Hirtshals & Superspeed 1
The sea was very windy last night, at least the part around Hirtshals; the ferry hub of North Denmark. Rhys, a 20-something college graduate from California and I were sitting in the wind on a bench waiting for the Hirtshals lighthouse to light up. It was already quite late, and I was a little bit under-slept, but the lighthouse seemed too enticing.
The slow moving lens was sweeping the beam across the sky, and we ran to take photos. Later however, we learned the first lighthouse keeper of this lighthouse took his own life after 19 days into the job. Lighthouse keeping must be a very difficult job, specially at this part of the world. The rugged landscape becomes cruel during colder darker months, and the isolation of lighthouse keeping must be exceptionally taxing. And that’s the general feeling I got from this entire coastline, wind and isolation.
The way to Hirtshals was rather uneventful, except I saw a fishing boat, the likes of which I was looking for in Kollerup beach.
Eventually bedtime at Hirtshals was way too late, but all the conversation in the common room was worth a little less sleep last night. I learned about Ireland, Scotland and how to build mountain bike trails by hand, among other things. Little did I know, today would be quite charged.
Today after saying goodbye to Rhys (he’s going to Faroe islands on his £15 bike) I ended up booking the ferry online, ColorLine ferry Hirtshals to Kristiansand in Norway, called Superspeed 1. The ColorLine terminal at Hirtshals was rather complicated, finding my way in was convoluted. I just latched myself to a bigger cycling group, and we eventually figured out how to get inside the ferry’s belly. This ferry’s belly is bigger than the Puttgarden - Rødby ferry.
During the ride I did sit next to a rather smug gentleman, but the children in the seat behind me kept me entertained.
After the ferry arrived in Kristiansand, as I was getting out of the ferry hold I smelled the Norwegian air, it was mostly motorcycle fumes. Way too many motorcyclists in the ferry. I said goodbye to Michel, who I met while we were strapping our bikes and I was in Norway!
After finding a place and gobbling down a burger and a coke I started looking for a place to sleep. I was considering biking somewhere, but it was already quite late in the day. And that’s when I realised I was in a different country and also in a relatively big town compared to the towns I have been visiting last couple of days. Along with the indecision of where to camp, everything got way too overwhelming very quickly. I have been to Denmark quite a few times, and it does give me a certain amount of comfort and confidence while planning or looking for things. Norway isn’t like that for me.
It was also immediately clear that my steel bike (with all my stuff) is very heavy for the uphills. Speaking of steel, I met a gentleman from Schleswig-Holstein who used to be an engineer specialising in steel manufacturing. He worked in India at the Jamshedpur Tata Steel plant for some time. We spoke a little sitting on a bench at Løkken, and it seemed the wealth gap in India some 40 years ago was still stuck with him, much the same way the conversation stuck with me.
I sat down on a bench in the Kristiansand church courtyard, it was one of those what-am-I-doing-here moments. It’s also partially my doing that I didn’t plan or look ahead anything at all. That’s when a gentleman approached me, offering me a bag full of vadas, at least I think those were vadas. He said his friend gave them to him, and he would love to share them with me. I was still full from the burger, so I didn’t take any. But his smiling face and a bag full of vadas calmed me down.
Kristiansand, Norway