There were 3 border POI’s on this day and whilst our Danish hosts know the history well, those of us from further afield found the historical border fascinating. Initially we stopped at the “border bridge” at Hejlsminde and then at the border monument at Christiansfeld. This was followed by a tour of the local border museum which was adjacent to our hotel for the evening.

With so many highlights it is difficult to mention a few in this summary, a garage in Denmark (details here) which is only accessible from Germany was one of the oddities, whereas the Danish farmhouse at Vilmkærgård (details here) which is only accessible from Germany was fascinating especially when the owner explained the challenges when the borders were closed due to the pandemic and no authorities quite knew what to do!

We visited many small border crossings and popped into Germany via a motorway crossing point where COVID checks were in place. Over a very German lunch and beer we observed the Danes in their car, loading up on household goods and alcohol which is much cheaper across the border. Small border crossings with small signs and markers such as Sofiedal, Bøgelhus, Pebersmark contrasted with the motorways crossing at Kruså.

Another oddity was the Church at Ubjerg. At the time of the referendum which led to the current border being established in 1920, Ubjerg was cited as the most “German” town in Denmark with a large percentage voting to belong to Germany. The border was however drawn further south to include all areas within Zone 1 of the plebiscite.

At many points both small and large we came into contact with Danish police and border officials, an unusual occurrence in the post Schengen world. All encounters were friendly and mainly we were greeting with polite bewilderment “Why are you visiting borders?” being the most often question asked.

We had time to visit the Southernmost point of Denmark near Padborg, unfortunately because of our route we found ourselves in Germany on the wrong side of the anti wild boar fence, so could not get closer than 2 meters from the point itself.

The final highlight of the day was the border crossing between Rudbøl on the Danish side and Rosenkranz on the German side which has probably the most unusual border layout. Because the border runs for a length of about 130 meters in the middle of the narrow street and also through the middle of Lake Ruttebüll. Although we thought our adventures were over for the day we did not realise we were joining an evening of local entertainment with food, beer and dancing later. An event which was very local and as strange to those of our group from Copenhagen.

At the westernmost point it was possible to see the German Island of Sylt with its rail link to the mainland, we were not able to visit the actual northernmost point of Germany on this trip which is located there. The whole area is a protected nature reserve and some places were inaccessible. There were several border markers and especially significant was BM # 280 the last one on the DK/DE border. The group had seen a lot since us visiting BM #1 2 days before.

There was time for one further visit prior to returning to Copenhagen. This time we travelled south from the 1920 border to the oldest border on this trip, the Viking remains at Danevirke, a system of Danish fortifications in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. A UNESCO World Heritage site is a series of defensive earthworks built to defend the Viking empire from the south (more details here).

After this there was one border to cross back into Denmark where a ferry and the motorway network of inter island bridges took us back to Copenhagen. A fantastic and fast paced 3 day trip.

Dates of Visit: 24 – 26 September 2021