IS Mariager Fjord Denmarks most beautiful fjord? (Everyday Adventures in North Jutland, week 6)

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We enjoyed the silence by Glenstrup Lake without any people in the near.

The first thing we did when we came to the Mariagerfjord Municipality was to drive to Glenstrup Lake and park there. We’d bought a couple of ice creams on offer in Netto and now we wanted to sit by the lake and enjoy an ice cream and a cup of coffee.

Besides a single cyclist who came and talked with us, there were no people at the lake such a Monday in September, so we just enjoyed the silence alone.

The Danish Cinque Terre
We had been recommended to visit Bramslev Hills north of the fjord and decided to pack Turtle and drive up there.
And it was SO good, we did it! It is so beautiful up there!

You come down a small road to Restaurant Bramslev Hills and then the landscape suddenly opens up and you stand there, on the parking lot on the more than 50 meters high hill and has a panoramic view over Mariager Fjord, which is surrounded by large, soft, green slopes on both sides. No wonder they have chosen to call the newly created certified Premium Hiking Trail for ‘Panoramic Route’.

When we went there, I got several associations back to the spring, where we walked around the hiking trail on the cliff edge of the Italian national park “Cinque Terre”. I found it really impressive that we have such a place in North Jutland that can fully live up to hiking routes in the Italian mountain ranges.

Lunch with a view over Mariager Fjord.

Sleepover in the middle of the fjord
But we weren’t finished to be impressed by the nature around ‘Denmark’s most beautiful fjord’, which at least the locals like to call Mariager Fjord.
Cause the same day Carsten from Mariagerfjord Kayak called us. He had read in a facebook post that we were in the area and wanted to invite us out on his floating shelter in Hobro.
It sounded really cool, so of course we accepted his fine offer right away and drove to Hobro, where we met Carsten during the evening.

Carsten loves to stay on the water, so besides renting out canoes and kayaks and taking trips as an instructor, he has also built a floating shelter on Mariager Fjord. It’s a shelter that you know it from land, but built on a raft and anchored with a rope a few hundred meters from the width, so it flows just as slowly around with the stream.

It was the first time we tried to stay overnight in a floating shelter.

We put the kayaks in the water and sailed out to the shelter, which Carsten showed us while telling stories about how he got the idea to build a shelter on water. Then we all sailed a trip up the fjord and enjoyed sailing quietly through the water while we got to know each other better.

Back at the shelter, Carsten let us be alone and we started making ourselves home with sleeping mats, sleeping bags and what else we had dragged out to the shelter.

It was a wonderful way to sleep. To lie there in a shelter and just look out at the shiny water, where the light from the houses in Hobro reflected in the water and the only thing we could hear was the water’s chuckle. It was simply so idyllic.

Morning trip in the kayak
The next morning I woke up early and lay watching the sun rise and throw the most beautiful pink light down over the fjord, while our floating home turned around very slowly in pace with the stream.

The most beautiful sunrise over Mariager Fjord.

The first thing we did when Morten woke up and got out of the sleeping bag was to jump down in the kayaks and sail quietly up the fjord. It’s almost indescribable how it feels to sail around in the middle of the fjord such an early morning, and see the hills that rise on both sides of the fjord. We felt so tiny out there on the water and couldn’t get enough of all the impressions Mariagerfjord and the sorrounding area were giving us.

I think Morten nearly exploded in a bliss of sensory impressions when a seal stuck his nose up from the water just a few meters from our kayaks and looked at us curiously. At that moment everything was just as it should be.

Hobro Shipyard
When we got back to the shelter, we made oatmeal on our trangia and then sat down in the kayaks once again, heading towards Hobro.
The first thing you get to from the sea side is the old shipyard, so of course we went ashore and went for a walk into the associated maritime cultural center and then the exhibition. We talked to Lene, who is married to Peter Leth, director of Hobro Shipyard and the new maritime cultural center.

She told about their passion for sailing, about their races with the wooden ship Valkyrien, about Peter’s current project where he has picked up an old Danish wooden ship from Turkey, which they are renovating inside the yard and not least about the new joint project with the maritime cultural center, which opened in 2016.

She was also very curious about our lives and experiences and was very impressed to hear about the choices we had made in our lives and that we now live in a car and travel around the world.

Old tool from Hobro Shipyard is now on display at the maritime cultural center.

She offered us to come home to them and get a shower since she knows how valuable it can be when people are offering it. We did, however, say no thanks to the great offer, as we would rather go on a trip, but it was really nice of her to offer it!

And it was great to meet someone who appreciate the same values in their life as we do in ours – it was clear that we did understand each other and that we had a really good feeling of each other.

Curious children visiting Turtle
If Mariager Fjord is really Denmark’s most beautiful fjord, I will let yourself decide, but beautiful it is for sure!

Now we had spent the last few days at the fjord and decided to drive further north in the municipality to see something else.

We set the direction towards Arden and on our way up there we drove through the small town of Vebbestrup. It’s only a very small town, but still famous in a big area because of their softice, so now that we were here, we stopped – of course – and went into the dairy to taste their popular softice. And it’s SO good! And even very cheap too.
DKK 10 for softice in a waffle – I don’t think you’ll find that many other places.

We continued to the nature playground in Arden, where we camped for the night.
It’s a lovely place right off the forest, with both a small deer park, playground, table and bench sets and public toilet. Lots of institutions and school classes go there to play and to get education in nature, even the day we were there. Most of the time we were there, children were playing and a few adults were there to with them.

So when we wanted to challenge ourselves on the obstacle course, which meanders over the entire playground, it was with the attention of several of the children in the playground.
First I was asked by a little girl: “Do you have any children?” And great was her wonder obviously when I answered no, cause her answer was “Then what are you doing here?”
She clearly found it hard to believe that an adult woman should play in the playground, if she wasn’t here with her children. A little further up the obstacle course, Morten encountered some children at the gangway (where I had to give up very quickly).
When he asked if they could walk on the gangway, there were no limits to how many children could walk there at the same time and proudly show him how good they were.

Morten trying to complete the obstacle course.

A little later, when we were packing Turtle, a couple of curious boys came to us and asked what we were doing. We explained to them that we were packing our car because we had to move on and then the next question was asked. They asked and asked and asked. Got to know that we live in the car and have no house, we sleep upstairs, we have driven to Italy in the car etc. More and more children were coming over to see Turtle and hear our stories and they asked about everything. It was simply so cozy – kids are really curious and impulsive and they just ask about everything between heaven and earth, completely open-minded.
The children were called together for lessons and we packed up the car.

We had been invited to a meeting in Sjælland, so the nature playground in Arden became our last experience before we left Mariagerfjord municipality and drove south. But I’m pretty sure, we’ll be back some other time..

Tips for upcoming everyday adventures in Mariagerfjord Municipality:
We were given the following tips that we didn’t have time to visit, but which we probably will come back and visit another time – or which some of you might want to explore?

  • Sail with the paddle steamer Svanen to Hobro and go with the veteran train.
  • Rold: small town with circus building, Jodle Birge Museum, beautiful old inn, shop Skott, fantastic playground with barbeque house (roller coaster space) and old American cars in the old gas station.
  • Stinesminde.
  • Rold Forest (Madum Lake).
  • Mariager (Citta Slow town).
  • Als Odde.
  • The bay of Ørnedal with shelter and small fire place.
  • Låenhus at the nature school.
  • A stroll in Maren Findsdal to Hohøj in Mariager.
  • Valsgård Bæk.
  • Havnø Mill.
  • Kastbjerg Ådal.
  • Hadsund Culturehouse.
  • Døstrup City.
  • Brugsen (and not least the boss in Brugsen) in Veddum.
  • Å mill to Hadsund.
  • Udbyhøj marina.
  • Kunstboxen in Mariager.
  • Munkholmanlægget and Rosenhaven.
  • Mariager Saltcenter and sewing cabin.
  • The old blacksmiths at Dania.
  • Museum at Sødisbakke.
  • Bicycle on the old pathway between Hadsund and Gistrup.
  • Fyrkat.
  • Klosterkælderen.
  • Høllet.
  • Harlekin Café in Mariager powered by DSI.
  • Dania forest at Assens.

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