Thursday last week I wanted to visit a Danish island Samsø – it has been a long time, and I’ve missed it. An aviation meteorologist I spoke to didn’t recommend to fly to Samsø due to the low ceiling, but to Skåne (Sweden) where the weather conditions were much better that day. Henrik joined me as a co-pilot, and we flew to Landskrona first.
The Swedish island of Ven on the photo above. Beautiful place I’ve visited many times by a sailing boat. Unfortunately no airstrip! Otherwise a flight to Landskrona, taxi to the harbour, and a ferry. The island has an area of 7.5 km2, around 400 people live there. The Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546–1601) built two observatories there. A palace-observatory Uraniborg (“The Castle of Urania”) in 1580 and an underground observatory Stjerneborg (“The Castle of the stars”) in 1581. Stjerneborg is partly restored and open to public, and about Uraniborg one can learn from the exhibition in the museum. Both places are exciting to visit, and the island has many other interesting things to offer, too.
From Landskrona we continued to Höganäs, as our ambition for the trip was to see Nimis & Arx on the eastern side of the Kullaberg. The city of Höganäs on final for landing on runway 14 in ESMH:
In Höganäs I finally met Per – a Dane who lives in Skåne. We otherwise chatted several times about a possible island hopping tour in Denmark, and shared our passion for flying; it was nice to meet in person. With Per in front of his aircraft:
The weather in Skåne was simply perfect. Light frost, blue skies, generous sunshine… We borrowed a car, and drove to the parking place somewhat near the Royal Republic of Ladonia where Nimix and Arx reside. We later found out that my GPS suggested a wrong parking place that costed us about an extra hour off-road walking through the fields of Skåne – but it was fun!
To save time and energy, we got over the fence of a private horse field, and crossed it. The horses were curious about us, unexpected visitors from Denmark. One of them was very friendly, and had a short conversation with Henrik:
We didn’t know what way to go (and in fact there wasn’t any way), but guessed the direction, and when I saw the house on the photo below, I recognised the place, and remembered the rest. This charming place is the Himmelstorp farm. Since 1491 there has been a farm belonging to the Krapperup’s estate (which I visited and mentioned in my blog post from my previous trip to Kullaberg). The remaining farm is approx. from the 1850, it is in a preserved condition, and the place is open to visitors from May to September.
From there the direction was easy and pleasant (till we had to descend!):
At the entrance to Nimis:
Its “hallway”:
The tower of Nimis:
I went first, as I’m familiar with the place, and Henrik followed. Soon he appeared out of the Nimis’ “hallway”:
We both were a bit tired after that off-road march. A lunch on the rocks on the beach was much appreciated:
A short visit to Arx which is a book written of stones and concrete:
We did 7 km in 2 hours, with 300m descent/ascent. Not bad! Last time I was in Höganäs with Jens we did 4 km in 4 hours. On bikes! So – clear improvement.
Going home, tired and happy:
