Denmark was possibly the smallest country I had run through on my route, but the welcome of food and accommodation was the biggest by far!
In the last couple weeks I've run through Europe and into Scandinavia, the last of the Indian summer has come and definitely gone, I found ice frozen to my kit for the first time last night! Denmark was possibly the smallest country I had run through on my route, but the welcome was the biggest by far! I had been a bit scared of running across Denmark as it's known as one of the most expensive countries in the world, and it's small, meaning it'd be hard to find places to camp without being discovered. I had nightmares of spending a month’s worth of budget in a few short days on bed and breakfasts and food - how wrong I was!
The first night in Denmark, having crossed by ferry from the north of Germany, I stayed at Sakskobing camping. The owner, who happens to be training for a triathlon, not only let me stay there in a cabin for free, but joined me in the morning to run the furthest he's ran in over two years - the first person since leaving Dartmoor to join me for part of the run.
2 days later as evening was drawing in, I ran past a family walking the opposite direction. It was a tourist area and I guessed there should be camping somewhere in the vicinity, and asking them where the nearest camping area was they explained it was nearly five miles away; a distance I couldn't make before dark, and not really what my legs wanted to hear having already ran over 30 miles so far that day! They then explained that their garden was only 500 metres away and that I was welcome to camp there. "It's not everyday we get to help someone running around the world," explained Larrs!
Camping on the lawn was great; it meant a good night’s sleep (hiding in fields, hoping not to be caught by a confused farmer isn't so relaxing) but also a hot shower and then dinner while I showed Larrs the live satellite tracker now transmitting from his garden on Google Maps.
The best was yet to come though; a delicious breakfast of fresh baked bread, hams, all the usual continental breakfast, but on top of this a Spanish style omelette Jamie himself would have been proud to serve. It was then I looked at the pan it was being served in and Jamie's name was literally on the dish - Jamie definitely has fans in Denmark as my omelette had been cooked in a Jamie Oliver pan!
After breakfast I was sent away with my buggy full of cans of coke for energy!