Mountain Lifestyle: Aero to Lolloland

What a monster of a day!! Feel like a genuine cycle tourer now, having travelled over 100km, taken two ferries, crossed three islands, been over two massive bridges and propelled myself by bicycle for a full 62km. All in one day! Proper tired now!

It all started off with some good scenes in the camp this morning and the tent dried quickly in the heat of the sun.

The ferry off the island wasn't scheduled until 10:35, so we had plenty of time to enjoy the colourful streets of Aero in the quiet brightness of the morning.

Back in the town square, the shops were shut, but the sun was out. Luckily, the one place that was open was the bakery - reputed to be the finest in all of Denmark. So where better to try my first Danish Pastry!

After a lap of the town on foot (cobbles = bad for bikes!), we got back to the port just as the ferry arrived.

This time it was much busier and a few cars didn't make it on. Much easier to squeeze a few bikes on board though.

We spent the hour and a half crossing, studying the map, planning possible camp spots and enjoying Danish pastries! Just before arriving in Svendborg, we passed under this big bridge.

Then after disembarking, passed over it as the ferry left!

The bridge and cycle trail took us onto the island of Tåsigne, where we stopped briefly at a kind of castle in the village of Troense.

The miles easily slipped by and we soon crossed our first bridge onto the tiny island of Siø.

There's nothing really to stop for there, so we carried on up and over the next bridge to the Island of Langeland. From the top of the bridge, we could see the small harbour at Rudkøbing, so dropped down to have a rest and some delicious lunch. Food on the road always tastes much better than when you've not earnt it, but today's freshly made sandwiches of cream cheese, cucumber, peanuts and tomato were something else! Especially with crunchy little carrots on the side.

We would have liked to explored south into Langeland, as the beaches are supposed to be great. The weather however, is not really lending itself to beach time. There had been a strong wind, and rain was due in the afternoon and tomorrow. We opted to press on across the island.

Before we knew it, we reached the eastern side of Langeland Island. As luck would have it, the ferry was just arriving. We just had time to get our tickets before it docked.

This time we were ushered in first - cyclists are first class citizens over here after all.

We found a place to leave the bikes then went up to find a comfy sofa inside. As a treat/necessary re-fuel, we ordered a bowl of chips. A huge basket full arrived in minutes and didn't take much longer to devour.

Arriving in the port of Tars, we got back on Route 8 around to the town of Nakskov. Away from the industrial docks, it looked like a cool town to explore. Time was getting on though and we'd set ourselves a target to get to.

As we pushed on, the wind began to pick up in a rather unfavourable direction. We went through forest and farm land and eventually out by the coast.

At the coast, the cycle route had been changed to allow some wind turbines to be built. We Decided to go direct via the road for the last section. It was just over 7km to go, but the headwind sapped our energy. The long, seemingly endless last few kilometres were torture, as it was across open fields with no shelter from the wind. Along side us the clouds were black and we could see it raining heavily. Somehow, we managed to just keep our wheels moving fast enough to be on the edge of the blue sky despite our fatigue. A few drops of rain kept blowing onto us, but we made it to the port of Langø dry. Initially, we couldn't find the camping area, but some friendly locals pointed us in the right direction. Fresh water had to be collected from the harbour nearby.

The camping spot was like a corner of the local park. By the swings, there was a little bivi shelter, a compost toilet, a table and space to put up the tent for the night. We cooked up a huge meal, elated that we'd made it, but exhausted.

After a final ride down to collect more water, we enjoyed and amazing sunset light show on the clouds that had been threatening, but never quite reaching us.