September 17th - Flensburg to Skive

5 km cycled
300 km by train
transport carbon emissions today 9.67kg/CO2

Flensburg is even wetter today. It alternates between a light drizzle and a torrential downpour which, were it warmer, would be like a monsoon. The newbike is heavy again with all my luggage and my legs protest at every up. I can’t find an internet café – the concept of WiFi hasn’t caught on in Flensburg so I send a couple of postcards and get to the station with plenty of time. I’m sad to be leaving so soon – I had forgotten this bit of traveling. Sometimes it is like a string of goodbyes.
I change at Arhus onto a Danish train – they have a cycle space and I wish I’d unfolded the newbike until half the country get on with their children and more luggage than they can possibly need. Two children sit next to me and eye up my crisps like they’ve never seen any before. My first two impressions of Skive (pronounced Ski-vuh) are a. it is windy and b. they are not expecting visitors. I ride around a bit, getting off to push when the wind is on one side. I find the town hall, with a little vertical axis wind turbine on and a school or community centre with a large PV and solar thermal array. The shops are open but the town has the feeling of being closed. There aren’t many cars, except for a brief dash at 5pm and no guest houses or B&B’s. I get to the point where not only am I lost and tired – which I can cope with perfectly well, but also hungry which doesn’t suit me. I find what appears to be the only hotel in town and it’s a Best Western, so I know it will be expensive and the money will mostly go out of the town, which doesn’t look like it can afford it. I dig out another of the housemates energy snack – a bliss bar – raw chocolate again. It lives up to it’s name and I go in, just to ask.
The receptionist quotes me €110 for the night, then when I pull a face she finds a ‘very little room’ for €87. I ask about other hotels or guesthouses and she looks up the local hostel (but warns that it’s a few kilometers out) for me on line and prints off its rates. I think this is very magnanimous of her but then she circles the cost of a room, and breakfast, and linen hire, and towel hire, tots it up and it’s around €77 euros. I wouldn’t need the last as I have a tiny techno towel. They do work although they don’t feel like it. But I’m starting to weaken and when she says she’ll knock me ten percent off I crack and go for it for the night. It is a small room but very nice. I’m reassuringly close to the fire escape (it’s my view), have an en-suite (with big towels) and free WiFi.
So now, having updated and uploaded and reconnected I’m off out to see if the few restaurants they had are open in the evening and see what trouble I can get into.