Trelleborg Long House

Today we had to take the train to over the bridge to our next destination so we didn't really need to cycle anywhere specific. So we went to the Trelleborg ring castle and museum and then on to the near by beach.

The fort was started in 980 and abandoned only ten years later. It's possible that it was never completed, was destroyed by fire or became obsolete because of the ever changing politics of the Viking era. We don't know and at the museum they still don't know.

The fort consists of a large circular earth bank and ditch outer, and within the centre a number of timber long houses. The blip is of a reconstructed long house built in the late 1930s, and though no-longer though to be correct it's still an interesting building and at least it's posts are in the right place as their layout is taken from those in the fort (out of shot to the right).

The visitors centre was small but quite interesting with some nice models showing what they think the fort looked like and plenty of Viking things to touch and dress up in. The stainless steel ring mail they have to play with is awfully heavy when you put it on, I can't imagine anyone walking about in it, let alone fighting in it...

On the other side of the site they had rebuilt houses for normal villagers which are much smaller and a lot more modest.

After lunch we cycled out to the coast and spent a few hours lounging about and digging holes in the sand. Eventually we cycled back into town to take our train to Odense and another B&B. Unlike British trains which begrudgingly take bike on them, Danish ones have load of space for them and boast about the bikes with nice clear signs to can see, without needing a microscope...

(back blip)