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Sunday evening in the dark and with a light autumn rain we crossed the border to Rebild Municipality.
The first town we came to was Guldbæk and we found an empty spot on the outskirts of the city, where we parked and went to bed.
In the morning we heard some loud noises from the neighbor. It sounded like parrots – and it also turned out later when Morten talked to the neighbor that it was.
In the afternoon we decided to drive again and ended up at Juelstrup Lake. None of us had ever been here before – it was only later, I recognized it as the lake you can see on the right hand just after passing the technical facility/tower when driving on the highway in a southgoing direction after Støvring.
I’ve previously noticed it, because it looks quite idyllic when the sun is going down in the background and there are a few horses walking around in the water’s edge.
And it’s also quite idyllic there at Juelstrup Lake – at least if you can abstract from the sound of the traffic on the highway just behind.
As long as you’re in the area at the camp site, the traffic noise is not that loud, the worst noise is when you walk the 4 kilometer walking track around the lake and on one of the sides pass just below the motorway, while on the other side of the path you can clap the horses on the snout.
Parrottalk
After an evening and night at Juelstrup Lake, barbecueing marshmallows over the fire, we drove back to Guldbæk.
The neighbor with the parrots had invited us to come by for a cup of coffee if we wanted and we hadn’t accepted the offer the day before, as I had a bigger need to go out in the nature and be alone, but today we would visit him, because he seemed like a really exciting person.
It was his girlfriend, Mette, who welcomed us when we knocked on the door. She welcomed us and said that Jess would be right there. He was happy to see us when he came home and showed us around in their home incl. his aviary with several parrots.
Mette’s adult daughter also came by. She was busy isolating a car so she could drive it to Portugal and spend the winter down there.
Not a stupid plan ..
It’s amazing how many we have come across after we have moved into a car that either dreams of or does something similar and it was great to talk to Maria about her thoughts and dreams of driving into the world on her own in a car, without any job at hand or any specific plans for the future.
Unexpected visit
We had an invitation to visit Morten’s uncle and his girlfriend, Hanne, so after visiting Jess and Mette we drove down to them in Terndrup and had a nice evening with them.
As we left them, they asked where we would go and stay overnight and we told them, we would probably drive down to Kildesøen in Bælum, which Morten knows from when he was a boy and came there a lot, since his grandmother and grandfather lived there .
The next morning we had set the alarm to 7.45 since we had an appointment this morning.
As I was climbing down from the bed on the first floor, I suddenly saw Hanne approach the car. It was a total surprise – what was she doing here?!
We’re not so used to getting an unannounced visit, since only few people know where we live when we move our home all the time.
So much the greater was the surprise when we got an unannounced visit at Kildesøen this Wednesday morning.
Hanne lives and works herself in Bælum, so she decided to come down with breakfast to us. And what a breakfast! She had simply warmed up Cocio bottles, which she had poured in the hot coffee and wrapped in newspaper and then she had bought bread, butter, cheese, jam, juice and pastries which she had all packed in a carrying bag together with disposable service and napkins.
It was so sweet of her!
We were talking a bit with Hanne and thanked her a lot before she drove to work.
Then we sat down at the bench and enjoyed our amazing, surprising breakfast overlooking the lake.
We have been so welcomed with open arms everywhere we have arrived in Turtle and we are simply so grateful for all the kindness we have met!
The gourmet walking trail
Before our arrival at the various northern Jutland municipalities, I’d written an email to the tourist informations to tell about our project, report our arrival and ask if they were interested in sharing our videos and other material from the week, for the benefit of their followers.
In Rebild this contact also resulted in an unexpected possibility; they asked if we wanted to participate in a 14 km hike on the newly-opened “Gastronomic Quality Trail” around Rebild Bakker together with Danish Hiking Association Wednesday at 10.30 – and maybe even bring a small lunch pack from Rebildhus.
It was a great offer and of course we said thank you right away. A long walk in beautiful nature with a guide, good company and delicious food. That was just a walk we would like to take part in.
We met with the Hiking Association at the parking lot at Rebildporten and the woman from the tourist information came and gave us our lunch boxes. Then it was time to go.
It was a very versatile and varied nature we went through and it’s precisely one of the requirements that must be fulfilled for a hiking trail to be approved as a certified quality trail.
The tour first went through the hilly landscape of Rebild Bakker overlooking the green hills as far as the eye can see, then across open landscapes, then through forest, past St. Økssø and then through the forest again, first the beautiful green Troll Forest with all the rounded, crooked beech trees and then through coniferous forest filled with tall, slender conifers.
On the way we had several stops to drink a cup of coffee or eat our packed lunch. And now, when Morten and I were fortunate to have got a packed lunch from Rebildhus, the menue consisted of vegetable pie, a potato dish with meatballs as well as salmon and shrimps with dill dressing. We weren’t hungry at the end of the hike!
We actually brought some leftovers back to Turtle.
And not only did we have leftovers, Morten also brought freshly picked mushrooms home.
Not that any of us knows anything about mushrooms, but fortunately some of the others on the trip knew, so Morten came home with a whole bag of pipe hats for our dinner.
Back in Rebild we continued our trip in Turtle. Morten’s uncle had recommended us to take a look at the ‘Red Mill’, which are some old farms with red roofs that lie beautifully down in a valley nearby and, most of all it looks like Norwegian village-idyl when you arrive at the place up from the gravel road and can look out over the landscape with the old beautiful buildings.
It was a nice place that we probably would never have encountered ourselves unless Morten’s uncle had tipped us about it.
From mini golf to Renaissance bridge
We had been given more tips and while we were driving around in the area I suggested that we pursue one of the advices and drove to Nørager, where we were told there should be a free mini golf course.
We came to Nørager and found a nice, deserted spot where we could stay overnight. We parked there and I started brewing a proper portion of risotto with some of all the mushrooms we had picked earlier in the day.
One of them changed color to blue when I cut it. If I wasn’t told by these mushroom experts thawt it was actually one of Denmark’s best edible mushrooms – and could have this confirmed on the web – I would certainly not have eaten it!
After a delicious dinner consisting of mushroom risotto with parmesan, we soon crawled under the duvet on the first floor and got us a good night’s sleep after a lot of fresh air and movement earlier in the day.
Next morning we explored Nørager.
The first thing we were looking for was the mini golf course that we had been tipped about. We’d been told that it was behind the senior center, so when we found the sign pointing to the elder center it was easy enough to find the course.
There are some active residents in Nørager who have made sure that the town got its own free mini golf course. They have collected money and called people together for a working day.
So now Nørager has his own mini golf course with 18 holes and clubs and balls are just freely accessible on the table next to the courts.
It’s a really great initiative – it’s great to see when people get together and get projects done together.
We had a nice morning on the track – which even ended with no disappointment for any of us, as the position after 18 courses, incredible enough, ended completely a draw!
But the mini golf course was not the only tip we had in Nørager. A young guy had also written to us that we might be lucky enough to find an old Renaissance bridge in the woods.
That’s one of those kind of tips that’s very exciting to us, cause it sounded like a treasure hunt and we love that kind of things.
So we went into the woods without knowing if it was the right place we were, but best as we considered whether we should soon give up and turn around, the bridge appeared. It was a really nice old Renaissance bridge, which our young follower had tipped us about, and when we crossed the bridge there were also several ancient ruins of a former building, so it was a really exciting place to explore!
After our little treasure hunt we continued south and out of the municipality since we had plans in Midtjylland later in the day.
But the list of tips is longer than those we had time to visit while we were in Rebild Municipality, so we may come back again another time and visit the rest of them.
Thanks for now Rebild Municipality.
Tips for upcoming everyday adventures in Rebild Municipality:
We were given the following tips that we didn’t have time to visit, but hopefully will come back and visit another time – or which some of you might want to explore?
- Nihøje and Katbakken.
- Madum Lake.
- Gravlev.
- Blåkilde and Ravnkilde.
- Thingbæk calcium mines.
- Fiddler Museum.
Booktown9520. - A meeting with the witch Dannie Druehyld.
- Rold Big Inn.
- Boldrup Local Museum.
- Local History Archive in Nørager.
