Trelleborg and Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn starting at Slagelse

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Trelleborg

   In the late tenth century, on the western coast of Zealand, King Harald Bluetooth built a fortress that must have looked to its neighbours like a statement written in earth. Trelleborg is a perfect circle, about a hundred and thirty metres across, ringed by a high rampart with four gates facing the compass points, and inside, sixteen long houses are arranged in four neat blocks around a central crossing, like a plan drawn with a compass and ruler. Archaeologists dated the timbers to around the 980s, and the same geometry turns up at other Danish fortresses, at Fyrkat in Jutland and Aggersborg by the Limfjord, which suggests a royal building programme under a single mind.

   Read the complete Trelleborg write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Trelleborg is where the day begins. Next is Borgring.

2. 2. Borgring

   In 2014, archaeologists using laser scanning of the landscape noticed a faint circle in a field near Køge, on the Danish island of Zealand, about forty kilometres south-west of Copenhagen. Excavations confirmed what they had hoped: it was a Viking ring fortress, one of a small group of perfectly circular fortresses built in Denmark in the late tenth century, probably under King Harald Bluetooth. It was named Borgring, and it was the first new ring fortress to be found in Denmark in over sixty years.

   Read the complete Borgring write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Borgring comes up about 67 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn.

3. 3. Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn

   Danish kings loved to hunt, and in the late seventeenth century they laid out forests north of Copenhagen in a geometric pattern of straight paths radiating from central points, designed for par force hunting, in which riders and hounds chased a stag until it was exhausted. Jægersborg Dyrehave, the deer park, and Jægersborg Hegn are included in UNESCO's inscription of the par force hunting landscape in North Zealand, together with forests further north. The star-shaped network of rides is still visible, with numbered stone posts at the intersections that helped the hunters find their way.

   Read the complete Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 122 km into the recorded legs you reach Jægersborg Dyrehave and Jægersborg Hegn. Next is back through Borgring.

4. 4. back through Borgring

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Borgring write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Borgring, late in the day. Next is Trelleborg.

5. 5. Trelleborg

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Trelleborg write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Trelleborg. That is the ride.