As I mentioned in my last post, the peninsula is mostly created on sand. Where I live, if I burrow under the grass or a structure or pretty much anything, I find dirt. And given that I live in New Hampshire (the granite state), eventually rock. Not so, I was told, in this area of Denmark. Dig down, and you are almost sure to find sand.
Prior to the Sand Drift Act of 1857, that allowed allowed the government to purchase or expropriate certain areas of sand drift, and a later that allowed the purchase of areas adjacent to the drifts, the shifting sands of the peninsula were significant problems for those who lived there. After the acts, there were programs and individual efforts to plant dune grasses, conifers and other vegetation to stabilize the sands. By the late 19th century these areas were becoming common, and by the 1950 the dune drifts were mostly under control. and these plantations became common after 1880.
But there is still this - Råbjerg Mile. This is a migrating sand dune, about 2 square kilometers in size (almost 1/2 square mile) and with a height of about 40 meters (130 feet) above sea level - and it contains approximately 40 million cubic meters of sand.
It is the largest moving dune in northern Europe, the only one in Denmark and it is migrating to the northeast at just under 60 feet per year. In 100 or so years, it will be crossing the road the we followed to get out there, and will eventually end up in the sea. I read that the Råbjerg Mile was intentionally left uncontrolled to help future generations understand the challenges of sand drift.
We had the opportunity to walk out to the area, and while we didn't have time to climb the whole drift, I walked in sand and took some pictures. I just wish they could really show the scale of what we saw and experienced.
The power of migrating sand is also shown by what is called the sand-covered church, or the buried church. Saint Lawrence's Church was built in the 14th century, dedicated to Saint Lawrence of Rome. It held over 1,000 people (standing, not sitting) when it was built, which was a large church for its time, especially in an area with only about 4,000 people.
But sand was drifting and migrating, and by the 18th century the church was almost completely enveloped by that sand. By 1795, the church was abandoned. The main building was taken down, but the top part of the tower was left, still visible to above the sand and living proof of an overtaken church.
And finally, for Skagen at least. There are three major stages of home colors in Skagen. Originally, structures were built of wood - no, not indigenous wood, because everything was dunes. But, there were shipwrecks occasionally, and other opportunities to find wood. These houses were weather-proofed by using tar on the outside, and were of the black period of Skagen housing.
Eventually, the began to import bricks (not make them, sand isn't clay!) but there weren't of the best quality. They would coat the bricks and then paint them. The story I heard was that paint was brought in and expected to be yellow, but turned out to be more of an ochre color, and it caught on. This is now the traditional Skagen yellow (period) house with red roof (one of these is a stock photo as you will see).
Ultimately, better bricks were brought in, and that began the red period. However, we also heard that the yellow house with red roof is so popular and embedded in the culture, that some people paint even the red period houses yellow (also one stock photo).
And there we have the last excursion day of the cruise. Wednesday was an 'at sea' day. We docked in Amsterdam shortly after 6:00 am local time. Our departure time from the ship was approximately 8:00 am, when we headed to the airport. I won't go into the trip home other than to say the airport was a disaster (holiday and short staff) and we made our flight by about 90 seconds. But we made it, and arrived home safely.
I hadn't been to either Norway or Denmark before, but loved both. I hope to be back there before too much time passes, along with some of the other Scandinavian and northern European places I have yet to see.
For now though, goodbye for a few days at least. More travels to come!
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