I never thought I would be heading north if you also can head south to enjoy blue skies and sunshine. But here I am, writing to you from Denmark, and I am glad I let go of that set idea about the south, although I will surely travel there again some day (smile).
Before heading north I took a few trips in the Netherlands. One trip I had planned around the birthday of my dear friend Merel, she organized a lovely dinner party to which I was invited. Before going to her place, I went back to Otterlo, where I was last year, to enjoy the nature and the museum in the Hoge Veluwe National Park again, and to go and find Radio Kootwijk which I did not manage to do last year. Radio Kootwijk was the first Radio Station in the Netherlands that established long distance telephone contact with people in Indonesia, at the time (1924), I am sorry to say, a country colonized by the Dutch. It was, and still is, quite an iconic building, in the middle of nature, so it was a very pleasant bike ride to go and find it. The day after the dinner party I went to a place called Aerdt (I had never heard of it before), in the central-eastern part of the Netherlands, very near where the big river Rhine enters the Netherlands to find its way to the North Sea. A beautiful area for bike rides, and a truly lovely (not too big) campsite. I went home, to leave again for a place called Zennewijnen (never heard of that place before either), near the river Waal, meaning many pleasant bike rides on the dikes along the river, and crossing the river on small ferries. I went home for another birthday party of another dear friend (smile) and to prepare for the longer trip to ‘the North'.
On Sunday 4 July I set off and drove to Dötlingen in Germany. I had just picked the name on the map, and was lucky to find a very nice campsite (a bit muddy though after the rains of the first night), surrounded by woods, fields, and the very old village of Dötlingen. What I found remarkable, and quite pleasant, was that really everybody in Dötlingen, also children and young people, said hello to me. On Tuesday 6 July I continued driving and ended up in Mogentønder in southern Denmark, another lucky choice, the village of Mogentønder also being very old and beautiful, with a castle and its surrounding park. The motorway from Germany to Denmark went right through the vast harbour area of Hamburg (mostly through a long tunnel), and with a major road reconstruction going on it felt like crossing a jungle of traffic lights, signposts with all sorts of warnings, arrows directing me to other lanes all the time, hundreds and hundreds of big trucks. After that experience the driving through the rolling hills in Denmark was very relaxing. On Thursday 8 July I arrived at Noëline and Morten’s home in Laurbjerg, not far from Århus. I explored the area a bit, on the bike, when they were at work, but other than that we spent many hours talking and having lovely meals. On Monday 12 July I drove to Elsegårde, where I parked the van on a campsite with views at the sea (Kattegat), sooo nice. Exploring the surrounding area (being southern Djursland) led me through hills and coastal bicycle lanes. On Thursday 15 July I went to another campsite along the sea, near the village of Fjellerup in northern Djursland. I found a really nice restaurant, where I had a glass of cava and a nice meal in the flowery garden, to celebrate my life.
From Fjellerup I went back to Noëline and Morten. They live in a small village, in an old railway station, that also houses Artifex Artist Colours.
In 1949, Ove Brandstrup, started the production (and sales) of high-quality oil paints, oil paint without solvents in a top quality, developed by himself. A product that still lives up to the requirements until today. In 1949, there were countless oil paint manufacturers, today Artifex is Denmark's only company that produces artist oil paint.
In 1993, Ove’s nephew Finn Brandstrup (an artist painter himself) took over, and still runs the company. For the last 25 years Morten (also an artist painter) has helped Finn on and off to produce these high-quality oil paints and he and Noëline are currently in the process of taking over the company. The place has a wondrous and special feel about it. It is packed with tubes of oil paint in beautiful colours, books on art, countless paintings from artists who in their early years could not afford to buy the paint and paid with paintings. Many of these artists have become quite successful. And there is of course the machinery where the paint is made, the raw materials such as the pigments and the oil, the machines to fill the tubes, often still closed manually. Wherever you walk, there is always something special to see or to discover. You can feel and see history here.
I took the road again on Friday 23 July to the Limfjord. A fjord is a body of water that reaches far inland but is connected to the sea. It smells like sea indeed. Again the landscape was very gentle, friendly, hills planted with cereal, such as barley, wheat, rye and oat, or maize, or potatoes, currently still blooming (small white flowers). My campsite was a bit popular, but I had the greenest grass I had parked on so far in Denmark. On one of my bike tours I discovered a convent with a beautiful and quite big garden, full of flowers and herbs. The gardener made me taste some of the herbs and tomatoes from the garden. I also discovered some churches, painted white, old (but in excellent condition), with cemeteries looking like beautiful gardens. And today I find myself in Vorupør, in the middle of Thy National Park, my van parked in the dunes, but on a campsite. My van is shaking slightly, because of the wind. The coast in this part of Denmark (North West) is famous for its good surf and kite surf conditions and the vibe here is young and relaxed, which I like very much (smile).
I will stay here for 3 nights. Next time I will tell you more about it!
