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Day 2 part 2. Højer to Ribe.

With the wind in our backs and despite the sheep gates we made excellent progress that morning, and arrived at our lunch spot on the coast roughly west of Ribe in good time. However our triumph was spoiled as Damae cycled hard up to the top of the dyke. She heard that sound again and realised immediately that another spoke had gone.

We ate a disgruntled lunch. It looked as though we were going to end up on Day 2 where we had (optimistically) hoped to get to on Day 1. We loaded the heaviest of the food and other things onto my bike and started cycling gingerly towards Ribe (the best bet we thought to find a bike shop).

After a few more kilometers another ominous 'poing' and Damae got off to walk. The sun was too hot, and we could make no use of the favourable winds in the direction we wanted to go.

We arrived on the edge of Ribe. The first bike shop we hit was on holiday, and we then discovered that the tourist information was shut. We wandered disconsolately through town roughly in the direction of the camp site, and discovered that the 'Ribe Viking Centre' was open. Damae made a fruitless phonecall to the Postbank to see what our insurance covered (yes we knew nothing and no we didn't get round to finding another insurer something for 2007). Then as I made some tea Damae decided to wander into the Viking center to see if someone had any useful information.

Damae hit gold. A nice lady helped her and gave some useful and accurate information. We discovered that there was a large cycle shop not far from the campsite. After tea Damae headed walking to the campsite and I went to find the shop. Had Damae come with me then we might well have had the bike fixed that evening. Staff at the shop were unloading bikes that had just been delivered. Looking back I should have gone off to find Damae and nabbed her rear wheel and got it fixed then and there. But not having now got used to the idea of a night in Ribe, I decided it could wait until tomorrow.

The campsite was pleasant enough, the tent field a little short on the old green grass stuff, but plenty of space. We pitched tent and did the dinner thing. Damae went off exploring the facilities whilst I cooked and discovered the first of many 'family rooms' we used in Denmark. Later that evening between the showers rain we headed to the family room. There we made use of all of the facilities (it contained not only a shower and washbasin but also a toilet) to clean and refresh ourselves and wash some of our clothing. Then after exchanging a few words in Dutch with our neighbours we went to bed.

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