Læsetid: ca. 9 min.
It was Sunday evening when we set the direction towards Jammerbugten.
We passed the Aggersund Bridge over the Limfjord, which was a sign that we were almost there and a few minutes later we passed the sign to Jammerbugt Municipality – just 5 km from my childhood home.
I continued a few kilometers further out of the road, turned right at the intersection in Skerping and in Husby I turned left and drove down the dirt road towards Husby Hole. A place I’ve spent many hours as a child when we went on an excursion with the class, but where I’ve hardly been ever since.
On Monday morning we started exploring ‘Holen’ – the name for a hill and a hollow road, where according to the info signs a bloody battle took place back in 1441. A battle where the North Jutland peasants succeeded in luring the counterpart, namely, the nobility and the king’s people, in a trap by covering the hole path with branches and other fillings so that they fell in and could not escape.
Quality time with the family
But now that we were at my home town, it was also an obvious opportunity to visit my family.
So after exploring Holen, we drove to Klim and knocked on the door of my little sister, who is on maternity leave – and for that reason also got a little look at the neighbor’s more or less known attraction, namely the wooden shoe house in Klim.
Min søster blev vildt glad for vores uanmeldte besøg, og vi brugte hele eftermiddagen sammen med hende, min nye nevø på 4 måneder og deres lille hund. Da min svoger kom hjem, fortsatte snakken og det endte med, at vi også blev inviteret på aftensmad, som vi takkede ja til, inden vi kørte videre ud på landevejene.
My sister was very happy about our unannounced visit, and we spent the whole afternoon with her, my new nephew at 4 months and their little dog. When my brother-in-law came home, the talk continued and it ended with us also being invited to dinner, which we thankfull said yes to before we drove further out on the roads.
As we drove from there, they both asked, “Where are you going now?” and as so many times before, our answer to this question was “we don’t know”.
We sat down in the car and decided to drive down to the sea, just a few miles from Klim.
We ended up far out in the dunes at Thorup Beach, where we had everything completely for ourselves on such an everyday evening in June.
Bulbjerg in wind
When we looked all the way to the west we could see Bulbjerg in the horizon. And when we had now come out to the most western part of the municipality, it would almost be a shame not to drive out and see “Jutland’s only rock”. So of course we drove out there.
No matter how many times I’ve been on the rock earlier in my life, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s just a completely unique nature that doesn’t exist anywhere else!
Despite the fact that it has been the hottest summer for a lifetime, the weather just changed this week to be much more unsteady.
So when we visited Bulbjerg, it was in strong wind – which actually just made the whole experience even more unique. Not only were we able to stand on the top of Bulbjerg and enjoy the magnificent view – we also had the opportunity to feel the strong forces of nature by standing up there and leaning against the wind.
And also at the foot of Bulbjerg, the forces of nature raged. When we were down there and saw how the big waves threw themselves toward the rock side, it wasn’t difficult to understand why Skarreklit, the 16-meter-high limestone cliff, which previously stood as a giant cliff in the sea outside Bulbjerg, eventually had to bend underneath the forces of nature 40 years ago.
After the visit to Bulbjerg (which we later experienced actually lies in Thisted Municipality), we turned Turtle around and drove towards east to Fjerritslev, where we in rain and wind – a strange change to the many, many weeks with 25-30 degrees – saw the three-meter-high sculpture of Skarreklit, which is now made there.
The smell of burnt plastic
Due to the weather, we decided to go to Fjerritslev Cinema in the evening. What’s better than sitting inside and watching a movie while it’s raining and windy outside?
And we were lucky: tonight’s movie was the highly recommended movie “Breathe”.
While we still stood outside the cinema and checked out the poster, I suddenly heard a voice say “Hi Mette!” and when I turned around, I saw that the voice came from one of my youth friends, whom I have not seen for many years.
We got a short talk with her, but the film was supposed to start, so after the movie, where Morten had also been allowed to empty the rest of the popcorn machine (!), she invited us home to her to continue talking there. We bought a couple of pizzas at Fjerritslev Pizza & Kebab House, and then drove home to my friend.
However, things don’t always go as expected and on the way home to her (it’s only a few kilometers away), Turtle suddenly began to smell of burnt plastic. It wasn’t good!
We stopped the car immediately, turned the warning light on and consulted my dad in the phone, who said we could drive the last few hundred meters up there and then he would come and help us the next afternoon.
Although of course it was really unfortunate to have problems with Turtle, we also praised ourselves for the fact that if it had to break down, it happened now, 10 kilometers from my father and not in Tuscany, 1800 kilometers from here, where we had been in the last four months.
Windy yoga on the beach
Next afternoon, my father came and made a temporary solution to the problem that allowed us to drive Turtle home to my parents where he could look at it. We really wanted to help him, but we weren’t very helpful in that regard, so when my mother asked if we wanted to go to yoga with her on the beach, we accepted the offer and let my father “entertain” himself with Turtle on his own.
It was really really windy when we got down to the beach and it was difficult to find a sheltered place without getting sand everywhere.
After a little while, we found a reasonable place in the dunes and the session could begin.
It was great to get down in pace, go into your own world and move the whole body and that it even happened out in the middle of the windy dunes was only a bonus – at least until we were finished and we quickly began to get cold. At that point it was also nice to dissapear into a warm car, drive home and eat cake and drink coffee before it was time to go to bed.
Subtropical paradise in the middle of the open field
The next morning Turtle still wasn’t ready, but we were allowed to borrow my mother’s car so we could continue our everyday adventures in North Jutland.
It was really sweet of her, and here I have to stop and say “THANK YOU!”
Thank you so much to my mum and dad for helping us with the repair of Turtle and for the loan of car and shelter in the meantime! That really means a lot to us – and without you our everyday adventures in Jammerbugt Municipality had at least looked quite different!
Earlier this week we had a tip to visit the ‘Nut Valley’. It was supposed to be an almost subtropical area, which is right next to ‘Fosdalen’ – which surprised me, because we have always come a lot in Fosdalen, but I have never heard of the Nut Valley.
But it sounded like an exciting place, so we packed our lunch and drove off in our new loan car.
And WOW – it’s such a beautiful place, that Nut Valley! You park just by a field with open plains on all sides – even with a fantastic view of the North Sea, as you are standing right up on the top of ‘Lien’ (the country’s largest inland scree).
And there, in the middle of the open landscape, is a cluster of trees with the entrance to the Nut Valley. I couldn’t imagine what was waiting for me when I went in there. It felt a bit like going into another world.
We went down, down, down and as we were told, the climate changed quickly and became damp, almost tropical, and the ferns shot from the forest floor. The temperature also changed and was more cool down here than in the open country. It was like walking around inside a big, secret cave and there were only the two of us.
I was amazed that I’ve never heard of this strange place before, when we’ve so often visited Fosdalen just across the road – but at the same time, I was delighted with it, because it only made my experience this day more unique and magnificent!
Of course we also went for the, to me, well-known route through Fosdalen before we drove home to my parents to return the car.
This afternoon, dad got Turtle repaired with the right spare part, so we were ready to continue in our own car.
Hangovers in Little Norway
We were invited to a bachelorette party in Aalborg that weekend, so we wanted to take a little detour from our everyday adventures, then return and enjoy the Sunday in Jammerbugten.
We made the trip to Aalborg a small everyday adventure in itself, by driving along the northern part of the Limfjord, right down past all the small marinas, fx Haverslev Harbor and Gjøl Harbor and beyond the Øland-Gjøl dam.
We even went looking for the Gjøl troll, who usually sit on Gjøl Bjerg and look out over the horizon, but which was now mysteriously gone. We failed to find him and have since – without luck – asked people we know from the area where he has left. It’s therefore still an unresolved mystery for us, what has happened to the Gjøl Troll, so if you have traces in the case that can lead us closer to him, then send us a message!
Sunday, our last day in the Jammerbugt, we spent in ‘Little Norway’, the most northern part of Jammerbugten – a perfect place to both lie and care for our hangovers in our inflatable sofas, each with our book, a bag of chips and a coke, for walking a lovely evening stroll through the dunes and down to the beach and to enjoy the most beautiful sunset over the North Sea before we went to bed and thanked Jammerbugten for this time.
Thanks for now Jammerbugt – we’ll see you again soon.
Tips for upcoming everyday adventures in Jammerbugt Municipality:
We were given the following tips that we didn’t have time for, but which we are saving for some other time – or which some of you might want to explore?
- The Planet Path Fjerritslev – Kollerup Beach.
- The beautiful tour through the hollow road from Svinkløvvej down to Lyngmøllen by Grønnestrand.
- The Auriclevalley in Fosdalen.
- Etly Klarborg’s Gamlebo.
- Strawberry picking in Ålegårds Field.
- Sand sculpture festival in Hune
- Gateway Blokhus (here is among other things a natural baking oven, where delicious pizzas can be baked – dough can be bought at the bakery)
- Land-Shape Land Art Route (works of art in the forest) at Gateway Blokhus.
- Trade Market in Hune every Sunday.
- The garden in Hune + Nordic Center for Paper Art in the old ALDI in Hune.
- Svinklovene.
- Hune-Blokhus bicycle rentals.
- Kettrup Mountains + cottages with piles integrated + ice on Grønhøj Beach.
- Birkelse Visitor Center.
- Outdoorbath in Tranum.
- Catherine Collart, ceramist in Saltum.
- Skipper Klement Plads in Ryaa.
- Birkelse mainfarm
- Kokkedal Castle, Øland Forest and Okholm Church.
- Sausage-grillbar in Aabybro.
- Gjøl Church and Gjølscouts new campfire.
- New 11 km hiking route Tranum-Fosdal (certified as a Premiumroute).
- Fårup Amusement Park.
- Jægerum Lakepark at Halvrimmen + the city Halvrimmen.
- Øster Han Herreds Regional Assembly in Tranum.
- Tranum Dog Forest.
- The Bratbjerg Lakes in Bratbjerg, Brovst.
