Christiansfeld and Nonnebakken

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Christiansfeld

   Christiansfeld is a town that was planned on a drawing board by religious refugees, and it looks like it. In 1773 the Moravian Church, a Protestant brotherhood from Bohemia and Saxony, founded the settlement on land granted by the Danish king Christian VII, and laid it out with strict geometry: a central square, straight streets, identical yellow-brick houses with red-tile roofs, and a plain white church at the centre. UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site in 2015, and the unity of the architecture is startling, a whole town that feels like a single idea.

   Read the complete Christiansfeld write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Christiansfeld is where the day begins. Next is Jelling Mounds.

2. 2. Jelling Mounds

   Denmark's most important field is Jelling, which has two large grass mounds, a medieval church standing between them, and two carved runestones that count among the most important monuments of the country. The stones were raised in the tenth century. The smaller one was made by King Gorm the Old in memory of his wife Thyra, and the larger, with a crucified Christ on one face, was made by his son Harald Bluetooth, who boasted that he had won all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian. That is why it is often called the birth certificate of the nation. Harald's nickname, incidentally, is where the Bluetooth wireless logo comes from, a bind-rune of his initials.

   Read the complete Jelling Mounds write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Jelling Mounds comes up about 54 km into the recorded legs. Next is Nonnebakken.

3. 3. Nonnebakken

   Nonnebakken is a modest mound in the suburbs of Odense, easy to miss and worth finding. In the late tenth century, in the time of Harald Bluetooth, the Danish king ordered the building of a group of circular fortresses, each laid out with a ring rampart and gates facing the four directions, and the one at Nonnebakken is the Funen member of that family. Its name means the nuns' hill, which probably refers to a later medieval convent on the spot, and the earthwork lies in a residential area, so you will be walking among houses, gardens and quiet streets rather than open countryside.

   Read the complete Nonnebakken write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 142 km into the recorded legs you reach Nonnebakken. Next is back through Jelling Mounds.

4. 4. back through Jelling Mounds

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Jelling Mounds write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Jelling Mounds, late in the day. Next is Christiansfeld.

5. 5. Christiansfeld

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Christiansfeld write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Christiansfeld. That is the ride.