Knudeklint and Viking-Age Ring Fortresses

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 Hanklit.

2. 2. Hanklit

   Hanklit is a cliff on the island of Mors, in the Limfjord, the broad, shallow fjord that cuts across northern Denmark and turns Jutland into an island. The cliff is made of moler, a grey-white clay full of diatoms, the tiny silica shells of ancient algae, laid down on the seabed some fifty-five million years ago, and the layers are interleaved with bands of black volcanic ash from eruptions in what is now the North Sea region. The folding of the strata, which were pushed and twisted by glaciers during the Ice Age, makes the cliff look like a layered cake that has been dragged sideways. Fossils of fish, insects, plants and birds are found in the moler, and it is quarried for insulating bricks and cat litter.

   Read the complete Hanklit write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Hanklit comes up about 50 km into the recorded legs. Next is Viking-Age Ring Fortresses.

3. 3. 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

   about 103 km into the recorded legs you reach Viking-Age Ring Fortresses. Next is back through Hanklit.

4. 4. back through Hanklit

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hanklit write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Hanklit, 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.