Day 10-1. Esbjerg to Lyngvig (North of Hvide Sande).
Distance D 91.12 km Max 44.0 km/h Time 6.35:01 Average 13.8 km/hDistance S 92.27 km Max 36.5 km/h Time 6.04:45 Average 15.2 km/h
We woke up quite early and the wind made it hard to go back to sleep. It was clear that the worst of the storm had now passed but we were left with a stiff breeze and cool temperatures. We lay in our warm sleeping bags trying to find the motivation to get out of them. Despite our reluctance we managed to pack up everything by eight in the morning and headed across to the picnic table outside the kitchen to eat our breakfast. We sat in the sun shivering despite having hats and raincoats on. We ate our breakfast quickly as it was really too cold to hang around outside. We washed up, got ourselves ready and by nine o'clock we were rolling again.
Whilst the wind had died down in the night we were greeted by a definite headwind when we rejoined the NSCR. Out to sea the wind was whipping up the water with white crests visible at the tops of waves. Well, we had a headwind but "at least it is flat" we thought, until the road decided to go uphill. A few minutes later we got some relief as the road turned East, inland towards Sjælborg and Kokspang. The wind slowed Damae down more than me so I stood around looking at the fields of wheat waiting for Damae to catch up. Twenty-five minutes after leaving Ådalens campsite we passed the sign to the campsite at Sjælborg. It would have taken us a lot longer to do the same distance in the middle of the storm.
We carried on up a steep incline towards Kokspang cooling down somewhat as trees lining the road took the warmth of the sun from us. Our arrival in Kokspang was around thirty five minutes after starting off. Here we turned back into the wind, it was not going to die down any time soon and we continued to make slow but steady progress against the breeze. We crossed the river Varde at ten in the morning, the wind was particularly strong here as there was no cover of any sort.
There was plenty of time to enjoy the scenery as we pushed on through the rolling landscape against the wind. The sea was still a wild dark grey, with successive gusts of wind dirtying the surface of the water. It didn't really feel like summer this morning. A half hour later, that is an hour and a half after starting off we found the signs pointing to the free campsite we had been aiming to use the night before. We realised we had made the right decision yesterday evening to stop when we did. It would have been way too far to go in the heat of the storm. Even if we had made it we would have been without the comfort of campsite showers and kitchens to warm us up.
A few minutes later we turned north again away from the wind and headed inland. The gusts and headwind abated a little to be replaced by a short steep climb which went up and around a large gravel pit. This was another feature that both of us had forgotten although it was possible that the excavation started after our 2006 tour. Damae dropped behind again and I waited for her to catch up.
Next stop was Oksbøl which both of us remembered. In 2006 we stopped here in the evening for a meal at the local snack bar before pushing on to Nymindegab Familie Camping. Today, we paused at the start of a gravel section that we'd enjoyed during our last visit. Damae wrote then in the map "Lovely section along forrested paths". Not much had changed since the last time we had been here. The tree cover was most welcome today as it reduced the strength of the wind. The sun had also come out properly as we arrived in Oksbøl and we warmed up nicely.