North Wall Areas 1 to 2 and East Wall Area 1A to 1C

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. North Wall Areas 1 to 2

   The Danevirke is a wall that has been in the news for a thousand years. It stretches across the base of the Jutland peninsula, where the land narrows between the Baltic inlet of the Schlei and the marshes of the Treene and Rheide rivers, and it was built, extended and rebuilt from about the eighth century by Danish kings. It protected the southern border of the Danes against the Franks and later the Saxons, and its earthen banks, once topped by timber palisades, ran for some thirty kilometres. UNESCO listed it together with the Viking trading town of Hedeby in 2018.

   Read the complete North Wall Areas 1 to 2 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   North Wall Areas 1 to 2 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 14 km into the recorded legs. Next is East Wall Area 1A to 1C.

3. 3. 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

   about 47 km into the recorded legs you reach East Wall Area 1A to 1C. 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 North Wall Areas 1 to 2.

5. 5. North Wall Areas 1 to 2

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete North Wall Areas 1 to 2 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at North Wall Areas 1 to 2. That is the ride.