Leaving Helsingør

John is still suffering from the cold or flu that he’s had since we arrived in Helsingør. His fever, which was never very high, is down, but he’s coughing more. Nevertheless, we’re leaving here today and heading out on an overnight passage to the island of Læsø.

Læsø is the biggest island in the Kattegat and the farthest north. We had thought that we would leave here a couple of days ago and anchor out in the Swedish west coast islands for a couple of nights, but we’re eager to get back to the English Channel and do some exploring there, so we’re pushing on. After a day in Læsø, we hope to catch a weather window to get us through the Skagerrak, into the North Sea, and down to Helgoland without stopping. That’s a three-day sail. We have identified harbors where we can duck in if we get too tired or if the weather changes.

Castle from the town side across the moat

We haven’t done much in Helsingør except rest, but we did manage to get to the castle the other day. We were right on time to catch two tours in English. The first tour was of the casements, the area beneath the walls, and included Holger the Dane. Legend has it that this sleeping medieval warrior will awake to save Denmark when the time comes. The other tour was of the royal chambers and ballroom. The ballroom was the site of a display of modern royal tapestries, which seemed to annoy the guide, but we liked it.

Statue of Holger the Dane in the casements

Ballroom with tapestry exhibit

After the tours we also visited the maritime museum there, went up in one of the towers, and wandered around some more. It’s a really big castle with a great view and important history as guardian of the narrow passage (4 km) between Denmark and Sweden. Before the Kiel Canal, this was the primary entrance to the Baltic, and it still sees lots of traffic from big ships.

Castle lighthouse as seen from the tower

Cannons guarding the strait (they still work)