Vestkystruten Bikepacking Travel Diary - Day 2 - From Ribe to Kærgård

The second day on the bike started with a beautiful sunrise and wind. After the first day was very cloudy, now bright sunshine awaited us. After a small breakfast, which consisted of a porridge to mix, we started packing up. Although we had not pitched our tent at all, it took us a while to get everything back in the bags. Unfortunately, there was no water connection on this beautiful shelter site, which is why we could only briefly rinse our pot and containers in the river. But you can't have everything.

Since our night camp was directly on our planned path, we continued along the dike. Almost like the day before. Today it should be about 66 km - after all, we had already made up a few kilometers on our first day. We drove past small Danish vacation homes, past meadows with cows and pigs, over sheep fences and finally got to feel the dreaded Danish headwind. Fortunately, however, this was not quite so strong on this day, even though we would have preferred a tailwind, of course.

Once again, as we made our way along Danish roads, we noticed how good the infrastructure and bike lanes in this country were. There were no unnecessary or dangerous road crossings. Instead, there were tunnels and dedicated paths away from the speeding cars. The cars here, however, were also much more considerate and relaxed on the road.

We took our first extended break, which we called an early lunch break or late and second breakfast, in Esbjerg. In addition to the second (and real) breakfast, we really needed fresh water, since we unfortunately could not fill up any at our shelter site.

The nine-meter-high sculpture group, which was located in Esbjerg and is known as" Man by the Sea" (Danish: Mennesket ved Havet), we wanted to see on the way anyway. For our break we looked for a small bench directly at the sea. So we could watch the sea and the sculpture group while we sat at a windy place and ate peanut butter sandwiches. Strictly speaking, the tall sculptures are four seated men made of white concrete looking out to sea. They are supposed to represent man's encounter with nature and, in good weather, can still be seen from a distance of up to ten kilometers. In fact, we were not the only people visiting the port city of Esbjerg, the largest city on the Danish North Sea coast, that day. After all, this was known for its fishing and industrial port, a long shopping street and many museums.

After we had satiated our hunger, however, we continued on our way and refrained from taking a closer look at Esbjerg. Due to the wind, we had to make several stops and decide between long and short jerseys. It was quite fresh and at the same time one was super fast warm, because to arrive against the wind was then but somewhat more strenuous than the day before.

After a few exhausting kilometers we reached our destination for the day. The Kærgård plantation.

While one of us, provided us with food for the evening and the coming morning, the other already looked around for suitable shelter places. We almost missed our shelter place and after a little search we found the place we were looking for. It was a shelter place between Blochsgård and Oktagonen, which was only a few kilometers away from the North Sea at the edge of the Kærgård plantation (dune plantation). In Kærgård Klitplantage there are many hiking and biking trails where you can explore the fantastic nature. The shelter cabins were booked by youth groups and so the only thing left for us to do that day was to set up the tent. The big advantage, however, was that there was a toilet with water connection. There was also seating and after the young people had come at some point to rest, it was also pleasantly quiet.

This was now the second time that we have set up our tent and we were still thrilled by how fast and uncomplicated the setup was. And then it was finally time for something to eat. Jana cooked spaghetti with tomato sauce, accompanied by pickles (After a long day on the bike, the brine from the pickles can help replenish the body with sufficient fluids and electrolytes. In fact, the brine is rich in sodium and potassium, which can have an antispasmodic effect) and good company. Next to us another bike traveler had settled with his tent and so we cooked, talked and laughed until we were all tired and crawled into our tents.

That was a successful, relaxing end to the day. Dog-tired, we fell onto our mattresses and dreamed of our collected impressions of the second day.