in a Danish town. Seriously, where is everyone?

The Svendborg Town Hall with a crazy little contraption dispelling some sort of gas. Was that a part of the fartplan?

Of the limited people that were around, we did get some funny looks, as it appeared that I had taken Claire’s bike off her and forced her to run home. To make it look more authentic, I decided to yell out inspirational training phrases and remind Claire that the 2012 Olympics was only 3 weeks away!