Connection Wall Areas 5 to 7 and East Wall Area 2D

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Connection Wall Areas 5 to 7

   Schleswig is a town that stretches along the head of the Schlei like a ribbon, and the section of the Danish defences marked here lies on its southern and western side. This is where the long Main Wall met the edge of the water and the Viking harbour town of Hedeby, and the connecting wall was built to link the two so that no one could slip through the gap. On the ground it appears as a low, grassy bank crossing meadows and the edges of woods, only a few kilometres from the old town.

   Read the complete Connection Wall Areas 5 to 7 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Connection Wall Areas 5 to 7 is where the day begins. Next is Crooked Wall Area 4.

2. 2. Crooked Wall Area 4

   Here the ground is flat, wet and green, and a long, low bank runs across it for no obvious reason. The bank is the Krummwall, the Crooked Wall, one of the oldest sections of the Danevirke, the great system of ramparts that the Danes built across the neck of the Jutland peninsula against their southern neighbours. The first banks go back to the early Middle Ages, and the line was added to and rebuilt for centuries, in timber, earth and brick, until the nineteenth century. UNESCO recognised the Danevirke, together with the Viking town of Hedeby, in 2018.

   Read the complete Crooked Wall Area 4 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Crooked Wall Area 4 comes up about 15 km into the recorded legs. Next is East Wall Area 2D.

3. 3. East Wall Area 2D

   For anyone who likes to see how a frontier was really made, the East Wall of the Danevirke is a good place to stand. It is a long rampart running north-south across the base of the Jutland peninsula, a bank of earth and clay, with traces of timber and later brick, and in the section by Windeby you can see it as a low ridge across the fields. The Danes built and rebuilt it over several centuries, and it was one of the largest construction projects of the early medieval north.

   Read the complete East Wall Area 2D write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 48 km into the recorded legs you reach East Wall Area 2D. Next is back through Crooked Wall Area 4.

4. 4. back through Crooked Wall Area 4

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Crooked Wall Area 4 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Crooked Wall Area 4, late in the day. Next is Connection Wall Areas 5 to 7.

5. 5. Connection Wall Areas 5 to 7

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Connection Wall Areas 5 to 7 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Connection Wall Areas 5 to 7. That is the ride.