The first morning on a holiday tour to the Thy district...

On a country road through Himmerland 

On our way to Thy via Himmerland and Aggersund we passed a fine little Romanesque church, Stenild church, by the country road, built in pretty carved granite ashlars. The broad tower was in red bricks and ashlars.The earliest artifact in the church is a very large Romanesque granite baptismal font, a socalled lion font with impressive reliefs of lions. Between the lions are reliefs of human faces. The church has two bells, one from John Taylor and Co, England in 1959,  and the other from Århus in 1651.

Aggersund Bridge, a connection between Himmerland and Thy.
 The bridge at Aggersund is from 1942. It  is a pretty arch bridge with a double link span in the middle, which is opened by the watchman, when ships pass Aggersund on their way to and fro the town of Aalborg. The bridge has a fine placement in the flat landscape in the western and narrowest part of the Limfjorden

A view to a Salt Marsh by Aggersund

A salt march is marked by the nearness of the sea. The air-contents of salt is high, and the marsh is often flooded by heavy winter storms. This causes a flora, dominated by species which can tolerate salt. The salt marshes are habitats for waders, ducks and seagulls. In the winter they are also a foraging area for some birds of prey.
The Danish salt marshes are protected nature types. They represent only 1% of the total area in Denmark. The increased interest for and the increased funding for landscaping has resulted in a positive development of the management of the Forest and Nature Agency's areas of the salt marshes. In several places are planned or carried through nature restoration of earlier salt marches.

After the Aggersund Bridge we have left the Himmerland district -  and we are now in Thy, which among many other things has a National Park -and not at least the North Sea!

Coffee break at Aggersborg, a very special place with one of the Danish Viking Trelleborgs, Aggersborg. There is no castle or buildings left, only a large circular grassy site.



Aggersborg is the largest Viking fortress in Denmark with an inner diameter of 240 meter. The whole plan along the outer edge of the moat is 299 meter broad. The site is difficult to date since underneath is a village with houses from German Iron Age, but it was probably built approximately the same time as the other trelleborgs in Denmark, most likely around year 980, when Harald Bluetooth and/ or Svend Forkbeard ruled the country. The fortress was built during 1-2 years and was only used for about 5-20 years.
 The situation of Aggersborg was a protected one and yet accessible by ship. This should be considered in the light of that the Limfjorden at this time was open for ships in three directions: west, east like today, but also to the north through the access Sløjen. Besides this the Aggersborg was placed by one of the three passages of the ancient Hærvej across the Limfjorden. It is not known if Aggersborg was a power center for control of trade and internal feuds, or if it was a barrack/ training camp in connection to Svend Forkbeard's raids to England.

Here you can see a piece of the circle. On the photo of the Aggersborggård you can see the whole circle of Aggersborg from air.

Archaeology

 Among many archaeological finds at Aggersborg was a fine and heavy gold bracelet. (now at the National Museum) A copy of the bracelet is at the Minimuseum at Aggersborg.

Aggersborggård is a Danish manor which history goes farthest back in time, to the year 1086. Aggersborg was a king's manor from 1086 till 1579. The present farm lies in the edge of the moat of the Viking fortress Aggersborg.

Aggersborg kirke
North of the mighty Aggersborg site lies Aggersborg kirke, probably built in the 1100s. On the walls of the church are some runic inscriptions. The church is open daily.






                                                                  

Minimuseum by the church. There are no traces of the Viking longhouses on the site but north of Aggersborg by the church lies a small museum where it is shown how the fortress looked and how the longhouses were built.
 

And now the tour goes to a rented summerhouse in the Thy district.

photo August 2016 : grethe bachmann
gold bracelet and Aggersborggård: wikipedia.

What children say -

 What do children say about summer?

 I've found some stuff about kids and their summer holidays. They are American kids, but they are like kids all over the world, and I think their thoughts and wishes about the summer holidays are the same. The guy Hyder who wants to take his mom with him to Norway because he loves her very much - and the little girl Ashlei, who won't take anyone with her on vacation, because she wants all the chocolate for herself. I think they ar marvellous!



Tiannah, 11, said her best trip was to Vermont, the home of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. In addition to the ice cream, she liked lying on a comfortable hammock and sleeping under the stars.

Sophie, 11, liked her trip to Colorado best because she learned to cast a fishing rod in a wobbly canoe. She also learned the backstroke in the hotel pool.

Hawaii was a favorite spot for a number of kids:
Diana, 11, liked it so much she wants to move there. "I went to the beach, saw snakes, fish, and a sailfish in the ocean, ate great food, got sunburned, and rode in the new rented car we got."

Where you vacation is important, but as kids described their favorite trips, it was the people that seemed to matter most. In fact, more than half of kids said fun people were the most important ingredient — more important than a great place or fun stuff to do.

Mabembe, 12, said her best trip was a couple years ago when her family took a very long drive to Toronto for a wedding. "What made the trip sooo fun was that we drove," she said. "Yes you heard right, we drove! Two and a half days long. I tell ya, it was all worth it because we did it together as a family."

Lucie, 11, said her best vacation was when her family went to Tanzania in Africa. "I went not to have a safari adventure, but a family one. We went because all my family lives there except my mom, dad, my brother, me, and my sister. That was the best part because I could meet my distant family."

Family and friends also were important as kids described where they'd go on a dream vacation. Some kids chose popular vacation spots, but others said they wanted to visit other planets or go back in time!

Jen, 12, wants to visit 1960s. Why? To see the Beatles live in concert. "I am a big fan of the Beatles and am disappointed that I wasn't even alive when they were together. I'd take my parents so they could tell me about the '60s so I would know how to act in a different decade!"

Nina, 15, would take her best friend, Kathy, to the moon so they could float around in zero gravity.
Madeline, 8, wants to take her dog, Captain, on a trip to Saturn.

Megan, 10, would like to take her family and her cats, Marcie and Buster, on a trip to see volcanoes. She'd stop in Hawaii and Yellowstone National Park — two volcanic spots — to get a head start on her career. "I want to study volcanoes when I grow up," she said.

Hyder, 12, wants to go to Norway to see how it stays light for 6 months of the year and dark for the other 6. Who would he take? "My mom because I love her very much."

Matt, 10, says he wants to go to Washington, DC, to see his uncle and to see the new Major League Baseball team, the Nationals. He'd take his family "because they have done so many things for me."

Alaina, 13, says she's always wanted to visit Queensland, Australia. She'd visit the Sydney Opera House and explore Australian culture. Who would she bring? "My mom, dad, and . . . no one else. Ha-ha, just kidding. I'd take along my little brother, too."

It's hard to tell if Ashlei, 10, was kidding when she said she'd take no one with her on a dream vacation to Hershey, Pennsylvania.
 Why go alone? "I want all the chocolate to myself," she said.


























Photo Strands, Mols, 2007: grethe bachmann