London to Copenhagen - any good routes

[Phil A]

Planning to cycle to Copenhagen at the end of July via Hamburg. I can see the North Sea route looks perfect once over the ferry from Harwich. Once you've left it has anyone negotiated the islands across Denmark to Copenhagen avoiding the main motorway?

[pal]

National route 6 goes from Esbjerg to Copenhagen, so should do the trick? (Though there'd also be other options -- e.g. heading east towards Flensburg, hopping over via Lolland to Mon, then going up the east coast to Copenhagen.)

(The Map Shop has the new Denmark cycle maps which the official website talks about -- a lot cheaper than Stanfords...)

[York Commuter]

Phil

I last cycled in Denmark a few years ago so some of what i write may well me out of date. My first experinec was Fredrikshavn in the North of Jutland to Hamburg, my second was Esbjerg to Copenhagen, my two routes crossed each other at Kolding.

Towns through which I passed (strung together to make a route for you) were:

Hamburg
Schleswig
Flensburg
Aabenraa
Haderslev
Kolding
cross over the Middelfart on the 1930s bridge - there were no restrictions in 2002
follow the southern side through Assens, Faaborg, and Svendborg.
The viking ship burial at Ladby is worth a visit

You will have to take the train from Nyborg to Korsor, you cannot cycle across the Storebaelt bridge

Roskilde is well worth a visit, the Viking Ship museum is wonderful and the cathedral is also lovely - look for the carvings above the choir stalls.

Roskilde to Copenhagen is remarkably easy! i remember there being cycle lanes next to the main road all the eay into the centre.

Hope this is some use to you

regards

Stephen

[Phil A]

Thank you Pal and Stephen

That is really helpful and looks like there are some great options for routes and boat hops. A good weekend of planning coming up for the summer...
Cheers, Phil

[Thomas]

And why not doing Hamburg-Güstrow (http://www.germany-tourism.de/pdf/adfc/eng/route_hamburg_ruegen_cycle_route.pdf) and then turning into the Berlin-Copenhagen Route (http://www.germany-tourism.de/pdf/adfc/eng/route_berlin_copenhagen_cycle_route.pdf)?


Cheers, Thomas.

[Phil A]

Thanks Thomas - sounds good too - now I am looking at it I am thinking why haven't I done this before! Cheers Phil

[pal]

I'd second the Güstrow idea -- that bit of Germany is lovely, I think, though not much visited by anyone other than (former east) Germans. And the ride up the Danish coast from Gedser (where the ferry from Germany arrives) to Copenhagen is good too -- some great, quiet beaches.

[dgr3107]

I covered part of this route when I went from Cherbourg to Gothenburg in 2006. I crossed the Elbe on the ferry near Gluckstadt and headed ENE to Oldenburg in Holstein. To cross the bridge to the island of Fehmarn you have to join the E47 - not very pleasant Most of the traffic seems to be in a hurry to get to the ferry at Puttgarden. The ferry is frequent with no need to book - but a slow check in. All the other islands en route are reached on bridges.
I took route 153 to Vordingborg and then 151 to Koge - very little traffic. Rather than cycle into Copenhagen I stopped in Roskilde en route for Helsinor and trained into the centre of Copenhagen. Roskilde is worth a visit for the ship museum. The route was pleasant countryside rather than spectacular. The wind as always will blow in your face which ever direction you decide to take!