The trip started beautifully, through the semi-deserted Roskilde countryside, as I made my way toward the Ejby Peninsula, where I was supposed to see the national park. Unfortunately, very strong winds and the fact that I was short on time meant I had to speed up. I killed a few minutes on the sandy beach, but due to extremely strong and very cold winds, I didn’t really want to hang around because I could feel my body losing temperature. I made my way to a brewery, where I spent 60 Danish kroner on an insanely expensive non-alcoholic beer, and then I started pedaling toward my first camping spot. At approximately 3:30 p.m., I reached a small settlement on mainland Denmark where, after a bit of fiddling, I found the shelter spot and set up my tent. Surprisingly, that wasn’t very hard, and I actually wasn’t that cold. However, I decided to make tea, so I boiled some water, made myself a cup, and went for a little walk to explore the area. Going down to the beach was amazing and beautiful — it was blocked from the wind, so I could just enjoy the views. As it started getting darker, I made my way back to the tent, where I made dinner and most likely fell asleep around 8 p.m. Around 7 a.m., I was awoken by some birds.

Got awoken by some birds around 7:30 am after, according to Garmin's sleep analysis, an excellent sleep that lasted nine and a half hours and got me a maximal score. Yay me!

Safe to say I wasn't feeling 100% but hey, road awaited. I packed up, parked my bike in the sun to let the morning sun rays dry it out and made a quick instant coffee to start the day. I had around 16km's to the nearest coffee shop where I would refill my water, ingest some calories and caffeine and head onwards! Second day was mainly consisted of patches of clear and empty roads and gravel/dirt tracks through forests. Riding was amazing, weather even better, wind was assisting. What more could you ask for?

Already in the morning, as soon as I started pedalling I could feel something in my knee. I decided to ignore it as the pain/uneasy feeling went away as I got warmer. My logic was that because pain wasn't consistent I probably didn't pull or injure something, and if it gets better with warming up, it's probably nothing serious. To be fair, it probably wasn't anything serious, and I would have been ok had it not been for a 15 km detour I had to take to get some water.

Later on I found out in general, churches in Denmark provide free toilet access (which includes water too). Had I known that I would probably have spared myself a lot of mental strain and pain. I guess that's a part of traveling by a bike - you never know what's gonna happen - it can be a mechanical, flat tyre, rain showers or in my case, a bad knee. I barely made it to the store, got 3l of water, some super sugary cinnamon rolls and headed towards the shelter. At that point I'd already experienced sharp pain in my knee and it was becoming really hard to keep cycling. I realized that if I cycle standing up, pain was manageable or actually barely there - so that's what I did. Very inefficient pedalling 20-ish minutes later I found myself at the shelter. Relived, but also vary of tomorrow's push to the ferry, I had dinner and crashed around 9pm.

Just a little context here. I was in summerhouse region. Some buses, no trains, barely any public transport. I could feel the anxiety building up as I downed 2 painkillers and started mentally preparing for what was going to be a final push. Little did I know that Denmark had a little gift in store for me. Amazing sunrise, basically no winds (there are always winds in Denmark, if you cannot feel it, it's probably because it's tailwind).

I rose around 6am to a beautiful sunrise - that, granted, I couldn't see due to thick vegetation I camped under. I packed up and headed on. I gave myself a three and half hour head start for a mere 18km ride. According to navigation, I should have been able to make it within one and a half hour. Always plan for contingencies, you never know what's gonna happen and what's gonna go wrong. Thankfully it all went well. Winds were helpful, sun was slowly coming up, painkillers were kicking in...

Energy was there, playlist was pumping some Lynyrd Skynyrd and my knee was in check (as much as it could have been). Once again, I was cycling mainly standing up as to avoid putting too much torque on the knee. I swear, if it weren't for the knee, I would have probably had one of the best mornings of my life. Something so romantic about a trip that almost didn't happen, about a journey that was much of a mind as of the body. Seeing that sunrise crest my back as I pedalled was all the reward I needed and a kind reminder that nature is the best medicine. Hour and a half later I made it to the ferry. Google maps showed me that there's highly rated bakery in the area so I paid it a visit and enjoyed some world class pastries practically in the middle of nowhere. About an hour later I boarder the ferry and headed onwards to Aarhus!

What did I learn from this trip?

Was all the trouble worth the fuss?

In short, yes! Trips like these really highlight just how much I love outdoors, bikes and freedom. Oh and I am shamed to admit, but these sourdough buns with a slice of cheese, aka. BMO's (in Danish: sBolle med ost) are slowly growing on me. I think that in general, all the highs and all the lows really contributed to this cathartic feeling towards the end. This feeling like you're done something cool and you just feel proud of yourself. It's not a feeling I allow myself to feel as often as I should. Not everyone would have done their first bikepacking trip in November in Denmark. It's actually kinda crazy.

Till next time, thanks for reading and catch you soon!