Day 06: Raa, Sweden.
Another morning being woken up by the heat and the glaring sun. I mean there are worse ways to wake up of course. That and when your view is a port, with beautiful water and passing boats. There are a lot of ways to spend your Sunday morning that could be worse.
We wanted to get up early and out this morning and we did just that. On the road for just before 9AM and heading towards the Danish/Swedish border.
Our first stop of the day would be Roskilde. A city about 20 miles out from Copenhagen but one steeped in Viking history.
Roskilde: A Historical Gem
Roskilde is home to a famous music festival. But thankfully we’re in Denmark now and not Germany otherwise it might have been a few more fingers up the bum and a check in Doris!
It’s also famous for it’s Viking history with a museum that’s home to 5 11th century boats and tonnes of other artefacts. A UNESCO 12th century gothic cathedral which is home to 39 past Danish Kings and Queens. It’s got a lot going on here.
Once parked up and filled up with cheesy beans on toast, I know right a Danish speciality. Maybe not, but it’s definitely Nats speciality and it’s quickly becoming a staple here inside of Doris.
Because it’s Sunday there isn’t much going on. The streets are quiet, the car park was empty and it was a perfect time to explore the city on foot and see what was going on.
The Viking Museum
Home to 5 11th century boats, workshops and guided tours, this place is an awesome place to come and brush up on your viking history.
With full sized replica boats in the harbour, it got me excited to see my first longboat on the waters!
The museum is home to workshops, tours and all other many of activities. Showing you craftsmanship, smithing techniques and how they built these boats and continue to build and refurbish them today.
What caught our eye most, mostly because we’re both competitive, was the outdoor viking games. Simple wooden games and simple rules meant for a good hour in the sun competing and pretending to be vikings. To be fair, I did master the Thor toss, so there must be a little bit of Viking in my blood…
We didn’t actually pay to go inside the part where the ships were kept as apparently they’re not the best of replicas. And having already seen the two incredible ships that are in the Viking Museum in Oslo, Norway it didn’t seem worthy of the £35 price tag.
That said, the museum is great and it’s free to walk around the bits outside, which I’d totally recommend if you’re passing through or near Copenhagen.
Keeping Fit whilst Travelling
Something we’re tying to be conscious of this time around is keeping ourselves fit. Mainly because we’ve got to cycle over 4,000 miles in less than 6 weeks but mainly because its majorly important. Not only for our mental health but our physical health too.
We’re trying to walk 10,000 steps everyday which so far has been quiet successful. Some days are harder because we cycle a lot or we drive a lot, both of which don’t obviously count towards our step count. IF we don’t hit our steps we try to cycle at least 10 miles, or too and from the supermarket at least.
When given the chance we’ll workout too. We worked out the other evening when we arrived in Denmark and the sun didn’t set until 11PM. Today was more of the same.
This time we stumbled across an outdoor styled gym in Roskilde and it was the perfect opportunity to get a workout in and put another tick in the box.
Once we’d finished walking around the museum and the city we headed back to the outdoor gym and did a pull type workout.
A pull workout is essentially a workout that involves pulling your body to something, or something to your body. Basically we worked our back and arms.
This is something I’m toying with adding to the blog and to the website itself. Fitness based content and advice to help you when you’re at a gym, at home or travelling. If you think this will be beneficial to you then I’d love to hear a comment in the box below, it might just give me that nudge I’ve needed to get back in the fitness game…
…If you didn’t know, I’ve been a personal trainer for 5 years. I say a personal trainer, I mean a really good personal trainer.
Driving to Sweden
Once we’d finished in Roskilde our next stop was Sweden! Another country for Doris and that takes her count to 7. What a girl! It’s likely we’ll be in Sweden for another week or so as we travel up through the country and to the north where the border meets Norway.
En route was two bridges that are toll roads, the famous bridge that connects Denmark to Sweden and a smaller (not so small) that connects the islands of Denmark.
I’m not going to beat around the bush. The bridges cost us £85. The second bridge costing us £54. I genuinely couldn’t believe it but hey, that’s life. We’ll get over it in a day or two when we’ve stopped living on beans and breadcrumbs.
Just for some context we have a weekly budget of between £150-£200 so you can see how much of a shock this is to the system!
Successfully across the famous Øresund bridge which connects Denmark to the city of Malmo, Sweden.
The Swedish take this border control seriously. We remember crossing this bridge by train when we spent the weekend in Copenhagen last year. Once we’d crossed the train was brought to a halt and guards with sniffer dogs and guns were brought on board to check luggage and passports.
Similar story for Doris. Once we’d paid the £54 toll we were directed to a police officer. Thankfully he just wanted passports and a breathe test and we were on our way.
DORIS WAS ON SWEDISH SOIL!
Well, tarmac.
Tonights camping spot is one right near the beautiful Baltic Sea in a town called Raa. Mind you, when we dipped our feet in we quickly realised why it’s called the Baltic Sea. Enough to put hairs on your teeth.
Another quiet, peaceful and beautiful spot to camp and we’re already planning on getting out to see the sun set tonight. It’ll be a late one, after 10PM but it looks like it’s going to be worth it.
Tonights camping location: Raa, Sweden. (CamperContact: Click Here)