Sarah Green is a freelance photographer and travel blogger living in Copenhagen. This article is a collaboration
Sarah in the Green – The fjord path by bike
The peninsula Hornsherred, between Isefjord and Roskilde Fjord, is a place I’ve become increasingly fond of. The name Hornsherred sounds like something from Tolkien, and that’s pretty much how it is.
Hornsherred has a lovely relaxed atmosphere, undulating fields and small towns and villages. There are also numerous shallow beaches out to the fjords on both sides of the peninsula. And perhaps the most beautiful part of the 275-kilometre-long Fjord path goes through Hornsherred.
This is the part of the Fjord path that we’re going to be cycling – more specifically the stretch between Svanholm and Jægerspris castle.
A visit to Svanholm
Our trip starts at the organic farm Svanholm – actually the first of its kind in Denmark. But Svanholm is also an old estate that was bought collectively by a group of people in 1978 and transformed into a large intentional community, which still exists today.
We learn all about this on our tour which takes us past the residents’ apartments and the communal kitchens where freshly cooked food is served twice a day. We visit the grand rooms of the main building of the estate where the communal meetings are still held to discuss the important decisions that need to be made about the community, and we end our tour in the cow shed, home to the farm’s jersey cows.
Lunch in the café
After the tour, we visit the farm shop at Svanholm that sells locally produced goods and a few hot meals. We get a delicious lentil soup with home-made bread that we eat on the decking in front of the farm shop overlooking the pet goats and the strawberry fields.
About visiting Svanholm
Svanholm holds guided tours every Sunday at 11 am. A tour costs 130 kr. per person, which also includes coffee and Hansen ice cream, made from milk from the Svanholm cows. You don’t need to book and can just show up. If you’re in a group, you can book special guided tours every day of the week. Read more about the guided tours.
The farm shop is open every day from 10 am to 5 pm and sells fresh vegetables, milk, eggs, beef and lamb – all produced on the farm. You can also buy Hansens ice cream, Svanholm apple juice, Svanholm rapeseed oil, home-made rye bread and lots more.
The café is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm and serves coffee, cakes and a few hot dishes.
Right outside the café, there’s an area for petting the goats so if you bring your family along you can easily spend time here too.
During the strawberry season you can also come and pick your own strawberries in the fields at Svanholm
Cyling on the Fjord path
From Svanholm to Jægerspris Castle – 10 km
We rent bikes at Bike-Tours and pick them up at Svanholm. My bike’s pink and my cycling companion gets a light blue one – which leads to a few funny comments along the way. And then we get going along the Fjord path, a lengthy route of 275 kilometres in total.
We take a smaller portion of the route as we are only going to Jægerspris Castle – a trip of 10 kilometres. The Fjord path is also a hiking route but as it’s so long, it makes sense to bike. The path itself is well marked and relatively easy to follow.
We whizz through the yellow rapeseed fields and then through a summer house area with views of the fjord. Biking along the fjord is always that extra bit special! And it’s fantastic to be on a bike trip again after a long winter.
The Fjord path takes us close to the beach Vester Strand where we leave our bikes and walk out on to the long bathing jetty. You need a long jetty here as you have to go quite far out into the water before it gets deep.
The final bit of the trip takes us through the woods until we are suddenly at the wonderful Jægerspris Castle. Ten kilometres is actually not that far once you get going!
If you have more time, I’d definitely recommend continuing from Jægerspris Castle and through the Nordskoven woods past Denmark’s oldest oak trees, Kongeegen (the Royal Oak), Snoegen (the Twisted Oak) and Storkeegen (the Stork Oak) – and all the way to Kulhuse. This makes the trip around 20 kilometres.
Get a map over the entire stretch of the Fjord path through Hornsherred here.
A Pitstop at Hansen Icecream
Afterwards we take the fast country road back to Svanholm because it passes Hansens ice cream dairy and café. The room at the back is where all the ice cream is made – and unsurprisingly the milk comes from Svanholm. That’s why the route between Svanholm and Hansens Is is also called the “milky way”.
It makes a lot of sense that businesses in the local area support each other because by working together they can avoid transporting ingredients over long distances. It also means that the milk used in the ice cream is ultra-fresh. You can really taste this in the ice cream that is creamy in a completely different way to regular ice cream.
The ice cream café is open from Thursday to Sunday 12.00 to 5.30 pm and you can find it on Landerslevvej 5 in Jægerspris
Accommodation in Svanholm
Back at Svanholm we pick up a basket with delicious goodies from the farm shop’s café and drive a few hundred metres into the woods behind the estate to Svanholm’s shelters. This is where we’re going to spend the night. You can book the two shelters for 25 kr. a night and buy breakfast in the café.
We roast our goodies from the café over the firepit and enjoy them with a sea buckthorn cider and one of Svanholm’s own beers, which of course is named ‘fællesøl’, or in English ‘common beer’.
Visit also Selsø Castle
Selsø Castle in Hornsherred is also well worth a visit. The castle is a manor house museum that is open to visitors.
It’s open Tuesdays to Sundays between 11 am and 4 pm from May to September. Ticket prices are 60 kr. for adults and 25 kr. for children (aged 6-17).
About us
Fjordlandet, or Fjord Country, covers the scenic areas around Roskilde Fjord and Isefjord. The towns and landscape of Fjordlandet are filled with vibrant stories, while its harbours are abuzz with activity. On a summer day you’ll encounter beach guests, sailors, fishermen, nature lovers, birdwatchers, history buffs and Viking enthusiasts.
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