• 112 m climbing

• 26.02 km

Getting to Esbjerg

Esbjerg is a great starting point for the trip because it is pretty easy to get to. It is the largest town on the West coast of Denmark and there are plenty of trains heading in that direction. You can take your bike on all trains in Denmark, although be sure to get a “bike ticket” as well as your own.

The station is the end station, so trains don’t pass through and you can get off and start cycling straight away.

Heading out of Esbjerg

Since we arrived in Esbjerg quite late (after 1900) we had to get moving in order to get to Nysø just south of Varde before nightfall. Remember nightfall is late in these parts in mid summer - for us it was after 2200.

I’ll be honest and say I’m not a big fan of Esbjerg, its kind of a typical harbour town and I’ve usually only visited as part of “passing through”. So I’m pretty sure the town took its revenge on me after 500m with a giant puncture - and to make it worse it was a rear puncture where I was using an inner tube filled with “glue” (I think I bought it in Decathlon some years back as a self-sealing concept). The self-sealing description was just total rubbish and the entire “glue” exploded over me, my bike and bikepacking bags. Pretty messy and I’d not recommend these to anyone.

Fortunately enough it was quick enough to change but, knowing we weren’t going anywhere near any big towns for 3-4 days, I really wanted to get a replacement for the only spare I’d brought. Miraculously the route I’d planned went right by the biggest hypermarket in the city, Bilka. Problems solved, now just to get to Nysø.

One thing that is pretty impressive about Esbjerg is the 9m statue, Men at Sea, that is on the way north out of town. Worth a detour, especially in the evening with the sun setting in front of them as they look out over the North Sea.

Note that the worst thing about cycling directly up towards Varde is that there’s no real options for gravel, though most of the route was quiet except for the last few km.

Overnight at Nysø

So we got to Nysø just before 2200 and the sun had just set, but even after setting it takes quite a while to get dark here.

I’d chosen Nysø because they have a set of shelters to sleep in, rather than having to set up the tent so late at night. Shelters are a big thing in Denmark: you will find them almost everywhere and even in many people’s summer houses. This was my first time and my last. I promise the only way to sleep well on the hard wooden floor would be with a proper mattress; we’d brough relatively thin blow ups for camping and they were nowhere near good enough.