East Wall Area 1A to 1C and Crooked Wall Area 4

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. East Wall Area 1A to 1C

   When the Vikings built their trading town of Hedeby at the head of the Schlei, a long narrow inlet of the Baltic, they chose a spot with a short portage to the North Sea rivers, making it one of the great crossroads of Northern Europe. To protect the isthmus between the two seas, the Danes built a long earthwork called the Danevirke, begun in the eighth century and strengthened for centuries after, with a rampart, a ditch and in places a brick wall added in the twelfth century by King Valdemar. Hedeby and the Danevirke are together a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The East Wall, the Ostwall, is the eastern arm of the system, running through the countryside near Kosel above the Schlei.

   Read the complete East Wall Area 1A to 1C write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   East Wall Area 1A to 1C is where the day begins. Next is Kovirke Area 6.

2. 2. Kovirke Area 6

   The Danevirke is the longest ancient earthwork in northern Europe, a system of ramparts, ditches and walls that crossed the narrow neck of Jutland at the base of the peninsula. Over several centuries, from the early Middle Ages into the twelfth, the Danes built and rebuilt it, closing the land route between the Baltic and the North Sea. Kovirke is one of its branches, and the section here, near Fahrdorf, preserves a piece of the bank that you can still see rising in the grass and the trees.

   Read the complete Kovirke Area 6 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Kovirke Area 6 comes up about 14 km into the recorded legs. Next is Crooked Wall Area 4.

3. 3. 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

   about 32 km into the recorded legs you reach Crooked Wall Area 4. Next is back through Kovirke Area 6.

4. 4. back through Kovirke Area 6

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Kovirke Area 6 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Kovirke Area 6, late in the day. Next is East Wall Area 1A to 1C.

5. 5. East Wall Area 1A to 1C

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete East Wall Area 1A to 1C write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at East Wall Area 1A to 1C. That is the ride.