It was now time to make good our promise to visit Jegindo. The 10 mile sail down the Salling Sund turned out to be another long beat to windward with reefed main and shortened jib. However, we did cheat a little and motor sail through the 26m high Salling Sund bridge. Our arrival at Jegindo was straightforward once we had located the tiny port and starboard channel marker buoys. It appears that a new outer harbour has recently been completed; in fact the top layer of tarmac was not yet laid on the jetty. On enquiring about buying petrol, we were proudly shown the brand new pumps being installed on the quay and told that it would be available from next week!

The harbour was also able to boast two excellent concrete slipways with more than 1m depth of water. This was a major discovery because Jegindo is not a true island but is joined to the mainland by a causeway carrying a good road. Later inspection showed that Jegindo harbour would be ideal for the trailer sailor wishing to launch by slipway. It is easily accessible by road and there is adequate parking for car and trailer. The only slight problem seemed to be that the harbour master does not speak English. However, we managed enough communication using sign language and pigeon German. New showers and toilets indicated that Jegindo Havn is bound to become more popular.

A two hour sail took us to our final island, Veno. We arrived at lunchtime and there was plenty of time to walk up to the north of the 4 mile long island to see the nature sanctuary, returning via the sandy beach. Veno is the proud possessor of the smallest church in Denmark. Built in 1550 it makes an interesting place to visit. The Veno Kro restaurant near the harbour offers good food in an old inn atmosphere. Our conversation with the harbour master was conducted using paper and pencil so as to get over the language problem. We were able to explain with drawings much about our holiday even though neither of us spoke the other's language. The harbourmaster was a very friendly person and we later gathered that he had hardly left the island in his whole life.

A short but exhilarating sail back to Struer on the jib alone gave us plenty of time to prepare the car and trailer for the homeward trail. We always find this is always a sad time as we realise that there is so much that has been missed. Of the 27 harbours in the whole of the Limfjord we had visited 9 of them and in the sailing area covered by Tiger Lily we had left 6 unvisited. There was a lot more to see, but with no more time, we consoled ourselves with another meal at the Struer 'Marina Club' restaurant. It was interesting to think about those yachts which only use the Limfjord as a quick access route to the Baltic and how much more they must miss. To add to our contentment we spent and hour or two watching the evening dinghy racing.

Starting early next morning we motored the short distance to the commercial dock and moored next to the grain silo. We lowered the mast, gathered the car and trailer onto the quay and waited for the mobile crane. This arrived promptly at 9am and within 10 minutes Tiger Lily was resting safely on the trailer. After driving her round to the quay opposite the harbour master's office where water is available we spent the next half hour scrubbing the hull - this is the worst part of trailer sailing as the chore always comes at the end of the cruise. A final visit to the showers to freshen up, a farewell to the harbour master, a last look at the Limfjord and then we set off through the railway arch which separates the town from the harbour. The first 75 miles are on good single carriageway roads and then at Vejle, the motorway begins. Six hundred miles and 36 hours later it was time to rest before catching the 6am ferry from Ostende. Tiger Lily arrived home exactly 15 days after leaving and having spent 11 of those days afloat in Danish waters; the plan had been accomplished.

One of the best things about cruising in the Limfjord is the absence of tides, it is very pleasant not having to plan the day's sail using a tide-table. We found that all the harbours provided water, showers, toilets and provisions. Our marina fees were about £4 per night, compared with £10 or £12 per night in the Solent. On examining the expense sheet we found that the overall costs were very similar to our previous year in Friesland. We were surprised to see that we spent less on food in Denmark than in Friesland. The only item with a major increase was car petrol but this was to be expected because of the increased mileage. Our holiday costs worked out as £149 per person plus £475 for Tiger Lily's expenses.

Yachtsmen, cruising in foreign waters often face the problem of obtaining good weather information. We found that we could just receive the BBC shipping forecast on 198 Khz and so we used the sea area forecast for Fisher. 'BBC for Europe' provided a general land forecast for northern Europe on 648 Khz at 7:59 local time. Another source was Danish Radio which broadcasts the news and weather in English at 8:10am on 90.2 MHz and 243 KHz. However, this station did forecast a dry and sunny day which turned out be cloudy and windy. Some of the harbourmasters provided printed weather information. Another technique we used was to record the Danish language weather forecast, broadcast at 6:50am on a small tape recorder and then play it back repeatedly until we could decode it using a phrase book. If we failed to do this, then a friendly local Dane could often be found to offer a translation. In general language was not a problem as many people spoke good English. Other information was easy to obtain as many of the larger harbours have their own tourist information office and we could usually find someone who spoke English.

Our biggest disappointment with the Limfjord was the vast preponderance of jellyfish. Everywhere we looked on the surface of the water were jellyfish gently pulsating away. This detracted from the desire to swim, even though most harbours were displaying the Blue Flag. However, this was counterbalanced by the extremely enjoyable Danish pastries obtained fresh every morning.

The Danish Limfjord exceeded our expectations as a cruising area for the small boat sailor. Our recommendation to yachtsmen, wishing to use it as a transit route, is to allow plenty of time to dawdle and sample the delights of the various harbours.

Page 5       <<< prev page     next page>>>>