In Jutland with a Cycle

Front matter

THE BICYCLE DOG IN JUTLAND. B1 CHARLES EDWARDES AUTHOR OF 'LETTERS FROM CRETE,' 'SARDINIA AND THE SARDES,' ' RIDES AND STUDIES [N THE CANARY ISLANDS,' ETC- LONDON CHAPMAN AND HALL, Ld. Richard Clay & Sons, Limited^ London & Bung ay. Dear " Sunbeam," As a novice in the art of understanding you, I played you a sen rvy trick in thus taking you to a strange land ; and further, as you are ivell aware, yon were then hampered by the society of a, pair of tyres little likely to bear with patience such trials as those I put upon you. But I have noio become quite affectionately disposed towards you, since, in rougher lands than Denmark, you have unfolded to me, grown wiser, your many excellent qualities. In recognition whereof, I take leave to dedi cate to your bright name this trivial record, of our trivial journey together. The Author. PAGK CONTENTS

Chapter I

Esbjerg — Fellow-travellers — A fellow-traveller — Rough quarters — A rough road — Dogs v. Cycle — Varde — Storks — A punctilious landlord ... ... ... 1

Chapter II

Sunday on the road — A desolate district — Lyne — Tarm — Skjern and its revivalists— Bad going — Ringkjbbing and the fiord — Storks at home — Sunday night in the provinces — Young bloods of Ringkjobing ... ... 16

Chapter III

Misadventures and rain — Hee church — A treeless land- Skive and its hotel — Skive's wood — The old manor by the fiord — Skive church and cemetery — The dead man by the altar — A forlorn circus 32

Chapter IV

The old capital of Jutland — Its churches, streets, smells, and present decay — King Eric dipping the murdered — On wheels again — The Birgithe kro — A couple of bulls — The castle of Hald and its trivial history— Viborg's lake CONTENTS VIII

Chapter V Tage

Bad cycling weather — A climb to the uplands — Aalstrup — Gjedsted — Royal going — Bjbrnsholm . Kloster — Ranum — Logstor — Aggersund in the rain — A luke warm reception — Aggersborg ... 69

Chapter VI

Blue skies and a moderate breeze — A dairy district — Aagaard — Fjerridslev — The church of Kollerup — Hjortels — The Bay of Lamentations — Glorious sands and waves — A Aveary time on the moors — Farm hospitality — Tired out 83

Chapter VII

Travelling merchants — A delightful road and midsummer weather — Aabybro kro and village — The Great Wild Moor — A comfortable inn of the old style — Sunset over the meadows — Evening pastimes of Aabybro 97

Chapter VIII

A temptation overcome — Jutland at its best for the cyclist — A disturbing sight at Saltum — Lokken and its sands — Hjorring — An obliging cyclist — Unwelcome ups and downs — A fine finish to a successful day Ill

Chapter IX

Tversted on the sands— A drab for a hostess — A worthy ex-seaman — A sad night — Unpromising weather — A novel ride — Wrecks — Rain — Old Skagen ... ... 127

Chapter X

At the Skaw — A notable hotel — Tourists — Jutland's end ; a memorable scene — Open-air dancing — Rain and wind — The sand-choked church — Bonfires, and strawberries and cream ... ... ... CONTENTS IX PAGE 156 177 240

Chapter XI

The Skagen raihvay — The storm-tossed Cattegat — Aalbek — Elling church — Frederikshavn — Running before the Avind — Saeby and its kloster — The hotel Dania — A scamper to Aalborg, ending with disaster

Chapter XII

Aalborg on the Lim Fiord — Smith Worsaae — Picturesque bye-streets — A fellow Briton — Off on wheels to Hvorup — Breakdown — A long walk to Aaby

Chapter XIII

" Sunbeam " and I part company — An excursion to Oland — The thousand-acre Avood — By the Nibe Broad — Vesterby — Oxholm — The tombs of the Levetzau — The cold-blooded lianclelsnuind— Skittles and the pig-drover — A tranquil evening 191

Chapter XIV

The last of Aaby — A drive to Aalborg — The desperate lover — On the road to Hobro — The Avood of Rold — A Danish pastor — Hobro — An evening ride, ending badly — Mariager 211

Chapter XV

The inn garden at Mariager — Sunset effects — The Mariager blacksmith — A model town— The church — "Sunbeam" and I have to walk — Gassum — At Randers — An old town on the fiord — I leave my cycle — A tedious journey — Aarhus ... 225

Chapter XIX

A wet last day in Jutland — Fredericia and the Little Belt — Where the Danes fought well — Kolding — Kolding Castle — One more stork — More storm weather — The Swede and the Dane — Esbjerg — A rough night WITH A CYCLE

Chapter I

Esbjerg — Fellow-travellers — A fellow-traveller — Rough quarters — A rough road — Dogs v. Cycle — Varde — Storks — A punctilious landlord. I avas last in Esbjerg in the great Avinter of 1892-3. Then its yellow sands Avere hid under the snow, and long icicles hung from its eaves. The ships in its roomy haven were stuck fast, and the hotels resounded with the grumbling voices of sea captains. It was only by herculean perseverance, and the good steel of the screw of the Express, that Ave had fought our way through the field of ice between Fano and the mainland ; not without exciting moments, mingled with cries from the engineer, and pardonable " language " from the captain. There were times in that struggle Avhen we seemed doomed to be caught and gripped by the mighty floes crunching and groaning all about us.

But in the end, after a ten hours' tussle to win through three miles of ice, we B gained the battle, and steamed south with our bacon and butter. It Avas so different uoav, in mid June. We glided smoothly over the blue water betAveen the sand -heaps of north Fano and the Skallingen headland, with the red roofs and yellow and white houses of Esbjerg plain before us. The North Sea had tossed us just a little in the night. The Danish young lady, travelling alone to her home in Zealand, had been ill, and I had not been very Avell. But there was scant excuse for our indisposition. So the flaxen-haired stewardess had told me as I lay in my berth reading Trilby, and breathing the sweet sea air of midsummer through my cabin AvindoAV. Yet she failed to urge me out of my inertia. It were a shame to let the Danish young lady be solitary in her suffering.

There was an elderly Danish gentleman on board Avho had quite lately dined Avith the Lord Mayor of London. This fact came out casually while Ave were at luncheon. It has no value in itself, but it may lend a certain authority to his opinion about Esbjerg. " It is a doll's town ! " he said, with upheaved shoulders. I remarked that it seemed to have groAvn con siderably since the winter of 1892, and that its tricolor of red roofs and white bodies under so blue a sky was good to see. " Yes," said he. " We sent you inhabitants once ESBJERG 3 upon a time ; uoav Ave send you butter and pigs to keep your present inhabitants alive. Esbjerg lives on you. But it is a doll's toAvn for all that — a ridiculous little place." I was not so sure. Right opposite the harbour was a stately building with a dome.

More south Avas another Avith a toAver. These Avere Esbj erg's chief hotels. I remembered them both. In the former, three years ago, Avhen it had no dome and much less body, I had spent an uneasy cold night under the short half of a feather-bed, and conceived a strong and doubtless unreasonable aversion for a fat little boy man waiter, whose face always bore a mocking smile when I aired my Danish on him. They had both grown Avith the toAvn itself. The population of the place had risen to ten thousand from about four thousand in 1890. Such progress Avould be creditable even in Matabeleland. The Danish young lady and I went ashore together. We Avere both mere integers of humanity. It is nothing to the point that she Avas very pretty, with grey eyes, and the most charming English on her tongue.

We had both suffered, and in the exchange of our experiences had become friendly. While I pushed my " Sunbeam " toAvards the Customs office, she walked by me and asked me which hotel I recommended. It Avas agreed that Ave Avould together see if the fat boy-man still condescended toAvards travellers at the domed building : she laughed as I limned him, and said she expected he Avas a SchlesAviger. The SchlesAvigers do not, I imagine, excel in manners. We Avere both soon free of the uniformed harpies. We left them prying industriously into the linen of a modest elderly English lady, Avho had crossed to Denmark under a botanical enthusiasm. They Avere vastly suspicious of the various tin cases that Avere to be filled with specimens. My kindly companion would have intervened to explain things, and spare my countrywoman's blushes ; but I stopped her.

I urged that lessons are best learnt under the ferule of stern necessity. My countrywoman could not hope to collect floral specimens in Denmark without a tolerable know ledge of Danish. In the interests of her enthusiasm it were Avell, therefore, to leave her to grapple alone Avith this her first trial in the land. The Danish young lady's grey eyes did not seem quite to understand my argument ; but she herself had heard of the New Woman, hated the species, and seemed Avilling to believe that a love of grasses was one of its many errors. We were both hard at work on Ibsen Avhen Ave reached the domed hotel. Ibsen was one of my friend's fondest idols. And yet she loathed the New Woman ! This was a problem. THE INJUDICIOUS LANDLORD In the domed hotel they could not receive us, except at the dinner-table.

We had delayed fatally in our Avalk over Esbj erg's yellow sands : our fellow travellers Avere before us, and there Avere many to return by the steamer the next day. My friend insisted that they should find room for me ; I learnt so much afterwards, and loved her for her unselfishness. But it Avas to no purpose. Then came forth the florid, smiling landlord him self, and with him that little fat boy-man Avretch (who kneAV me, though I Avas not now in furs, and had a cycle on my hands instead of a pair of skates), and they began a discussion. The upshot Avas, that the landlord led us to a mild, sequestered red house, Avith Avhite curtains to the Avindows and a canary singing in the hall, and Avould have dumped us both on the people of the house Avith no regard for my dear friend's feelings. In the end she and I parted for the time.

She Avas to sleep in the mild red house, and they Avere to fix up a casual bed for me in a concert room or something attached to the hotel. When she had had tea Avhere she Avas, and I had dined at the hotel, Ave Avere to meet again for the long twilight of the June evening. So it Avas. I sat next to a genial Copenhagen editor Avhile I dined, and that fat boy-fool grinned at me over the dishes he brought. The editor Avas just at the end of a wild fit of locomotion. He had been AA71TH A CYCLE to Rome, and Berlin, and London, and Edinburgh, and Heaven knows Avhere else, and it had made him very happy. His English Avas just of a quality to incite me to sharpen my Danish on him ; but alas ! I resisted the opportunity. A better-natured man, I feel sure, there Avas not in all Denmark, but he brought confusion on my head by a vigorous inquiry if my wife Avas now quite recovered from the voyage, and by his subsequent loud merry laugh Avhen he ascertained that the Danish young lady and I Avere not a neAvly-Avedded couple on tour.

And the Avay the boy-fool grinned into his hand, Avhich had dirty nails ! However, another quarter of an hour and we were together again. Oh, these passing friendships ! How lustily they grow in a minute or two, and then of a sudden the bladder is pricked as a " Bon voyage " or two are exchanged, the engine whistles, and Avith a handshake all is over. MeanAvhile Ave lived in the sunshine of the present. For two hours Ave strolled along the sands, with the North Sea rippling at the side, and the blue sky (Avhich she thought so much bluer than England's) paling above us. At ten o'clock I saw her to her night's lodging. We Avere both to breakfast early, and be on the sands again the next day, there to stay until her accursed train started for the east. From her I Avent into the Esbjerg theatre, Avhich A PUBLIC LODGING 7 adjoined the hotel, and saAv some sickly grimacing.

They had staged Ibsen. " Is not life sad ? " my friend had asked, Avhen in our chatting I had protested against the dolor of the Scandinavian safe's conclusions, and I had made her smile as I told her that it all depended upon the eyes through Avhich you looked at it. I expected fleas that night, and felt them. The room Avas of that gigantic size you sometimes discover in a small country, Avith dusty curtains fifty or a hundred feet high to the row of windoAvs, through Avhich I could not keep the daylight, which at this time of the year in Denmark glimmers even in the Avitching hours. About eight vast doors let upon my chamber. They all opened either when I was in bed or dressing the next morning. One moment a shock-headed seafaring man, the next a smart handelsmand, then a maidservant, and, of course, the boy-fool — each in turn passed through me to someAvhere else.

The night Avas warm notwithstanding, and so Avas the blue feather-bed I lay three parts under. The morning, hoAvever, atoned for all. When I turned out, the sky Avas blithely blue and white, and the sands were like spilt gold dust. The North Sea was curling tiny waves upon the sand, and two terrible Avomen Avere bathing in them, naked from the waist upAvards. ToAArards the north-Avest, I saAv the first of those quaint landscape cheats Avith which I was to become familiar in Jutland. In the clear air, far aAvay, Avhite shapes and black shapes stood up on the horizon line like ships. The shrewdest eye could detect no connecting base of land for them, yet they Avere houses and churches, set about one foot only above the level of the sea. The Danish young lady said she had slept well. Her pretty face testified to her words.

From nine o'clock until twelve Ave idled on the sands together. In that time I believe I obtained as true an idea of her sweet soul as any one, save herself, might obtain, not excepting her father. Some of our words are not to be echoed. From rather profound sentiment Ave shot up of a sudden to the trivial surfaces of life. In one of these petty moments, she Avrote in my pocket-book the Danish for " woollen quilts," having pitied me for my feather-bed woe of the past night. We had brief bouts of exercise in pronun ciation, and charming little wrinkles arose on her forehead when I proved a fool of a pupil. Then off she Avould go into the depths of gravity, as thus : " When I Avas at Eton the other day, with my brother, I Avas Avondering about all those little boys. Is it not enough to make thought ?

They will be great men of State, or soldiers like my father, or what besides. But noAV they are only little boys with very polite manners, at least to me." Nothino- BEREAVEMENT 9 much in this, you will say. Ah, but her voice, pretty face, and reflective grey eyes sublimed everything. We parted Avhen the train left for Copenhagen, and I cast my hopes of eventual reunion upon the future. Noav that I Avas alone, I turned my thoughts towards my " Sunbeam," Avhich had meanwhile leaned lazily against the colour-Avashed Avail of Mr. Spangsberg's hotel. Esbjerg Avas insufferable Avithout my friend. It is but a poor little neAV place at the best, though Avith shops above the common for Denmark. Its streets Avere deep rutted ; half-developed houses abounded ; I heard the yells of suspicious sAvine in the pig-slaughtery ; and there was now no one to come betAveen me and my landlord's discomforting head Avaiter.

I had talked English hitherto, but now I was veritably a stranger in a strange land, and the realization irked me. Whoever looked on my cycle admired it. In the hotel hall it had its bell rung many times by sympathetic Danes, old and young. I had heard the music Avhile I dressed in my big room and Avhile I breakfasted. One youth Avaylaid me to inquire about its value, and went off Avith a long face when I told him the truth. Another Avished badly that I should try its speed against his machine ; but I had no heart for such ostentatious achievements. I wished to be free of Esbjerg, and free to move as J, pleased. And so I paid my bill, saw my portmanteau labelled " Skagen," and mounted. My landlord and tAvo or three others Avished me Avell, having Avarned me of the quality of the Avestern roads, and I shot aAvay from them.

Varde Avas my destination; the distance some eleven and a half miles, the direction due north, the wind Avesterly. I Avas soon in the Avilds. Having passed the last suburban house of Esbjerg, I had broAvn moor on both sides of me, broken here and there by farm steads, Avith small green patches close around them. The wind sang cheerily over this healthy treeless stretch, and larks sang with the wind. Off and on from the different loAV-broAved farmhouses dogs of no exalted strain, but of great size, dashed barking towards me, taking the moorland mounds Avith most offensive leaps. Once I had four of them about my wheels and legs, snapping and egging each other on in their diverting enterprise. A countryman, with a rake in one hand and his pipe-bowl in the other, stood on a ridge and watched for the consequences.

Only Avhen I had measured my length, and spilled my " Sunbeam " on his mongrel, did he seem satisfied. By then, however, I had taken my defence upon myself, and routed the dogs Avith some of the large pebbles which lay ready to hand on the chopped-up road. These experiences recurred. Furthermore, the VARDE 11 road deteriorated. It narroAved so that it Avas little better than two ruts with a pebbly ridge betAveen. A degraded footway ran alongside, some tAvelve inches Avide, and cleft every twenty yards or so by a drainage cutting. A ditch with nice black ooze in it (and lilies on the ooze Avhere it broadened) lay beneath the footAvay, to inspire confidence. Such was the thoroughfare between Esbjerg and Varde. When I crossed the railway I was nearly resolved to Avait for a train, and signal to it to stop and pick me up.

But I did no such thing, and in about two hours, after a deal of trundling, I came to the high road betAveen Varde and Ribe, Avith Varde's spire in a holloAV beyond, and a surprising little Avood. The remaining two miles were faultless, and brought me to the Varde river, Avhich I could see zigzagging east and west through meadows as green and lush as ever delighted a coav. Varde's main street climbed from the bridge, and, like the streets of all Danish towns, was stoutly paved. I Avas thankful the hotel Dania Avas near at hand, though it Avas yet far enough up to make me an object of interest in the toAvn. The Danes love to enliven their placid existence Avith small cross mirrors fastened outside their AvindoAvs. Thus aged and decrepit dames, far set in their chambers, can Avithout effort see all Avho go and come in the streets.

One or tAvo of these ancients were not content thus to vieAv my " Sunbeam " at a distance. They shuffled to their windoAVS, and shoAved their Avhite-capped heads to the Avorld. Having stabled my steed and fixed the supper hour, I Avent forth into Varde's pleasant meadoAvs by the river-side. There Avas nothing better to do ; certainly nothing more exciting, unless I Avent to the pig-slaughtery. But I Avas perfectly content thus to saunter and smoke among forget-me-nots, buttercups, and ragged robin, Avith the brown stream slouching steadily to the sea by my side. There were cuckoos in the trees, and the larks kept up their chant. Here, too, I saAv my first stork, a gaunt, red-beaked object, Avith hanging red legs. It dropped in a coal-yard over against the railway station. East of the bridge some young storks Avere paddling in the shallows, not at all disturbed by the two or three Varde children Avho paddled near them.

The gaunt object seemed to be engaged in stuffing the youngsters Avith bits of coal, or else I grievously misunderstood her various voyages. Close by the bridge Avas something quite as sug gestive as the storks — a rounded low grassy hill, to wit. There was no doubting its purpose. An early Jute of distinction had here been buried ; perhaps the first lord of Varde, Avhich, unlike Esbjerg, can boast of centuries of recorded history. I looked Avith interest at the mound, little knoAving hoAV I Avas to THE A^ARDE SUPPER-TABLE 13 be surfeited with others like it, and I Avondered if the dead gentleman had in his day sailed doAvn the river to the fiord of Hjerting, and thence made the trip to Kent. Like enough he did so, and has relations noAV living in Deal or Dover. Under the warm June sun, and facing the Avest wind, these Varde river-side meadows AA'ere good to plod in.

I left them for my hotel with regret. Here I found my landlord aAvaiting me Avith some formality. The table Avas spread, and he was clad most genteelly. He drank my health in schnapps as a prelude, and then, with his OAvn hands, helped me to the smoked salmon, dried herring, ham, tongue, eels, mutton and beef, which confused me with their various charms. He would not eat Avith me, being satisfied to entertain me Avith his conversation, evidently glad of a guest, and perhaps particularly pleased to house an Englishman. My countryfolk are not much seen in Varde, but Varde, like all Denmark, respects us as consumers of its produce. That, I judge, was why, afterwards, the dear man introduced me to every one as " the Englishman ! " when, at his earnest invitation, I con sented to be led about to view the glories of Varde.

He even took me into a small tobacconist's shop on no other pretext, so that I Avas fain to relieve the social tension by purchasing a dozen cigars. Ere this we had spent a discreet half-hour over WITH A CYCLE coffee in a tiny arbour in the garden, with a stork's nest on a chimney-pot hard by. I Avould Avillingly have stayed with the stork, but for the gold-headed cane my landlord had brought forth, and his repeated hints that Varde expected to be visited. And so we stumbled up and doAvn the cobbled streets, and the honest man unbonneted to every mother's son we clashed Avith, and gave them greeting. He irritated me in other ways. When I thrust both my hands into my breeches pockets he did likeAvise, carrying his cane under his arm. When, for a change, I put my right hand in the small of the back, his broad back also required support.

He walked precisely as I walked, now Avith short steps, and noAV striding. And so on. It Avas laughable enough, however, and of course but another kindly tribute to his guest's excellence. We walked out to the Varde skov, or wood, and through the Varde cemetery, with its pathetic little marble doves on marble slabs, and brief mortuary inscriptions of farewell. The red western sky made the wood more romantic than it is ; and so did the betrothed couples who moved with quiet footfalls up and down its slim alleys. My landlord Avas heartless enough to intrude upon the privacy of one of these couples, just to make me known to the gentleman. The young lady, mean- Avhile, turned her face to the west, which outdid her A MAID OF VARDE cheeks in colour. I earned her gratitude, I do hope, by the abruptness Avith which I cut short this uncalled-for interview.

The "sick-house," the schools, the burgermaster's abode, and the church were all shoAvn to me, and Frederic the Seventh's martial statue in the broad cobbled square, Avith some lively boys and girls play ing at touch round about it. My companion deftly caught one of these maidens by her flaxen pigtail, and for a moment I feared yet another formal introduction Avas to come. But he meant only to show me her face, which he reckoned, he said, as pretty as any in Varde. The maiden, hoAvever, did not appreciate the compliment. She put forth her tongue at him most valorously, and the boys hooted, so that my landlord felt forced to let her slip. I gave that damsel a twenty-ore piece, by no means because of her beauty, and then proclaimed my drowsiness Avith all the speech I could muster. In some countries they will not understand that a man goes to an -inn quite as much to be left to himself, as because he needs a bed and a supper. But they are a primitive people in Jutland, Avith obsolete ideas of hospitality.

Chapter II

Sunday on the road — A desolate district — Lyne — Tarm — Skjern and its revivalists — Bad going — Ringkjobing and the fiord— Storks at home — Sunday night in the provinces — Young bloods of Ringkjobing. My Varde bed Avas irreproachable, and so was the coffee which my landlord himself brought me just before seven o'clock the next morning. There had been rain in the night — the glisten of it was bright on the roofs opposite. "You shall have showers," said my host, who, on little or no invitation, stayed Avhile I made my toilet, and dodged the eyes of an inquisitive dame at a AvindoAV level Avith mine across the narrow street. " But," he hastened to add, " it Avill not be much rain, and the wind is good." At half-past seven I Avas ready to be off. The rolling of wheels in the rough street long ago had told me I Avas none too early for my reputation's sake.

It was Sunday, and the stout Avains that came into Varde were packed with sturdy Jutlander3, men and women, wearing church-going countenances. SUNDAY IN VARDE 17 The ladies held their psalm books under their shawls out of the rain, while their stolid husbands, brothers, and cousins smoked their festival pipes, long things Avith boAA'ls the size of a decent fist, and painted Avith garish landscapes or uncouth human countenances. Every Danish village of consequence has its cycle smith, and every toAvn its half-dozen of them. Be fore starting up the street, we visited the Varde smith to get his health certificate. It Avas obvious, Sabbath or not, that he Avould be tempted by such weakness, and he required a quarter of an hour to rectify a stiffness of the pedals. Then I turned my back on the hotel Dania, and, escorted by my landlord, made for the suburbs.

The paved road in the town's precincts Avas not fit to ride on. More over, it was at a fairish gradient, and made me the less disposed to become a spectacle for the haber dashers, the bakers, the Avood-turners, and tub makers Avho stood at their doors Avith sleek honest faces, and, for all their gentle courtesies, would have called lustily to their Avives and children to share the fun, had I spilt myself on the Varde stones before their eyes. "Farewell, Herr Englishman, and a fortunate journey ! " said my landlord, Avhen an endless stretch of high-road appeared before me. I mounted and rode forth from the town, its red roofs, its pale yelloAV and white houses, and its c massive church Avith the tall spire. The air was fresh, and though the sky was thickly bespread Avith puffed cloud-shapes, there was sunlight enough to give me hope.

Ringkjobing Avas my goal; the distance thirty-seven miles. I had all the day at my disposal, so that West Jutland would have plenty of time to make its native mark on my mind. Here again I Avas no sooner out of the town than I Avas in the moorlands. The telegraph Avire, which was to move with me until the evening, ran from post to post set among the heather and bluebells. West I could see nothing but this russet moor, Avith Ioav farmsteads dotted about ; east the same, though the sky-line here was black Avith rain ; and north was the moor again to the farthest undulation. My road Avas about as straight as a ruler, though not at all level. For the first hour I enjoyed a succession of brief adventures in the passage of the various wagons taking the rustics into Varde. The carts Avere draAvn by handsome huge horses, decked Avith bells and rather gay harness gear.