Our destination today was the island of Bägø, situated 20 miles to the north of us and 4 miles off the large island of Fyn. There was a small breeze blowing but the forecast was for a little more, some 10-12 knots, so we knew we should be able to sail and that it would take us about 4 hours, averaging 5 knots. As we had the whole day there wasn’t any great necessity to hurry so I was able to take a few photos of the harbour and local wildlife (see photos). However, it doesn’t matter how relaxed one is about leaving, there comes a time when all jobs are done and it’s time to cast off.  Our problem was, how to extricate ourselves from the tight squeeze of our berth, tight because several other boats had come in since we’d arrived yesterday. Many of them are examples of the great Danish racer-cruiser yacht, the X-Yacht and manufactured just up the coast in the town of Haderslev. X-Yachts are celebrating their 40^th anniversary by holding an X-Yacht excusive regatta next weekend, and our near (very) neighbours were taking their boats there to participate, leaving them there for the working week and returning next weekend.

As you can see from the photo (our berth was between the two blue boats, ie to the left of XO2),  we needed to be careful with our maneuvering, made more difficult as their ropes were over ours, but we managed it without mishap and were on our way at 10:30 and sailing by 10:45.

Today we thought we’d go mad and utilize the mainsail as well and we were soon romping along at 7 knots in a relatively warm breeze blowing from the ESE at 14 knots. I say warm in that we didn’t, at least initially, feel the need for windproof clothes as the sun was out and as I said, the air was pleasant but the clouds did gather, masking the sun and necessitating some warmer clothing. Later, the wind dropped a little for a while and the sun reappeared and for the rest of the day we reveled in the sunny conditions. We were also delighted to spot some common porpoises – they don’t behave like dolphins in that they never seem to follow boats and ride on the pressure wave of the bow but it was lovely to see them, nevertheless.

Arriving in the small harbour at Bägø at 14:15 we had the choice of going alongside or putting ourselves into another box, in a 14 knot cross-wind. With a fit of bravado, I decided we would do the proper thing and put ourselves in between the poles rather than alongside and I figured that the gap between them was just about big enough (why they don’t put a sign up with dimensions, I have no idea) and we went for it. We did fit, just but this time we did brush against the downwind pole doing some minor (hopefully) marking to the blue gelcoat. As I’ve said on innumerable occasions, boats designed for this part of the world all either have a ‘V’ shape so that the widest bit is at the top and this part is always metal ie the toe rail, or they have strips of wood or rubber or metal on their sides, at the widest point, designed to take the occasional rough treatment from these poles. No boat has delicate gelcoat, apart from us!

After lunch we set off to explore this 5.6 km², 8m high island, an island with a population today of 25 but which has been inhabited since the stone age, judging by archaeological finds of flints and so on. I commented to Julie that the rising sea levels predicted as a consequence of global warming would be a tragedy here and indeed, I’ve learned that a storm in 1876 reduced the island to 3 islets, until the waters receded. Now this isn’t a big island and of course we could have walked it but as there were bikes for hire with an honesty box system and as they were only asking about £3.00 (25 DEK) for 6 hours’ hire, it was a no-brainer to take the bikes, Julie with her usual less-than- keenness! The bikes were well maintained and in good condition and were the sit up and beg types with a front handbrake and the rear brake you use by pedaling backwards, which takes a while to get used to.

As the maximum height here was only 8 metres, we didn’t have hills to contend with but nevertheless, as we were using muscles that have atrophied or something, we both felt our legs complaining a bit after the first half mile but thankfully, the feeling soon passed. The main reason why the island is inhabited is the fact that the land is rich and can support a variety of crops as well as lush grazing for cattle and sheep. We passed extensive fields of rape, wheat and barley as well as areas of sugar beet. We saw a lovely small heard of highland cattle and a flock of Jacob’s sheep, all in all very pastoral. The tarmac road ended by the church in the small hamlet and then continued as an earth road down to Sommerodde (see map) which we went to. It was absolutely gorgeous down there, the air was full of the sounds of skylarks (remember those, almost vanished from the UK, a 75% reduction in numbers between 1972 and 1996) and excitingly, we saw two fully grown brown hares. It was when I was trying to get off the bike to photograph one that I rather clumsily fell off, landing in the sole muddy patch of the whole road and grazing my knee – this did nothing for my self esteem!!  

Having returned the bikes to the marina and bathed my battered knee, we went back to the boat and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon in the shelter of the cockpit cover, which served to isolate us from the cooling effects of the 16 knot breeze. That was it for the day, other than a postscript. Sometime during the night, when the wind had pretty much disappeared, both Julie and I were woken by a sudden, violent series of wind gusts, I mean strong, strong wind, gale force or so but it only lasted a few minutes, then all was calm again. We both imagined what it might have been like at sea, with all the sails up to make the most of the light wind when suddenly, wham! Come to think of it, it is thought that that is what happened to a sail training boat some decades ago, she was a square rigger or something and was crossing the Atlantic when a similar change in wind overwhelmed her, killing all her crew. You can NEVER be 100% relaxed when on a boat, which is why I call what we do ‘caravaning with attitude’.