Today I walked pretty much direct south after spending the night at Slukefter Kroen i Vedsted.
It was a grey start to the day as I walked along country paths towards the first attraction of the day.
With 800 to 1000 cattle passing along the Ox road daily, it was important that there were bridge to help cross streams and rivers. There are three different constructed bridges on the latter part of Hærvejen, Immervad bridge is built from granite blocks, cleaved so they fit perfectly together. Next door to the bridge, there used to be an inn, today there is a farm.
A couple of kilometers further on is the days second attraction, the Hærluf stone, one of the two remaining south Jutlandic runic stones – the Haerulf Stone – dating from the year 900. In 1864 it was moved to Germany and in 1952 returned.
The stone is inscribed with a single runic word – (Haerulf), which is likely a man’s name.
I continued to Rødekro, along the ox road, via Øster Løgum with its church for 1756 and thatched cottages, and passing a deer farm on the way.
I passed a large gravel and sand pit before reaching Rødekro – what surprised me was that families lived so close to it – one could feel sand in the air. Rødekro is pretty much one straight street ending at Rise Church and the well maintained Reunification stone outside the church, with the inscription “My God, My Country, My Honour”.
After Rise Church, the next seven kms were along roads, some fairly busy, and not particularly interesting – the highpoint being the honesty box below.
The last six kms were along a gravel path and fairly open landscape. It was fairly windy. Luckily I wasn’t walking to Padborg today.
Urnehoved Tingsted served from 1074 – 1523 as South Jutlands “parliament”. It was here that all free men met with the king to discuss and decide important matters. After the Reunification in 1920, the memorial park has been used for public meetings, including on Constitution Day. Today it servers as a memorial park, with ten stones, one of which is a Reunification stone – second from the right in the picture below.
My wife had visited family in Esbjerg and had stopped off in Ribe. It took longer for her to drive from Ribe, so I ended up waiting an hour for her to arrive. I could have walked on, but given the problems we had finding each other on a previous occasion, I decided to stay put. It felt like a long hour.