Mornings on the farm Henrik and I stayed in were sunny, warm, and peaceful. Birds were singing, soft-boiled eggs for breakfast were perfect, and we took this wonderful time of the day slowly.
We planned to go explore the southeastern part of Fur in the morning, and its northern part in the afternoon. The first sight we were going to see was Møllehøj – a hill with traces of a 4,500 year old wooden-built burial chamber. Henrik went in to see the site, but I got distracted by street art – there was this cute knitted fish with wings:
I wandered what it was suppose to represent. No text, just a number – 45. Afterwords, we saw many different kinds of them on the island. And later I found out the story. Two artists from Fur, Jette Herne and Alek Krylow, got an idea of creating a co-called fish parade. Together with other artists, they produced 39 fish in the first year of 2007, and all those fish were erected at Pentecost! Over the years, some fish disappeared (tourists to blame?), but many new ones have been designed. Today, there are around 90 of those unique fish around the island. They have became the brand of Fur.
Back to Møllehøj where a sign promised a well-preserved large mound with surrounding curbs forming a circle of 29 meters in diameter. We couldn’t find much but a couple of small rocks, and it was fun to be in a place where someone was buried for 4,500 years ago… We pondered over the meaning of life a little, and continued our discovery of the island’s treasures.
Our next stop was Sankt Morten’s church with its 22 metres tall tower. The church has been there since 1126 (!):
During the centuries, the church has been rebuilt and renovated, but it was still very charming:
Beautiful paintings by confirmation students depicting the last scenes of Jesus, when he walked on the way to his crucifixion:
A traditional wooden schooner, named “Salvator”, was built by Gravers Sørensen Møller in 1877, which is a copy of a ship he was sailing:
Whilst I was in the church taking pictures and learning about its history, Henrik found these nice benches outside, with one of the best views from the island:
After sitting there for a while and appreciating life, we continued to the old harbour. During our stay on Fur, we saw many benches turned art objects. Sometimes they seemed to be painted by kids, others had poems written on them. On the photo below one with some philosophical thoughts (when I get old):
In the old harbour, we went to a museum. It had an interesting exhibition that told a story of that harbour:
After a couple of hours lunch break and relaxation time on our terrace, we headed for the northern part of Fur. It was quite a journey uphill; sometimes we had to drag our bikes up. But the trip was worth all the troubles. When we reached the top, we were literally on the top of the island at 76 m above sea level:
We were at the Stendal mine which is Fur’s largest raw moclay mine and the most accessible. It was fascinating to see the alternating layers of volcanic ash and moclay in the exposed slopes.
As part of the landscape finishing, a spectacular pillar of folded layers has been left standing, called Bispehuen:
On the hill above Bispehuen stands the bronze sculpture “Molermanden” and looks out over the fjord. I simply loved this sculpture, a tribute to an ordinary worker:
We left our bikes at the “Molermanden” and continued from there on foot. On our way down we got closer to the Bispehuen; Henrik was collecting colourful stones at its base:
Officially, Fur has two Red Rocks, but one of them is grey:
The “red” rock is about 14 meters wide and 5 meters thick, and it is protected. Most of the surface is covered by rare species, which give the stone a grey surface.
We continued our hike on the north coast to the east, and the views were stunning:
We wanted to see the Langstedhuller, one of the most scenic areas on Fur. The holes in the cliffs are a system of erosion gorges formed after the ice age. It was beautiful, but impossible to memorise on a photo.
Hiking back along the coast…
And to the “real” Red Rock:
The stone consists of meltwater sand and gravel, pitted together by iron compounds washed out of the moclay. When the water from the Limfjord and the rainwater hit the stone, the iron compounds rust, which is why the stone gets its red colour. The red stone in general has previously been an important building material in the medieval times, because it was easy to shape. It was also used for building the Fur church.
When we finally got back to our bikes, both Henrik and I were exhausted. We didn’t expect that hike to take so much time. We were hungry and thirsty, but also happy we did it. And the things we saw and places we visited were so spectacular!
Surprisingly enough, the biking tour back to our farm didn’t take that long time, and was easy – we biked downhill. Another thing we admired on Fur was its endless fields:
After dinner, we were powerlessly laying down on the terrace watching one more marvellous sunset:
We did 25 km of biking and hiking, and it felt like 100 km… But we were full of wonderful discoveries, and couldn’t wish for a better time.
We agreed to take it easier next day 🙂