Early Saturday morning my friend Anne and I met up in Holbæk airport. We began our day from a light breakfast. The aircraft was prepared a couple of days in advance, our flight plan was approved, and we took off on time:
Our destination for the weekend was Fanø island. Anne and I wanted to fly by the South Funen Archipelago which is a world heritage site with all the small islands there (around 55!). And we also wanted to fly by the islands west of Southern Jutland – Romø, Mandø – in the Wadden Sea National Park which is a part of UNESCO’s World Heritage Site. So we planned our route as follows:
The flight went uneventful, and we soon admired the incredible beauty of Wadden Sea from air:
Sønderho village at the southern tip of Fanø island, with about 285 inhabitants:
We found the airstrip first (yellow line on the photo below), and then flew around the island:
Fanø is 16 km long and 3 km wide, and known as a relatively expensive summer vacation place. I was surprised to learn that Fanø has the highest rate of divorce, cancer, murder (!), and alcohol abuse in Denmark. In such beautiful place! Who could imagine that?!
Surreal landscapes from air:
Fanø’s economy is very much dependent on the tourism. Around 30,000 tourists visit Fanø each summer. The whole western shore of the island is a long white sand beach. It is possible to drive a car on it, all the way from southern to northern tip:
We landed, and the curious bulls came closer to say hello:
In the hangar there was this good old Ferguson; I had to have a photo:
We were going to stay on the airfield, so we left our sleeping bags, took the bikes, and headed on the road. Both Anne and I love exploring new and already known to us places. There are always beautiful and unexpected things and experiences waiting to be discovered.
The landscape was rough, covered in heather with small wild flowers:
We decided to go visit Nordby, a small town on the northern part of the island, with a harbour connecting to the city of Esbjerg by a ferry. On our way, we saw a sign “fuglekøje” (English: Duck decoy). Neither Anne nor I ever heard of “fuglekøje”! We turned back, and went to see it.
It was an old duck decoy with a large man-made artificial pond fitted with 6 pipes. It was built in 1866 and used to catch wild ducks for food. Fanø was the only place in Denmark where four duck decoys were erected. Two of these were in use until 1931 when the use of duck decoys for catching ducks for human consumption was banned. Today it is an open-air museum with lots of interesting information.
In 1886-1887, it was a lucrative business to be a decoyman. Indeed, those were record years with 8-9,000 trapped ducks each year. They could be sold for a price of between 35 and 75 øre. The total annual sales quantified to 3,350 dkk. For comparison, the cost of a loaf of rye bread in the cities was 5-6 øre, and an unskilled worker could earn 21 øre an hour.
The observation tower in the decoy offered spectacular views over the sea. Anne, watching birds:
We continued to Nordby. The bicycle path was excellent (photo below). We stopped by different sights and places we saw on our way, and one of them was a stone. On one side of it it said “Sønderho 1741”, on the opposite – “Nordby 1741”. We found out, it was a boundary stone between the two parishes of Fanø – Nordby and Sønderho. In the 18th century there were 8 of them across the island. In the beginning of the 19th century only one of them was left, in the place where the boundary stone can be found today. It is unknown when it was raised, but the story behind it is captivating.
For centuries, the Fanø inhabitants had been peasants. But after costly wars, the Danish King Christian VI chose to let Fanø sell at an auction at the town hall in Ribe. By use of tricky manipulations, the people of Fanø managed to get a hammer, and in 1741 they finally became free. After the buyout, the island was divided into two parts, and a marking stone was raised.
It was nice to get to Nordby – the town sheltered us from the frosty north-western wind. The streets were almost empty in these COVID-19 times. Some of the shops were open, offering hand disinfection, and limiting the amount of customers to an appropriate size.
In various places all over the island, we saw street signs, giving some fascinating facts. The one on the photo below says: “A farmer called Niels Sørensen who lived in 1709 – 1793 (I didn’t know people lived so long at that time!), participated in Fanø’s acquittal in 1741. He was married twice. His second wife burned inside (the farm) in the year 1800. (Hopefully not set on fire by his first wife!)
Tinghustorv, a town square, with Tinghuset (English: Courthouse) and a sculpture in front of it. The sculpture is called “Conversation” by Niels Peter Bruun Nielsen, bestowed in 1994 by the local bank Fanø Sparekasse (only a bank can afford such a purchase!). It was a gift to the island on the occasion of 125 years anniversary of the Fanø Sparekasse:
The courthouse was built in 1741 for use by the bailiff and had two detention rooms. It was newly built in 1841, and furnished for detention. The building was sold for private residence in 1876, when a new courthouse was built elsewhere in the town.
Anne and I continued to the harbour area where we had a stroll by the sea, and discovered a place called “Svenskeren”. But first about the cannon that stood there as well. In 1864, similar cannons defended Nordby from Austrian soldiers. Each cannon was made of 24 pounds cast iron, and had 10 cannon balls:
The pier behind the cannon has a special place in the Fanø’s sailors’ hearts. It was originally build in 1884 by timber from a Swedish ship that stranded just off the bridge, hence the name “Svenskeren” (English: Swede). It is a place where boys would start learning about sailing, and where they would return to later in life, after long journeys over the oceans. It has always been the main point of Nordby harbour. In 2016, rumour had it, the pier had to be removed. A group of activists prevented the demolishing of this historic site. The pier was rebuilt in 2019, and is now a tourist attraction of Fanø.
We continued back to the airfield, and met this big hedgehog:
It wasn’t afraid at all, just ate the grass, and sometimes gave us a funny glance.
I expected it would be easier to bike back, as we had a headwind on our way to Nordby, but it wasn’t. The wind wasn’t as strong and cold as before though. I logged our trip with my Suunto Traverse watch, and was shocked when I saw we only did 15 km! It felt like 50 km!
At the airfield, Anne and I visited Kjeld Olsen in his workshop. Kjeld is the island’s only supplier of firewood. He showed us his machines and demonstrated how they work:
We were hungry after spending the whole day outside. For dinner we had lobster soup from a supermarket, and local speciality – bread called “high tide”. Anne made hot chocolate for desert – it was delicious.
Before going to bed, we went for a short walk around the airfield, climbed a couple of dunes, and rushed back to our warm room. The house where we stayed on the photo below, on the left side of it in a former stable. And a trained pilot eye will definitely notice our red aircraft parked on the left:
We were very tired after this long and exciting day on Fanø, and looked forward to get a good sleep and rest.
