We had a smooth transit through a surprisingly quiet Manchester Airport and by mid-afternoon we were descending above islands and bridges towards Copenhagen.

In anticipation of arriving exhausted from the previous week of social travels, we had very sensibly booked into a hotel at the airport rather than trying to take on any trains or further onward travel. It was a wise move as the 300m walk from baggage carousel to hotel lobby was about far enough! Everything about Copenhagen Airport and especially the well named ‘Comfort Hotel’ exuded calm and tranquility. It was just what we needed.

The design and architecture of everything is modern, cool and sophisticated. From the room decor to the bar furnishings – and it seems to rub off on the guests. It’s busy, but quiet as a library apart from the soothing background music. We are on the 11th floor with amazing city views.

Thanks to Clare’s proper planning, not only did we enjoy a fabulous breakfast (including trying caviar and a shot of fresh ginger!), but as a ‘member’ of the hotel chain, she received a free round of drinks to go with the delicious buffet dinner, which when it’s £14.85 for a glass of wine, is not to be sniffed at! After several laps of the breakfast buffet, we took two short train rides to the end of the line at Klampenborg, where we had arranged to pick up hire bikes from a shop at the end of the platform.

It was pretty chaotic at the bike shop, and took a while to get sorted, but they were at least expecting us and had two decent looking bikes set aside. A bit of tweaking was required before we eventually got going around 11:30. One fix was to replace a broken bottle holder. The mechanic was a friendly Russian guy, who offered me this one! Ha ha!

We each had about 12kg of kit in a lightweight hold-all bag that we’d checked onto the plane – all that was left to do was transfer it into our panniers and we were off…

We rode straight into a royal park, where incredibly, within about ten minutes had visited a palace and seen loads of deer and even reindeer!

It was a bit like being back on Safari! Beautiful animals at every turn.

It felt great to be turning the peddles again and soon enough we returned to the coast and headed north.

At some point we reached a marina, where it felt so hot that a swim might be in order.

A small jetty, just past a mini beach bar gave the perfect spot for a cooling dip. Swim first and coffee to follow. Absolute magic.

We did still have some distance to go, so although we could have sat looking at the sea for much longer, we eventually got going again after a chat with an American couple who were also heading the same way. They were in their 60s and rather than heading to campsites, were checking into luxury hotels instead! Good on them!

Having eaten about three or fours breakfasts at the hotel, we didn’t feel like eating again until nearly 4pm!

Our final destination for the day was Helsingør, which is a beautiful place with all kinds of old and modern buildings. Nothing here seems to be derelict or in disrepair!

Once in the centre of town, I waited with the bikes while Clare took on the challenge of shopping for food to cook for dinner once we reached camp a few kilometres later.

Total Ride: 38km