The Baltic was calm as we sailed overnight to Skagen but the dense fog did slow the ship down. The ship’s fog horn was sounding for most of the night and was still sounding at 6 am.
By 7 am the fog had cleared around the ship and we had plenty of time for breakfast in the Medina.
Our Baltic cruise on P&O Aurora would take us to Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Germany, Denmark and Norway.
Day 15 was Saturday 27th May and we visited Skagen at the most Northerly tip of Denmark
Unhappy breakfast table
From our balcony I could see a bank of fog away in the distance.
At breakfast we discovered that for some reasons or other our fellow passengers were not looking forward to their time ashore. All in all it was one of those breakfasts to forget as I was staggered to hear the complaints from our table companions.
One was particularly unhappy that her cabin steward had not been topping up her liquid soap in her shower every day. She did admit that yes there was always soap in the dispenser but she felt that it should have topped up daily. This “oversight” was enough for the cabin steward’s rating on the comment form to only be “Fair”. This was definitely a breakfast table that we were pleased to leave.
Into Skagen
Aurora was docked past the fishing port and shipyards next to a small tourist office at the quayside. In the dockyards we could see fishing boats out of the water on slipways ready to be worked on.
The shuttle buses were stopped in front of the tourist office only a short walk away from the ship. I picked up a leaflet about local beer as well as map of the area. We were dropped of by the coach next to warehouses. After crossing over the road we were in the pedestrian only streets of the town. We walked up to the main tourist office. There we learnt that our research on the Internet about Skagen had not covered that the bus to Grennen only ran in the high season. A taxi ride there would be about 100 Danish Kroner.
Walking back through the pedestrian only streets we crossed the main street and waited by the taxi rank sign. We asked a lady parking her car nearby where were all the taxis? It was only then we learnt that the taxis had to be called for. She helpfully suggest that we go into a shop ask if they would call a taxi for us.
Back at the crossroads an ice-cream parlour was just opening and the lady in there rang for a taxi for us. When it came the taxi driver explained that all the taxis were busy taking contestants from a yacht race back to the ferry port or the railway station.
Grennen
Grennen is where the Skagen peninsular separates the North Sea and the Baltic. There was a shop, an art gallery and large car park at the end of the dunes. We now had a phone number for a taxi to get us back to Skagen.
In order to get the beach where the two seas met climbed into a Sandorman. This was a trailer pulled by a very large tractor. The Sandorman followed a track through the dunes until we emerged onto the beach.
Away to our left was the North Sea covered in fog and to our right the Baltic with blue sky. As we left the trailer the driver told everyone to be careful around the seals. We could see a large crowd on the Baltic side of the beach and we guessed this is where the seals were.
Looking down the beach on the Baltic side we could see Skagen and other tourists walking up the beach towards us. In contrast out on the North Sea side we could hear ship’s fog horns. The fog bank stretched across the horizon until at the point to our right where the Baltic was clear of fog.
The crowds around the two seals were way to close to the wild animals.
It was very uncomfortable to see children up close to the seals. This was in complete contrast to the safety instructions that we’d had in the Antarctic about keeping a minimum 12 meters away from seals. When dogs were brought close the seals rolled and became very defensive.
We joined the much smaller crowd where the seas met at the tip of the beach. We all stood as close as we could get to where the seas met and keep our feet dry.
The ride back to the car park was in a very full trailer. The seals had gone and the crowds had all dispersed.
The Atlantic Wall
At the visitor centre we met friends off Aurora who were on a cycling excursion and caught glimpses of some of the wildlife.
Along the dunes are the remains of the German Atlantic Wall from World War 2. The fortifications here were to protect the port of Fredrickshaven where the Germans imported iron ore shipped from occupied Norway. We followed a path away from the centre towards the beach and as we climbed up over the dune the concrete blockhouses all came into view,
Behind us we could see further up the beach past the sand dunes to Skagen itself.
We walked back to the visitor centre and after we had phoned for a taxi we only had a few minutes to wait as a taxi was already there delivering more tourists to Grennen.
Back in Skagen
Back in Skagen we walked down to call at the Skagen watch shop. There we were offered a glass of fizz while we looked around the shop.
The pedestrian areas were by now very busy with passengers and tourists . The taxi driver had told us that the population of Skagen grew from a couple of thousand to over fifty thousand in the Summer months.
Our ice cream shop was very busy but we did manage to say thank you for the phone call and buy a couple of waffles with ice-cream which we ate outside on one of their tables.
The street had lots of shops and at the end we stopped outside the church to watch everyone arriving for a wedding.
Back off the street was a plaza where we went for a rest and to have a local beer. These were the beers in the leaflet that I had picked up earlier.
Walking to the Vippfyret
On the way back from Grennen the taxi driver had pointed out the wooden light house that looked more like a medieval siege engine. This was only lit once a year on Midsummers Day when a street party took place along with bonfires and lots of celebrations around the site.
We walked to the wooden lighthouse through the residential streets. The houses followed the same pattern of colours on their walls and roofs.
Once at the lighthouse the bridal party were just finishing taking pictures.
The lighthouse was on a small mound I could see the beach that lead to Grennen and the other way the fishing port.
Rather than walk back through the same streets we walked back alongside the beach and then the fishing port.
When we reached the railway lines we could see where the shuttle bus had dropped us off.
Leaving Skagen
From Aurora we could see fishing boats in the port area being repaired.
We had a marching band to see us away from the port.
Aurora reversed out of the quay past the breakwaters before spinning and going into the North Sea.
We passed the lighthouses of Skagen and remembered what we had been told that each of them had been built where the two seas had met. As sand was deposited on the peninsular it was extended time and time again. The remains of the Atlantic Wall were now clearly visible along the beach.
There were ships at anchor close to shore, and
as we past Grennen, we could see the Sandorman tractors at the tip of the peninsular.
Once we were away from the shore we could see behind us all the ships at anchor that we had passed when entering Skagen. these were apparently waiting for papers, for crew, for cargo or to be repaired. We had been told that there were always lots of ships at anchor on the Baltic side of the peninsular.
Evening on Aurora
We had to change ready for the Captain’s Cocktail Party in Carmens and then afterwards it was dinner in the Peninsular. This evening we had the chef’s parade and were presented with a set of menus for the cruise.
The evening’s menu was Marco Pierre White’s menu. I had buttered asparagus with a soft poached egg, prime roast forerib of beef and tart aux pomme.
We did not do very well at the quiz, not a very satisfactory ending to the day after our last port of call.