Bicycling Across Denmark by Jim and Jane Hudnall

by Jim Hudnall
(Washington DC)

I recently came across this blog about exploring Denmark by bike and I thought it would be a nice story to share with other people wanting to cycle across Denmark.

Jim and Jane's Blog Post:

We had been in Pinneberg, Germany, on a bicycle tour for ten days. We were two of fifteen Americans bicycling with Germans in Pinneberg, Germany, the sister city of Rockville, Maryland. As the rest of the group was boarding the flight back home, We boarded a train for Denmark. Our German host helped us with tickets and getting our bikes into the train car for cyclists and their bicycles. We left the train shortly before the Danish border. For the next two weeks we cycled about 55 km (34 miles) a day through farmland and along the shoreline. Our route took us from Niebull in Germany to Tonder, then to Ribe, Kolding, Essens, Faborg, Ærøskøbing, Maribo, Volkinborg, Rungsted, Roskilde, Fredensburg, and København (Copenhagen). It was a trip of 777 km (474 miles) over fourteen days.

Every town and city had interesting things to see and do - Viking museums, castles, churches and cathedrals, open-air markets and pedestrian shopping streets. We were impressed with the excellent bike routes everywhere we went. The national bicycle map and route system made it easy to find our way across the country. Ferries and bike lanes on bridges made it easy to go from island to island. The weather was good most of the time - pleasantly cool. We stayed in hostels, they are all clean and reasonably priced. There were ATM's everywhere, so we used cash and seldom used our credit card. We found food and drink rather expensive in restaurants, so we started shopping in grocery stores, having picnics for lunch, and preparing breakfast and supper in the resident kitchens of the hostels. That was not only cheaper and usually more convenient, it let us meet more fellow travelers from all over the world. It was fun to meet other cyclists at the hostels and hear about their experiences.

A good free bicycle map for Copenhagen can be picked up at the tourist office across from city hall. It's easy cycling in Copenhagen with so many bike lanes. The morning we came home, we
cycled from the hostel on bike lanes and a bike path right to the international terminal in the Copenhagen airport. To check our bikes, we got in line at the check-in counter, took off the pedals, turned the handlebars, and took off the panniers. We checked the panniers, were given luggage tags for the bikes, went to the ticket office to pay of shipping the bikes (400 kroner, about $55, each for the return trip to Washington Dulles), and took the bikes to the over-sized baggage counter. We had been told earlier that the bikes would shipped in heavy plastic bags, but they didn't have any bags that morning. We had to change to a connecting flight in Frankfurt, but the baggage handlers took good care of the bikes and they got back without any problems.


We hope bicycling in Maryland can become as safe, convenient, and popular as it is in Germany and Denmark, with bike lanes and trails through cities connected by bike routes on wide shoulders.

Oxon Hill Bicycle Club

The above was reprinted here with permission of the author.