Home Flying tripsDenmark Summer solstice on the island of Sejerø

Summer solstice on the island of Sejerø

by Natalie Kjaergaard

Summer Solstice is the longest day of the summer in the northern hemisphere when the Sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer. This day signals the beginning of the astronomical summer season, and together with my friend Anne we wanted to enjoy it on one or another island. After work, we headed for Sejerø, a small island in the Kattegat sea, north-west of Zealand, of approx. 12 km2.

Jørgen, the owner of the airfield, always makes sure it is well-maintained. The airstrip is about 4.5 m wide, and is perfect for an ultralight aircraft:

Anne and I landed, and parked my Aeroprakt:

Our plan was to go to the lighthouse, have dinner there on the cliff, and I was going for a swim. On our way, we were spotted by a ram (male sheep), who was guarding his ewe and their lamb behind him. He stared at us, and we understood the message. We didn’t get close, but took lots of pictures, admiring his bravery and beauty:

And whilst we were busy with the photo and admiration session, a cyclist stopped by. It was Tinna, a resident of the island, and we had a nice chat. Tinna was very kind and welcoming, and I got permission to take a picture of her and to publish it on my blog:

It was a very nice experience; Anne and I talked about it walking to the lighthouse. When we passed by the wooden scaled copy of the lighthouse, The Aviator immediately climbed up, and was posing for me there. Anne was taking pictures of a sign – she should have taken pictures of The Aviator instead of!

Later, The Aviator pointed me out at a stunning cat in the woods:

Both Anne and I love cats, so we stopped there and tried to get the cat’s attention and to persuade him to come closer. It showed up, the cat had an owner – Knud, the Sejerø lighthouse keeper, who was working nearby, in his garden.

We asked Kurt about his pine trees, and he explained how he cut them so lovely – so that he has both a shadow from the trees and a nice view to the sea. We had a longer chat about the life on this beautiful island, and then continued to the beach – I wanted to get into the water. But first I played with my drone:

And then I went for a swim. The water was so nice!

Anne went for a long walk by the sea, and The Aviator was enjoying a rest – he loves wild flowers!

We got on top of the Gniben hill, and had our dinner there with the marvellous view, by the foot of the lighthouse.

When we walked back to the airfield by the sunset time, Knud was still working in his garden, and he prepared a very nice gift for us – a book he wrote about the Sejerø Lighthouse. He kindly signed the book:

Knud has been the Sejerø lighthouse keeper for 26 years (only one lighthouse keeper before worked there longer). I once visited the lighthouse on the Sejerø Open Island Day, when Knud was showing around and telling interesting stories. I look so much forward to reading his book (already started!):

Anne and I took off, and headed back to Holbæk, my home airfield:

We had had such a wonderful evening on Sejerø!

Our intention was to fly till approx. 11 p.m., the end of civil twilight (it was the longest day of the year, after all!), but lots of mist was coming in at low altitude, and we decided to go home. On the ground, the sun had already went down and it was getting dark, but in the air we could still appreciate the glorious beauty of it:

In Holbæk flying club, we borrowed a swab from Thomas, my club mate, and did a thorough cleaning. Almost full strawberry moon was lighting up the skies:

We got so much energy from that evening trip, and were talking about those wonderful people we met there – Tinna and Knud, who made that tour so memorable.

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