Bornholm: The island of sunshine

 It took me too long to visit Bornholm. I spent almost 3 years living in Denmark without going to what the Danes like to call "Solskinsøen", the island of sunshine. If you read this from the Mediterranean shores it might sound funny, but Bornholm is actually one of the places with more hours of sunshine in the Baltic Region.

On July the 10th, @albertlopezdemoragas described the island as follows: The island of Bornholm lies in the middle of the Baltic Sea, between Germany, Sweden and Poland but has been Danish for centuries. During the Cold War it was the easternmost point of NATO and it is still a very crucial geopolitical location. Danes have made solskinøen their favourite vacation spot and during the summer season it hosts more than its usual 40.000 inhabitants. 

You can tell that I am a pretentious poet, that I repeat myself, and that I love my geopolitical references. I said that I visited Bornholm too late because it has all the ingredients that attract me about a place. First, it is in Denmark and you should already know that I love Denmark and most specially "udkants Danmark" which is basically everything away from the capital city of Copenhagen (where I happen to live). Second, it is an island. And I adore islands. It does not matter what sea they lie in. But third of all, it is in the Baltic. And I love the Baltic because of its inhabitants, its calm seas, endless beaches and mild summers. I was born in the Mediterranean but I have learned to love the sea through the Baltic.

In July 2022, I finally managed to arrange a bike trip with 6 friends. We took our rusty city bikes and brought them all the way to Bornholm. What follows is a poetical (epic) and also practical tale about our trip. I hope you get inspired to visit the island soon.

There are three main routes from Copenhagen to Bornholm. The easy, convenient one that posh Copenhageners prefer is taking the less than an hour flight. We do not do that. We hate a high carbon footprint. And we love bikes, ferries and trains. So if you have more time and do not want to fly you have two options. Either you take the ferry from Køge (1h south of Copenhagen) or you take the train to Malmo in Sweden and then continue to Ystad in the south where you can take the ferry to Rønne, in the west coast of Bornholm. We took this route. It was nice but bumpy, probably because we added the extra problem/fun of bringing our bikes on board. It was quite problematic to fit our 7 bikes and bags into the packed and small swedish trains. But we managed both on our way to Bornholm and back. 

The idea of bringing the bikes was related to the obvious fact that the trip was a bike trip. Had we planned a spa trip, then we would not have brought our bikes. We do not do that either. We like to carry tents, to sleep in forests and to bike a lot. My best advice if you go biking to Bornholm is to bring a decent sports bike. Most of us were not ready for the kind of physical effort that was necessary to carry around our huge bags and tents with rusty city bikes. I discovered it when I came to the island, but Bornholm happens to be the only place in the whole country with hills! And OMG those were steep hills. Now I understand why Bornholm native Magnus Cort looked so fresh in the Alps during this years Tour de France.

But well... bikes problems apart (there were many dramas), the trip was fantastic. We started in the east coast and we spent the first night in the forests very close to Rønne. We woke up with in a forest, listening to the waves, and to a beach that reminded me of the Mediterranean. We biked up north, to see the nice cliffs and small cute towns. The food is great, and the danish summer mood with ice creams included is unbeatable. The second night was tough. We waited until the 11 pm sunset to find a spot to camp and it turned out to be not so easy to find a proper place. I still look back and remember the beautiful colours of the nature, even if I was in pain and suffering for me and my friends.

We woke up again, in front of a beautiful beach. This time it had rocks and it was not so pleasant to swim. However, I was forced to it since my friends decided to recelebrate my 25th Birthday. In Denmark, when you are not married at 25 (spoiler: 99 % of the population these days), you get yourself a pass to being poured tons of cinnamon into your body and face. So I had to run into the cold water to remove it from my body. I did not feel in my peak after sleeping on rocks, to be fair. But life was nice, my friends are great and we were in sunny Bornholm spending a beautiful weekend. We continued biking through the cute towns and green fields. The goal was to reach Gudhjem, in the northeast. We made it. What a beautiful port town. I would have stayed there forever, and I did not really want to spend 3 h biking back to Rønne.

But we had to do the Tour de Bornholm (30 km) if we wanted to catch the ferry and go to work on Monday (remember the rusty bikes and the tents). Now add to it an insane summer storm (which I usually find relaxing). The next hours were some of the most beautiful and painful in my life. We biked so fast, through hills, under the pouring rain. Endless fields, farms where I would not mind to live for a while, dense forests where the European Bison lives (did not find any). The last descent was a relief. I saw the town of Rønne and felt like all the effort had been worth it. I am describing this as an Odyssey and it might look pretentious but it really was. We were so happy and in a good mood when we found a shower in Rønne port. We were so soaked. The pesto sandwich and the comfy seat in the ferry felt like a ticket to the most luxurious hotel in the world.

Nature, friends, endless nights that are actually endless days. This is what life should be about!

 I am so much looking forward to coming back to the island with a proper bike and enjoy the Danish summer at its peak, when the sun does not like to sleep. When the Danes forget about the darkness and realise how beautiful their country is.