Bank holidays, Vikings and Jim - Hundested, Roskilde and Gilleleje

Sunday 24th May saw us up at about 0500 ready for a 70 mile sail to Hundested. What we didn't know (we mostly don't know what day it is!) was that Monday 25th May is a holiday here; clearly this weekend was a good one to dust off the boat and head for, er, Hundested.

I suppose we'll have to get used to it when the dreaded July arrives, but we were surprised to find no available box moorings as we wove our way through the narrow channels that remained between the rafted boats. Fortunately we managed to find a suitable space to raft up as, after a 12 hour sail, we really didn't fancy setting off for somewhere else.

Hundested has a beach, galleries and places to eat (if you can afford them!). It also has the house of a Danish polar explorer that you can visit but, to be honest, the place didn't really do much for us. We decided to leave after a couple of nights and take what looked like an "interesting" trip south to Roskilde, a former capital of Denmark.

Cyclone's in there if you look carefully - Hundested after everyone had left!

The trip to Roskilde was interesting for 3 reasons: Scenery, an opening bridge and depth - or rather, a lack of depth!

Cyclone disrupting the traffic again....

Some of the scenery en route

It doesn't seem possible to get photographs of scenery that do it justice, but the fjord was very attractive with fields or trees adorning the banks and, for the most part, blue skies too. The fjord was also very shallow, such that the only way to make progress for much of the way was to follow narrow buoyed channels - so mucho concentration for the 6 or so hours it took us to get there! It was rather alarming when, at one point, the "shallow" alarm on the depth sounder went off and the sounder itself announced that the water was only 1.4m deep - particularly as Cyclone has a 1.7m draft! Then we saw the nearby swans pulling up long strings of weed and so concluded that - as we were still afloat - we must be passing through some of that.

Roskilde is famous for its cathedral and, more recently, its Viking museum. The cathedral has served for many years as the final resting place for Denmark's royalty. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and contains no less than 39 royal graves. Needless to say, these are not hidden away underground (for the most part). Instead, the tombs - some of which are very elaborate - are in public view.

One of the many tombs in the cathedral

It's not just tombs though. The cathedral is a very beautiful place with lots to look at and admire.

Cathedral organ, dating from 1425 with 1654 facade

Huh? Never mind if pigs could fly.....

The cathedral from a distance 

One of the reasons that Roskilde is where it is is that there are many natural springs supplying fresh drinking water. In fact, legend has it that King Roar founded the city and named the city "Roars Kilde" - which means the spring of Roar - after himself.

One of the many springs

As mentioned above, Roskilde fjord is very shallow. Historically, there were just 3 navigable channels to the city, making it relatively easy to defend from a seabourne attack. To make an attack even more difficult, the resident Vikings blocked 2 of the channels; one by scuttling 5 of their ships filled with rocks. That left just the one channel which, because of its winding nature, needed local knowledge to safely navigate.

1962 excavations revealed these 5 ships, which were then painstakingly removed and reassembled for display in the museum. There's more left of some than others, but there was sufficient for lots to be learned about the ships themselves and how they were made. This knowledge was then used to create authentic replicas that are on display at the museum and which can be taken out for a row / sail by visitors. More significantly, the replicas enabled much to be learned about the speed and seaworthiness of the craft. They even sailed the one in the photo below to Ireland and back!

Sea Stallion: 30m long and sailed with a crew of 60!

The originals in the museum

Some more complete than others!

All cultured out, on the 29th May we retraced our steps past Hundested and out into the Kattegat en route for Gilleleje. This is a really nice lttle town at the most northern point of Sjaelland - see pics below for a flavour:

Gilleleje harbour

One of many beautifully kept old cottages

Our berth in the harbour. Lucky we stopped in time!

Weather permitting, we intend to go to Copenhagen tomorrow. We've reserved a berth in Christianshavns canal  - right in the city centre.

Now it's time for some wine and a special toast to our very good friend Jim who is currently recovering from heart surgery. To you Jim. Here's to a full and speedy recovery. And of course to Del too. All the best to you both.