Our time in Aalborg had come to an end after the conclusion of Katie's
conference and we planed to move to a more central location in Jutland and
explore more sights.
Our next apartment was near a place called Tistrup -
between Billund (where we would fly out of ) and Esbjerg (at the end of the
Denmark traverse route).
The initial idea was to travel over to the west
coast then follow the edge of the sea before cutting inland to find the
apartment. However the weather had turned from the very hot and clear blue skies
to cloudy, with occasional short sharp rain showers and the intense wind from
the last few days. So we included a stop at a limestone mine, as it would be
undercover (hopefully).
Leaving Aalborg we headed across to the coast and
stopped at a small town called Voruper as this joined up to the coastal route
rather than the main road.
Although this was principally a fishing harbour there was a beach with several
hardy souls out kite surfing, and a lifeguard station.
We braved the wind
to walk down the breakwater.
The breakwater was initially solid concrete, however to one side was a swimming
pool in a dip in the dunes and dammed so it held sea water at low tide.
The breakwater converted to wooden slats after the pool and we continued to the
end of public allowable access - probably just as well as the breakers were
crashing over the end - it was hard to get a good photo on these!)
Turning away from the wind was a relief and back to the car parked in the centre
of the town.
On the way we saw a couple of hybrid kite surfer - these held
the kite rather than attached by string - it seemed awkward as well as difficult
to stand up.
From Voruper we continued down the coast to the end of the fjord at Agger.
Here the road stopped at a ferry jetty. We arrived just too late for a ferry
as it pulled up the drawbridge as we drove down the road. However there was
only a 30 min wait for the next.
I did get out and brave the wind for a wander around while we were waiting. The
area around was generally bleak with a small information centre
building.
A rain shower put a sudden end to my walking and I dived
back into the car to avoid getting soaked.
A wider view across the fjord to the mainland of Jutland with the wind turbine
factory.
As we travelled on the rain got heavier and so it was a good decision to divert
from the coast to the limestone mine. Here the walk would be underground or in
the mine buildings.
The mine access had been well though out as we started off on a contouring track
around the slope before a gradual descent to the mine entrance.
Inside was a checker board of paths. There was a boardwalk with easy access for
a short trail, some marked and lit trails on dirt floors and some unlit
chambers. You were allowed to wander the warrens at will - with the inaccessible
(or more dangerous) portions barriered off.
We started on the boardwalk and strolled around the first half before taking the
more challenging path through the lit but more undulating sections then back on
a second boardwalk around some water filled caverns, before exiting back out to
the rain.
We followed the narrow gauge rail track from the mine entrance back to the mine
buildings, where we escaped indoors from the rain.
In the main production shed we wandered around the furnaces and slaker units, as
well as the exhibitions in the main hall. There was also a series of steep wooden steps that allowed access to the upper levels of the two furnaces and even out side the main one to the side of the chimney stack.
We returned to the car to complete our journey to the second apartment.
