Journey: Rømø – Rima – Varde – Skjern Enge – Holstebro – near Snedsted
I’d set the alarm early, keen for us to be back on the beach at 7am to make the most of midsummers day. While Jasper and Ernest played outside, we sat eating porridge watching the world go by, it was so lovely…until Jasper buggered off for a wander to see another dog and wouldn’t come back.
If doing a trip like this I strongly recommend you train your pups in recall and heel walking. We got a trainer in for Jasper before we left as he is seemingly having a mid life rebellion and suffering selective hearing…he is good 80% of the time, the rest of the time he is as bad as Ernest. The only positives I can think are that we get good arm resistance training by constantly calling them to heel and everyone knows we are English as we talk to pups all the time. We are however concerned Ernest may think his name is No…as he hasn’t linked it to not trying to eat everything that moves, pulling, play fighting, and generally being a cute but sometimes annoying bitey little arse (I love him to bits, Mark pretends to hate him).
Talking of naughty pups – Mabel had me in a panic this morning as she was walking with a distinct limp on the beach and I was already researching vets and dog prams imagining her having pulled a muscle and requiring weeks of rest. It was her leg which has her first wart on it so I even panicked it might be an evil wart…anyway it wasn’t hurting her to touch it and she was happy waddling about so we cut short the walk and let her rest it. Mark persuaded me to wait a day to see how it was, and by lunchtime she was running around as normal. I have a suspicion she may have put it on to try and stay in bed longer…or maybe she just slept on it funny 🤔
After stopping for traditional Danish apple cake (delicious!) and coffee at the Rømø museum we drove on to Ribe which is the oldest town in Denmark. Mabel and Jasper rested in the van with a wonky chomp while we walked about with Ernest. I drooled at the pastry shop window and inevitably bought one. It’s a quaint town, picture postcard with cobbled streets and painted houses of slightly different styles. They also had some monastery ruins, 4 pizza parlours (I have to wait for Saturday to uphold tradition), lake inlets and a harbour where they used to put on spikes the decapitated heads of pirates and ne-er-do-well folk…
Thinking Mabel’s leg was sore we opted to take the scenic drive up route 11 west coast stopping whenever Mark found something interesting. This worked really well. At Varde we walked the pups around a lovely park (realised Mabel was fine) and saw the miniture town, stopped by a gorgeous meadow walk at Skjern and saw dozens of butterflies and tiny orchids, next stop was a strange sculpture in Holstebro and a walk around the town before heading north where the land became more wild and beautiful.
Journey wise there are wind turbines of every type which Mark enjoyed spotting and commenting on, and funky old bunkers at Studzpunktgruppe Odesund but sadly I couldn’t park up in time to wander them (I’ve found some more to hopefully explore), the churches and homes in general are immaculate… everything is so neat and tidy, and the roads are a dream.
We found a lay-by with picnic table at a strange little grotto/rockery. I’m not sure if it’s a very old burial or memorial garden but it’s filled with little rock arches/inscribed stones/old rock tables/paths/mini painted church and houses. The sign outside is from Google translate relating to cheer and joy praising the lord. It’s interesting to explore and try to fathom it out. While distinctly cooler today we had our first dinner outdoors with the pups. It’s been another lovely day
SofaWolves 