Wednesday 17th April 2024

Wednesday.

Road trip.

Road and ferry trip, really.

Denmark is made up of Jutland and a lot of islands. Big islands, small islands, tiny islands. Linked by bridges and ferries.

To go from Jutland to Copenhagen you either go on the highway, via the Great Belt Bridge, or you go south, via smaller roads and the ferry linking Langeland and Tars.

As Odense, where we were staying, was an hours drive from Langeland, we would go by ferry. And we were going as there is a factory that manufactures turbine blades on the island the other end of the ferry.

Each time we were to meet to drive somewhere, it was always best to plan departure some 15 earlier than your actual desired time, as herding the team was like herding cats.

Wheels was to be at half seven, we told them, and as planned wheels turned at quarter to, giving us just over an hour to drove to the ferry port, across countryside and picturesque brick-built villages and towns spread over several smaller and smaller islands until we reached the ferry port.

You by a ticket from a vending machine, and wait for the ferry to arrive, its supposed to leave on the hour, but timings had slipped. We could see it approaching, but we had time to wander round the port.

I last used the ferry in the depths of winter, with wind and rain lashing down, most unpleasant for a walk.

Back into the car to drive onto the ferry, then climb the three flights of stairs to the lounges and café. Our boss bought us coffee, and we sat staring out of the window as the ferry glided out of the dock.

Forty five minutes later we arrived the other side, and a mere ten minutes later saw us arrive at the fishing port and shipbuilding town of Nakskov. They now make turbine blades.

We drove to the factory, set among the wasteland that used to be filled with dockyards and entered.

We had meetings, lunch and a tour, then walked back out at quarter to three to get to the car to drive to Tars to catch the ferry at half three.

While we waited, a VW camper van with four young ladies from Berlin had a picnic and some optimistic sunbathing, but also offered to take shots of our group.

This time I treated myself to an ice cream as the ferry pulled out of the dock, and outside the breeze had dropped to levels that meant the inland sea was dead calm giving perfect reflections.

And hour later we got off the ferry, and forty five minutes later we were in the centre of Odense where I had booked us into an Indian restaurant for dinner. With five vegetarians, picking the right place to eat was tricky, doubly so when Tripadvisor said that the best restaurant for vegetarians in the city was Flammen: a BBQ restaurant that has a salad bar, but one heck of a lot of grilled meat.

And being an Indian place, the guys should find something they liked.

But first we had an hour to kill. So they went off in one direction, me in another to find somewhere to sit because of my knee, but in my stumblings I found the medieval heart of the city, with a timber framed inn, and other buildings round a courtyard, while across the new tram tracks was Hans Christian Andersen's House, now with a snazzy new photogenic visitor centre.

Also new was the tram line which now cuts through the city and takes passengers and patients to the snazzy new hospital.

I took lots of shots, and then found a bench to sit and call Jools.

Then to walk to the restaurant, to find that it was owned and run by a guy from Pakistan, and who prided himself in authentic food, which it was. I had warned them that our party of nine included six Indians, so all was good.

They did a "pick n mix" menu, where instead of full portions, you had quarters, but could choose three, five or seven dishes, and mix them on your plate as you ate, giving each mouthful a different taste combination.

It was a great meal, but come nine they closed and firmly asked us to pay and leave, which we did.

I drove us back through the darkened city centre back out to Munkebo and the hotel.

Time to watch the second half of the Citeh v Real game, though I was too wacked to watch extra time with the scores level at 3-3.