Dunes of the Danes

Following a wet day the day before it seemed strange to be heading to sand dunes the following day, but that is exactly what we did.

But first we headed into Skagen to do a bit of shopping and get a better feel for the town. It’s a charming town full of wooden board houses, many painted yellow, and an obvious tourist trap.

We pottered around the port and picked up some pastries from a very good but out of the way bakery. We then meandered down the main street and back past the church to the brewery (Gareth’s church), where a variety of samples were purchased.

After a quick shopping trip we took the road back south and a few km down a side road we found Råbjerg Mile, Denmark’s largest sand dune!

It was more impressive than the pictures do justice to – a little bit of desert in the middle of the Skagen peninsula. The sand was fine and always on the move and you could, for a brief moment, convince yourself that you were in the Sahara.
Yala was in her element, a beach but without the scary wet sea grabbing at her – bliss. She ran around, dug in the sand and couldn’t stop wagging her tail.

And then it was time to go. Not to leave Denmark for good, we’ll be back in a few weeks to visit the eastern islands, but it was goodbye to the flat fields of the Jutland peninsula and its long sandy beaches.

However there was just time before we got the ferry to have a fish supper overlooking the port of Hirtshals. It was delicious and filling and seemed to be a very popular restaurant. So a happy ending to that part of the trip.

The final surprise of the day was a gorgeous sunset as we arrived into Kristiansand. And after a night in a park and ride car park, the Norwegian leg of our adventure was about to begin!