Tag Archives: water

Celebrating the Mills: Wind & Water power

Nowadays, Denmark is well known for its wind turbines, with around 50% of the world’s turbines being produced here. It is planned that 50% of electricity in Denmark will be produced by wind power by 2020. However, wind power, combined with water power, has a long history of use in these lands, as evidenced by the numerous wind and water mills around the country.

Sonderborg has 4 mills open to the public: Havnbjerg, Elstrup. Vibaek & Dybbol. They are all regularly open all year round. However, once a year, on the 3rd Sunday in June, they are open, together with many others around Denmark to celebrate their history and their function, on what is ‘Danish Mill Day‘.

This year we took the opportunity to visit 2 of these mills: Elstrup windmill and Vibaek watermill.

Elstrup Windmill

This windmill was built out of wood in 1859. It was last used to mill flour in 1970. Over time it has developed into a ‘Mill museum’, having collected and displayed artefacts connected to windmills over the years.

The mill is in serious need of a good clean and much more attention. However, this needs volunteers, which is where this mill is probably lacking. For a suggested donation of 10 DKK you can have a look around every day of the week from 9:00 to 20:00.

Here is a map of the island Als and it’s mills and churches made in 1895 by the miller at Elstrup Mill.

Elstrup molle

Vibaek Watermill

A watermill was first built in Vibaek in 1756 as a grain mill, with a number of restoration efforts along the way. It stayed in operation until 1939. In 1999 the Vibaek turbine stotteforening was set up to provide financial and practical support to the mill. It is now the only water turbine left in the area, having been beautifully restored.

Vibaek Vindmølle

One of the main functions of this association is the organisation of ‘activity days‘ throughout the summer and a Christmas market. The first activity weekend fell during the ‘Mill day’ and this is what we got to see. There was a baker baking fresh bread, which you could then buy right out of the oven, another volunteer making pastries, another making butter. There were also volunteers showing how clothes used to be washed, musicians playing, a number of local crafts people with their products and – of course – a pølse stand.

Vibaek Vindmølle

It was great to see the way that the volunteers bring this mill to life on such days. We grabbed a quick lunch of ‘boller’ and hand-churned butter made on site, and took away a loaf of bread for our dinner. The next activity days will be on the 17 and 18 of July. If you are in the area do go check it out. At only 20 DKK it is definitely worth a visit, besides helping the association maintain the mill.

Take the boat to Store Okseø

The ‘Beef islands’, better known asOkseøerne, are two small islands lying in Flensburg Fjord close to the coast in Sønderhav. You see them every time you drive along the coast from Flensburg to Sønderborg and we have always intended to visit.

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Of the two islands, only the bigger one, Store Okseø, is regularly accessible to the public. The island is nowadays owned by the Environment Ministry. The island is quite small, at 0.08 sq km. However, besides a restaurant and some other buildings, there is not much else besides sheep, trees and coast line.

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Keeping this in mind, when Denmark got really nice weather for a weekend and we thought that a picnic on Store Okseø would be perfect. And in fact it was! The ferry taking people over is quite small, so the island doesn’t get overcrowded. This means that even on a nice day you can get a spot away from the others to enjoy the (great) views across the Fjord.

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There is also a 1km path going around the island that you can follow. If you are interested in this, don’t forget to take a map at the bridge before taking the ferry across.

The ferry runs in summer (end of June – start of September; Tue-Sun 11-18) and the shoulder seasons (end of May – end of June + start of September – end of September Sat-Sun 11-18). At a cost of 45 DKK it is well worth it to spend a few hours in the peace and quiet of the island. Oh, and if after your trip there you are looking for a bite to eat, you can either grab something at the restaurant on the island. Alternatively, you can check out another of our 99 things to do: Annie’s Kiosk just across the road from the ferry departure point.

Take the Flensburg-Glucksburg ferry

Sonderborg lies in a region of islands and fjords. Water is a dominant feature of the area, making travelling by boat a realistic and practical, not to mention pleasurable, proposition.

MS VIking

A pleasant ferry ride in the region that is less about the transport and more about the pleasure goes from Flensburg to Glucksburg. The ferry M/S Viking, leaves from the Flensburg pier and arrives in Glucksburg, close to the Strandhotel. From there you can decide to either laze on the beach or walk up to the castle, around 20-30 minutes away.

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On the way from Flensburg to Glucksburg the ferry takes you around the ‘Okse’ islands, close to the Danish side of the fjord while the way back is along the German side of the fjord. I have only done the Glucksburg-Flensburg part of the trip, following a visit to Glucksburg castle, but look forward to doing the Danish side of the trip!

The ferry ride costs 6€ one way/9€ for a return trip. You can also take your bike along to explore the area around the fjord for 3€. Tickets are simply bought on the boat so don’t worry about finding a ticket booth before hand.

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Swimming in the Baltic Sea

I come from the middle of the Mediterranean; growing up the swimming season extended from June to September. And even then, I thought that the water was often cold, especially at the start of summer! So when people mentioned swimming in Denmark eye-rolling was my standard reply.

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However, when a friend from Australia staying in Sonderborg said that she has been swimming and enjoyed it, and after a week of hot weather, I challenged myself and Michael to try it out in Sonderborg. The water was cold. Very cold! Definitely colder than whatever I considered ‘very cold’ in Malta! But I made it in successfully. Let’s just say that I am not ‘winter bathing‘ material as yet and leave it at that.

This year’s summer (2012) has not been good for the temperature of the Danish waters. In Vejle, four fjords from here, the average bathing temperature was 16,8 degrees. Compared to a normal average of 18.6 degrees this has been the coldest in the 16 years they have measured the bathing water temperature in Vejle. If you are interested in keeping an eye yourself DMI measures temperatures in harbours and TV2 measures bathing water temperatures on beaches at 1 meter depth.

Water Culture

One thing I have noticed though was that while Maltese people can easily stay in the water for 30mins to an 1hr and even longer, Danes tend to just go in for a very short time, maybe 10-15 minutes, and then get back out. You might think it is because of the temperature, but when Danish friends (including Michael!) visit Malta, they do just the same. I seem to think that once I have tortured myself getting into the cold water, might as well stay in as long as possible!

The picture for this post is actually from Brighton beach in UK. When we get out of the water in Sonderborg we shake too much to take pictures 🙂