Coastal Rail Journeys; UK and near Europe: FROMS BOGS TO BRAMBLES

2300-year old Grauballe Man

I am enjoying breakfast at the Helnan Marselis Hotel when a Danish lady with a beaming smile literally bounds into the room. This is Elisabeth Fogh, my guide for the visit to the Moesgard Museum. Elisabeth is hugely enthusiastic about Aarhus,

Denmark

and life, having had an amazing recovery from a bad head injury following a horse riding accident.

Moesgard, a 15 minute drive south from Aarhus through some delightful beech woods, has a wealth of treasures on display from

Denmark

’s Viking past amid some splendid surroundings. Many years ago I attended their summertime ‘Moot’, an atmospheric and realistic display of Viking role-play.

But there’s no doubt that the star attraction is the 2300-year old Grauballe Man, discovered in a peat bog with his throat slit in 1952. There’s much speculation over whether it was a ritual killing, but Elisabeth and I (neither qualified in archaeology!) don’t think the evidence supports the theory.

The museum has a fascinating collection of local finds, including a hoard of coins which prove that the Danes were trading with far off lands such as

Iraq

and

Iran

as far back as the 10^th century. So much for modern-day globalisation!

Elisabeth, who speaks fluent Spanish as well as English, is a delightful and charming host and I’m sad that we don’t have more time together.

I’m having a quick trip to Aalborg, 80 minutes north by Express Train. It’s a nostalgic trip because I first visited there in a warship some forty years ago, docking on the Limfjord, right at the bottom of the main street.

It’s a gorgeous autumn day and the journey through some beautiful rural Jutland countryside is simply wonderful. My time is short, so I walk up the main street to the river, take some pictures and head back home again.

Back at my hotel, I am startled when a man in a paraglider appears within a few metres of my second floor window. He repeats this act a dozen or so times until, after landing, his foil becomes tangled up in a bramble hedge!

It’s been another splendid day.