From the sea to a fjord

Early in the morning Rick inspects the sea and the waves from up a high dune. He is excited. The sea is easy, the waves are less fierce. We decide to give it a try and continue our trip along the Danish coast. We have a good takeoff from the beach. The coastal waves are only in one row now. The waves are still high and bumpy, although somewhat less than yesterday. As the wind comes from the back, we put up our small sail on the boat, which is actually part of our tent/tarp. It works really well for some time. We bump up and down on the waves, but also move in the right direction!

When the wind changes into headwind we take down the sail and start paddling again. Still the sea is rough and we decide to take the inland shortcut Manfred told us about. Manfred is German, but knows a lot about Denmark and technics, which is useful for solving a minor problem on our AIS.

Behind the dunes is the old river bedding to the Ringkøbing Fjord which is parallel to the coastline inland. It’s a through way up, crossing the steep sandy dunes, but some really nice German tourists give us a hand. On the other side of the dunes all that remains of the old river are some small overgrown lakes. We can’t reach the water. So we walk the long way through the dunes to Nymindegap on this very hot day. Now we notice how fit we are!

On a perfect spot near a farm we get the boat in the water. It’s so different, quiet and calm compared to the roaring sea! In a slow, relaxed pace we paddle through the fields until the water stretches out before us: the Ringkøbing Fjord! On the shore we find a very nice campsite with a place near the water. Perfect for paddlers like us!?