One can never get tired of admiring nature from air, but identifying some specific objects or landmarks can also be fun. In these COVID-times, when travelling abroad is limited, I found myself a new hobby – spotting manor houses and castles. It turned out to be very interesting, because in that way I’ve also learned a lot about history of some of those places. Staying in Skagen, I didn’t want to miss a chance to see some of the local manors from above – they are the northernmost in Denmark, after all!
It was Valentine’s Day – that’s why Flemming was drawing hearts on the snow covering the aeroplane.
The tower and airport building of Sindal on take-off:
I had picked up the 5 northernmost castles/manor houses of Denmark, and made a route:
The weather was nice, and one could see a warm weather front approaching from the southwest:
The first waypoint was Odden:
The place has been known since 15th century when it was owned by A.J. Lunge who was one of the country’s richest men of that time. Today, the main building is a museum, where among other things one can experience a large collection of the Jens Ferdinand Willumsen’s works.
We continued to Asdalgaard, the oldest known castle in Jutland:
The current main building (lower right corner on the photo above) is from the 19th century. Before that, the manor house was on the Asdal Voldsted, an 11 meter high bank (left side on the photo). The rampart is a square, on all sides surrounded by tombs that were filled with water via a dam system. In the Middle Ages, this place was a part of a larger defence system for the entire province, and had a significant strategic importance since the area was inhabited.
A couple of folk tales associated with Asdalgaard are about a man called Carl Pølse. One of them tells of how Carl Pølse lured the ships to shore by lighting bonfires on the beach. On board the ships, it was thought that they were on a par with Skagen, they steered towards the beach and sank. After that Carl Pølse could rob the ships. (That was quite usual business in the old days!) However, the robberies came to an end when he was put in a “nail barrel”, a barrel whose inside was nailed. The barrel was rolled down a hill. Where the barrel stopped, he was buried. It is rumoured, Carl Pølse as a ghost walks the hills of Asdalgaard during the full moon nights…
Flemming and I circled a bit above the Asdal Voldsted and the Asdalgaard. And that’s when the engine began sound rough and loose power. I’ve never experienced the carburettor icing before, but I was in no doubt. I have to admit, I had a bit of a light panic feeling, because even after applying full carburettor heat and gradually more power, it took some seconds before the ice was melted and the engine began running fine again.
We dropped the next two castles, and just flew and listened to the engine. Luckily, there were many potential landing fields in the area (in case it would be needed), and we decided to see the northernmost castle of Denmark – Gaardbogaard:
Gaardbogaard has existed since the early 1300s, and was plagued by the sand drift in the 17th century. The current building was built in 1893, of red bricks in Dutch Renaissance style with slate roofs. It was a real castle!
Though the engine was running fine, Flemming and I agreed we didn’t want to challenge the fate of that flight, and headed back to Sindal.
At the aerodrome, some pilots were out flying, and we communicated with them on the radio.
We landed safely, and I was a bit shaken of the carb ice experience. I have a habit of applying carb heat during the flight, and it was quite surprising that it worked poorly that day. Both meteo- and flying conditions vary with every flight, and a pilot has to be always alert. Good lesson.
