Returning to Skagen
We were leaving Aalborg this morning to drive to Skagen, somewhere that had left a lasting impression on us when we paid a short visit to the town a few years ago.
We headed out from the hotel car park and almost immediately found ourselves behind a camper van going the same way as us. Our route took us across the bridge in the city, which began to lift as we approached it. We waited until the vessel(s) passed beneath it and then, once it was lowered back in place, we continued on our way. Did we see any of that? Not one bit!
We needed to refill with fuel though, so spotting a petrol station on our side of the road, we prepared to turn right. Guess what? The camper van went to turn right too! We changed our minds and waited for the next filling station. However, as we turned in, we wondered if it was open?
It was indeed. We'd turned up at an unmanned service station and there followed a two person process to work out what to do and complete the task, which we did. Only on pressing “complete” did I spot the Union Flag and realise I could have done the whole thing in English!!
We were driving eastwards along the northern side of the Limfjord and soon reached the Kattegat coast where we turned to drive north.
We had picked up a booklet about North Jutland in the hotel this morning and found a list of coastal villages worth a visit. Satnav set, we began with Hals, which was indeed a delightful harbour, though probably not somewhere to spend more than a few minutes today.
Next, a little further along the coast we came to Asaa, where a mermaid sculpture provided a focus by the water's edge.
Here, instead of beach huts, there were fisherman's huts, each one with a distinctive blue door. We thought this an attractive place too, but felt that the copy writer for the tourist brochure had excellent skills in marketing speak!
Next came Saeby, a rather larger place with four complete pages in our booket, with particular mention made of the miniature village here. We took a fairly quick look over the fence but didn't linger, for not only did we still have some way to go, we were watching changes in the sky overhead.
The light was terrific though¬
Here in Saeby, the Lady from the Sea towered above the boats around her and we were glad to have had such a great view.
As the rain began, we were nearing Frederikshavn, the largest commercial port on the Kattegat coast, with ferries to Norway, Sweden and to some of the smaller islands.
There was one more recommendation along the coast which we thought worth a stop. Ålbæk was said to have a pretty harbour and an interesting seafront, though I found the traditional shipbuilders right there in front of us most fascinating of all. Not only that, but the large van alongside had “traditional mast maker” painted on the side. I'd have rather liked to have learned more about all of that, given the chance, but we had further to go yet and there was still somewhere on my list to look out for.
As we drove further north, the landscape became more like that of the Thy National Park, with heath and marram grass on sand dunes. I was busy snapping a photo here and there when I spotted the signpost to Råbjerg Mile, the name of the “wandering dune” I had read about.
We drove 5km from the main road into a conservation area, where there was a bunch of parked cars already there.
We followed the path and began to climb. We didn't go far, however! Not only was it hard to walk uphill on loose sand, neither of us felt we'd be able to make it down again!
So we watched others and marvelled at this amazing place!
Just half an hour later we were checking into our beautiful hotel in Skagen in almost tropical conditions. We knew the light in Skagen to be special, which is the reason for the artists' colony being established here. But this afternoon, the blue sky and ochre houses were exactly as we'd remembered. Fabulous.
It's sometimes said that one shouldn't go back to such special places, for they'll not be the same the second time around. This afternoon, we stood in the Skagen Art Museum and looked at some of those beautiful paintings that had captured our hearts when we first came here. I won't repeat myself but will simply repeat the link to our previous visit and include the link to the gallery along with Oskar Herschend's painting of the Råbjerg Mile. We find Skagen to be very special indeed and consider ourselves remarkably fortunate to be here a second time.
