DAY 2 – Tuesday Sep 15, 2020 (21 km)
I fell asleep the night before listening to the sound of the waves rolling in to the coast and touching the shoreline. It was quite soothing and a wonderful way to fall asleep. Waking up to the same sounds was just as comforting and something that I could easily get used to. The only other sounds that I could hear through the night were nuts falling to the ground from the trees which made sense as it was the fall after all. The evening before I had to clear the ground for nuts and fallen sticks before I pitched my new tent. I am always careful not to expose my sleeping pad to anything that could puncture it, but my brand new DCF tent floor was also on my mind and I would of hated it if I’d put a hole in it on the first real pitch. When I say “first real pitch”, it is because I already put the Notch up in the backyard at home when I received it a few days earlier from Tarptent in the USA.
I sat in the same spot as I did the night before only this time with the sun rising behind me while I watched the birds come to life out at sea. It was slightly chilly this morning but not cold. I donned my new Montbell UL Thermawrap parker, although it was not really necessary. I didn’t have it on long before I had to take it off again and then my wind jacket was more that enough to keep the slight chill off me. Once the sun came out and started warming things up all I needed to wear was my T-shirt.
I had decided to take an easy day today so I didn’t rush myself this morning; I was on vacation after all. Breakfast was enjoyed with a cup of black coffee. My typical breakfast when I’m on trail consists of oats, dried fruit and nuts all mixed up with some powdered milk and cold water. I very rarely eat porridge and hence I don’t heat the meal. During the winter on a freezing morning I might take the chill off the water and heat it slightly but not boil it. When camp was packed down and I was ready to depart the time was 9 am.
I set out walking along the beach towards Boderne. The water was calm, the sun was out, there was no wind and it was already warm. What a glorious day! Life just doesn’t get much better than this.
I learnt my lesson from my hike on Møn Island earlier this year to protect my face and especially my lips from the sun. I pulled the hood up over my head on my Patagonia Tropic Comfort Hoody II. I have been so happy with this sunshirt which was a new purchase this season. I have to add that it really doesn’t start smelling either so the HeiQ® Fresh durable odor control really works (at the moment anyway). It also features 50+ UPF sun protection. I had to order a size large as it was all that I could get. I had read that the sizing is a little on the large size so medium would have been perfect for me.
Before Boderne there are some stairs that takes you up and off the beach for a short while. It was just a short stretch on a soft grass path but it was nice for a change from the sand and the ocean views looked even better from that viewpoint.
When I arrived at Boderne I made my way to the harbour and then I followed the road past StrandCaféen to the carpark at the start of the Raghammer military shooting range. There is a toilet here where you can collect water. In fact, there are toilets located in all the harbours on Bornholm. You only need to carry a maximum of one liter at any one time because you can always top up somewhere.
The red ball had not been raised so it was safe to travel on the beach side of the military zone. However, I decided to walk on the marked “kyststi” around the shooting range instead. I believe that the inland route is one kilometer longer than if one takes the coastal route.
Half way on the north side of the range there are some military buildings. I stopped here and used the toilets. They are open for public use and they were very clean. In fact, all the toilets on Bornholm were in very good working condition and almost all of them were perfectly clean. On the west side of the military grounds I stopped for a break where a picnic table was located.
After my break I walked through a forest at Sømarken along the military boundary, which was clearly marked. I finally reached the coastline and here I continued over some sand dunes near Ålhammer Bugt until I found the “kyststi” signs again. There were a lot of toilets on this next section so I kept my water bottle topped up the whole time. It was quite hot but the sun was glorious.
Just before the toilets on Ædjavejen at Hullegård there is a nice little spot to rest in some shade with a picnic table. The water views are not bad from there either. I rested for a short while here drinking some water and eating some nuts. I took my shirt off it let it dry in the sun. While I rested another hiker came by. She had about the same pack size as I did. We greeted one another and then she was off.
I found out later, the next day in fact, that she had no shelter or sleeping bag packed because she said “I hate setting up a tent at the end of the day and I can’t stand sleeping in a sleeping bag”. She had pre-booked sleeping accommodation around the island.
When I reached the boat harbour at Bakkerne I walked the short 200 meters up to Bakkarøgeriet where I couldn’t resist in stopping for a lunch break. Battered fish, chips, salad and a half liter cold draught beer. I dined in the open courtyard where there was also an outdoors kitchen sink where I could top up my water bottle once again. I saw that the other hiker that passed me earlier was there eating lunch as well.
After I had consumed the huge lunch and downed the beer I really felt more like taking a snooze on a sofa than walking anywhere. But hey, I was on vacation, so it is what it is. I walked west along Søvangsvej and then over Øle creek past Cafe Slusegaard before I finally reached the coastline once again.
This next section is a very popular summer house area on Bornholm and is located just east of Dueodde. Dueodde is a beach on Bornholm’s southernmost tip. It is known for its very fine white sand.
You can either follow the beach through this next section or close to the beach there are several small trails that you can walk on, however they are also sandy. I suggest to just follow the beach trying to walk on the harder moist parts. I think that next time I’ll just remove my shoes and walk this stage barefoot until I reach the wheelchair friendly ramp at Dueodde. The section is approximately two kilometers in length. If you prefer to you can walk on the road further inland if that is what you want.
This time of the year the German population have holidays. Almost all the people that I ran into on Bornholm this week were Germans. Dueodde Beach was covered with German beach happy tourists. I plucked my way through the beach guests and walked the ramp to Dueodde Diner & Steakhouse.
Please note that at the public toilets in the car park here you can’t top up with cold water. The tap is warm water only for washing hands.
I turned right at the steakhouse and continued on gravel roads and small trails until I reached my end stop for the day at Dueodde Familiecamping & Hostel. When I was exiting the reception I noticed the same hiker that I saw earlier in the day at Bakkerne and the fish restaurant too. We said hello to one another again and then I went to find my campsite. She was not staying there but was just taking a break. I’m not sure where she stayed that night. The previous night she had stayed at Arnager somewhere.
I paid 110 kroner for the site and 10 kroner extra for a 5 minute shower. The people were really nice here and I can highly recommend this camping park. The facilities were new and very clean as well. I told them that I would be departing early the next morning so we agreed that I could just drop off my card key in the mailbox at the front of the reception building the next morning.
I chatted briefly with a German guest who was camped close by. She was all setup in her modern mobile home camper. Once I had my camp all setup I took a shower. This is not something that I normally do when I’m hiking but down this end of the island campsites are not something growing on trees as the say so I opted for this park. I know already that I’ll do things a little different next time. There is also an option to overnight at Snogbæk Harbour which is not far away. But at the moment I was on vacation and I was enjoying myself.
My dinner was another one of my homemade dehydrated meals. There was also a bistro attached to the reception building where one could purchase a meal. I opted for my own food as I was still quite full from my late fish lunch and I didn’t desire sitting down to a large plate of food again. My evening meal was followed by some coffee and then I was off to bed early. I would be putting in a long day in the morning covering almost 40 km.
Today’s hike covered 21 km with 198 m ascent and 189 m descent
… to be continued on next post: Bornholm Coastal Trail – Day 3
The Trail (120 km)
Bornholm is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of the westernmost part of Poland occupying an area of 588.36 square kilometres (227.17 sq mi). The Bornholm Coast Path (Kyststien) is a 4-5 day hike (120 km) around the square sized 1.7 billion year old granite rock island.
My map is also available on AllTrails here
Brian Outdoors 