North to the shifting sands at Skagen

View of people on the sand strand on the northernmost tip of Denmark at Skagen.

I was looking forward to my trip ashore on our last port of call. Skagen (the Danes pronounce it Skayen) is the northern most tip of Denmark. We boarded our coach early to catch the tractor train to the strand which straddles the point where the North Sea meets the Baltic. This phenomenon creates a shifting strand of sand stretching north with waves from the North Sea rippling over it from the west and waves from the Baltic going over it from the east. Out to sea, they meet in the middle creating strong currents  which makes safe navigation dangerous. We found out more about these on our visit to the museum.

  The tractor train turns and stops before the strand comes to a point where the two seas meet. When we walked to the apex, it was possible for the waves to cover our feet from either side, the sand is permanently wet and footprints are soon smoothed over. Some of us paddled, others got wet feet without expecting to, when a wave from one of the seas came in unexpectedly over their feet and changed the shape of the strand. Needless to say the light is special, frequently changing and bright, even when the sky is overcast. Sea and coastal wading birds are frequent visitors to the area, which is attractive for bird watchers, like the North Norfolk coast.

   Our tractor train returned us to the coach park at Denmark's "Lands End" which has been hard landscaped among the sand dunes. Everything in Skagen has been constructed on sand. There are toilets and a shop here in a wooden building with a turf roof, where martins nest in the eves and wing back and forth with food for their chicks.

   Back in the coach my travelling companion said there was an altercation in the crowded souvenir shop. One visitor had asked another visitor if she would move, so she could pass behind her to reach the cash desk and pay for her selection. She received the reply: "No! I'm looking at these things!" and she did not move. The pettiness amused me.

One of the tractor trains waits for passengers to take the next run to the strand. The nature of the sand and the dunes make these vehicles the only method of reaching near enough to the northernmost tip of Denmark.