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Day 3 part 2. Ribe to Nymindegab.

We were a bit puzzled by Esbjerg. There must be a town somewhere but neither of us remember seeing it. Lots of dock areas and boats, but no town. On the way out we stopped by the impressive sculptures called 'Man of the Sea' across the road from a modern building housing a museum. We ate some food (including a compulsory yoghurt) whilst watching a surfboard kite sailor disappear rapidly into the distance. Within ten minutes he was more than halfway to the other side of the bay. That looked like fun.

It was time to get back on the bikes. The terrain had become a little hilly, not as in Norway hilly but more like the rolling planes of middle England. The wind was still not as favourable as it had been earlier in the day, so our pace dropped a little. At least we were still on tarmac and were not feeling to tired. It was good to have some interesting cycling and the sun combined with the wind was warm but not too hot.

By the time we stopped for dinner in Oksbøl it was swelteringly hot. Oksbøl reminded me of Dutch villages in the rural farming areas. The old buildings in the centre of town were mixed in with a new shopping centre. There were other enhancements such as community centres and housing estates dating from the 1980's on the edge of the village. The architecture and the feel of the place was very similar to lots of places we'd paused at in our travels in the Netherlands..

The food at the 'Quick Bistro' cafe cum pizza takeaway, was fresh and tasty. The chips and a salad hit the spot precisely, and the lack of feta in the 'Greek' salad (replaced with our consent by a nondescript cheese) tickled our sense of humour. Still the service was fine and in English so we were happy. After an ice cold cola we headed back out into the sun and the warmth of rural Denmark.

We cycled until eight thirty in the evening with an easy stretch of gravel road after Oksbøl. Damae's map comments were 'lovely section along forested paths'. We stopped for a few minutes twelve kilometres short of Nymindegab to munch something and drink some water, before heading back onto another off road section through forest. The last few kilometres we ended up following an old railway track used by train cycles. The cycle path next to it was an undulating pleasure at the end of the day.

We arrived at a large commercial camping, parked the bikes up outside the camp shop, and headed into the reception. This turned out to be one of the most expensive sites we were to use all summer. Had we had the energy or inclination we could have taken better advantage of the facilities. As it was, we limited ourselves to buying some yoghurt and chocolate in the shop and wandered out to find the spot we'd been allocated.

The campsite was rather full and the brown grass suggested that Denmark had been basking in the sun as the Netherlands had. We ended up with a lovely view of the back side of the toilet and shower block. It took a while to identify which was our plot, and then we put up the tent quickly. The usual tired disorganisation immediately sprang up in and around the tent. This was refined further when it started raining lightly just after we ate. But we managed fine and after eating we cleaned our teeth and went to sleep. It felt good to have had a decent days cycle at last.

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