Knudeklint and Fyrkat

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Knudeklint

   Fur is a small island in the Limfjord in northern Jutland, reached by a short ferry crossing, and on its northern coast, the cliffs of Knudeklint show one of the most remarkable geological sections in Denmark. The cliffs are made of moler, a light, porous clay formed from the skeletons of countless tiny algae, diatoms, that settled on the bottom of a sea some fifty-five million years ago. Through the pale moler run dark bands of volcanic ash, around a hundred and eighty of them, from eruptions in the North Atlantic as the ocean opened between Greenland and Europe. The layers have been folded and tilted by the glaciers of the ice age, creating dramatic patterns in the cliff face.

   Read the complete Knudeklint write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Knudeklint is where the day begins. Next is Viking-Age Ring Fortresses.

2. 2. Viking-Age Ring Fortresses

   Around the year 980, King Harald Bluetooth of Denmark, the man who claimed on the great Jelling stone to have made the Danes Christian, built a series of perfectly circular fortresses across his kingdom, with ramparts laid out in precise geometric plans, gates at the four points of the compass and long houses arranged in squares inside. Aggersborg, on the northern shore of the Limfjord near Løgstør, was the largest of them, with a diameter of some two hundred and forty metres, and it is one of the Viking-Age Ring Fortresses listed by UNESCO in 2023, along with Fyrkat, Trelleborg, Nonnebakken and Borgring.

   Read the complete Viking-Age Ring Fortresses write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Viking-Age Ring Fortresses comes up about 71 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fyrkat.

3. 3. Fyrkat

   Around the year 980, Harald Bluetooth, king of the Danes, built a ring of fortresses across his kingdom, and Fyrkat is the best-preserved of them. It is a perfect circle of earth and timber rampart about 120 metres across, with four gates at the compass points and streets crossing in the middle, and inside the ring, sixteen longhouses arranged in groups of four around a square. Tree-ring dating of the timbers points to the early 980s, and the neat plan and the way it echoes the other ring forts at Trelleborg and Aggersborg suggest a single royal design. Why the forts were built is still argued over, though they probably combined military, administrative and royal power at a time when Harald was uniting Denmark and bringing in Christianity.

   Read the complete Fyrkat write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 136 km into the recorded legs you reach Fyrkat. Next is back through Viking-Age Ring Fortresses.

4. 4. back through Viking-Age Ring Fortresses

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Viking-Age Ring Fortresses write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Viking-Age Ring Fortresses, late in the day. Next is Knudeklint.

5. 5. Knudeklint

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Knudeklint write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Knudeklint. That is the ride.