Why this ride
A 234 km round trip from Køge - roughly 4 h 20 in the saddle. On the way it passes Roskilde Cathedral, Store Dyrehave, Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn and The par force hunting landscape in North Z.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Borgring and The par force hunting landscape in North Z
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 234 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 20
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Borgring → Roskilde Cathedral
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 26 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 26 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Borgring
In 2014, archaeologists using laser scanning of the landscape noticed a faint circle in a field near Køge, on the Danish island of Zealand, about forty kilometres south-west of Copenhagen. Excavations confirmed what they had hoped: it was a Viking ring fortress, one of a small group of perfectly circular fortresses built in Denmark in the late tenth century, probably under King Harald Bluetooth. It was named Borgring, and it was the first new ring fortress to be found in Denmark in over sixty years.
Read the complete Borgring write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Borgring is where the day begins. Next is Roskilde Cathedral.
2. Roskilde Cathedral
Roskilde Cathedral is where Denmark keeps its kings. Since the fifteenth century, almost every Danish monarch has been buried here, and the chapels and crypts hold around forty kings and queens, from medieval stone tombs to ornate baroque sarcophagi and modern designs. The cathedral itself, begun in the late twelfth century under Bishop Absalon, the warrior-churchman who also founded Copenhagen, was one of the first big brick Gothic churches in Scandinavia, and it set the style for church building across the region. UNESCO listed it in 1995. Inside, look for the clock with the figure of St George slaying the dragon, which strikes the hour, and the pillar where royal visitors have marked their height.
Read the complete Roskilde Cathedral write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Roskilde Cathedral comes up about 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is Store Dyrehave.
3. Store Dyrehave
North of Copenhagen the royal family once hunted on a scale that reshaped the landscape, and Store Dyrehave, the Great Deer Park, near Hillerød, is a piece of that design. The forest is cut by straight rides, long avenues that radiate like the spokes of a wheel, so that horsemen and hounds could follow a stag at speed without losing sight of it. This kind of hunting, called par force, was fashionable at European courts in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the Danish kings built an entire landscape for it, now recognised by UNESCO as the Par Force Hunting Landscape in North Zealand.
Read the complete Store Dyrehave write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 65 km into the recorded legs you reach Store Dyrehave. Next is Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn.
4. Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn
Danish kings loved to hunt, and in the late seventeenth century they laid out forests north of Copenhagen in a geometric pattern of straight paths radiating from central points, designed for par force hunting, in which riders and hounds chased a stag until it was exhausted. Jægersborg Dyrehave, the deer park, and Jægersborg Hegn are included in UNESCO's inscription of the par force hunting landscape in North Zealand, together with forests further north. The star-shaped network of rides is still visible, with numbered stone posts at the intersections that helped the hunters find their way.
Read the complete Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn, about halfway. Next is The par force hunting landscape in North Z.
5. The par force hunting landscape in North Z
Par force hunting sounds like a French affectation, and it was. The kings of Denmark in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries imported the style from the French court, in which riders on horseback and packs of hounds chased a stag until it was exhausted. To make it work, they needed a landscape designed for speed, and in North Zealand the royal foresters cut long, straight rides through the woods, many of them meeting at star-shaped crossings, so that the hunters could see the quarry and keep control of the chase. The pattern is still visible in the forests of Gribskov and Store Dyrehave, and UNESCO listed the landscape in 2015.
Read the complete The par force hunting landscape in North Z write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The par force hunting landscape in North Z sits at 119 km, about halfway. Next is back through Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn.
6. back through Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn comes up about 143 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Store Dyrehave.
7. back through Store Dyrehave
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Store Dyrehave write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 168 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Store Dyrehave. Next is back through Roskilde Cathedral.
8. back through Roskilde Cathedral
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Roskilde Cathedral write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Roskilde Cathedral, late in the day. Next is Borgring.
9. Borgring
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Borgring write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 234 km.
Leg by leg
Borgring to Roskilde Cathedral
Borgring → Roskilde Cathedral is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Roskilde Cathedral to Store Dyrehave
Roskilde Cathedral → Store Dyrehave is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Store Dyrehave to Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn
Store Dyrehave → Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn to The par force hunting landscape in North Z
Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn → The par force hunting landscape in North Z is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The par force hunting landscape in North Z to back through Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn
The par force hunting landscape in North Z → back through Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn to back through Store Dyrehave
back through Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn → back through Store Dyrehave is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Store Dyrehave to back through Roskilde Cathedral
back through Store Dyrehave → back through Roskilde Cathedral is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Roskilde Cathedral to Borgring
back through Roskilde Cathedral → Borgring is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.