Stevns Kommune

Beside us is a wildflower meadow. Its late summer colours are muted but there is still an attractive mix of yellows and mauves amongst the tall green grasses. Our eyes are trained on a hovering Sparrowhawk, its eyes fixed intently on some unsuspecting prey 10m beneath it. We are in an end of road parking area at Stevns Klint on the East coast of the island of Zealand.

This morning we set off from our beach stop on Møn, Vicky's neck a little stiff from stargazing. We travelled back over the causeways to Bogø and Farø islands, before taking the North Farø Bridge to Zealand, Denmark's largest and most densely populated island and home to the capital. We planned to visit Copenhagen at the weekend so covered a decent distance up the east side. Arriving at Stevns Klint via a single track country lane, Will went out to explore while Vicky got the van set up for a cuppa. Klint is Danish for cliff and the area is part of a 17km stretch of white chalk cliffs. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site and is well known for its geological significance. There was a small visitor centre but this had shut for the season.

At any one time of the day there were a dozen or so twitchers gathered on the wooden observation tower and at various points along the cliff, their long camera lenses and scopes trained on birds of prey. We read that Peregrine Falcons had recently returned to the area and nested on the cliff face.

We love the way this country encourages people to get out into nature and and the free camp area and shelter here were well used; a large group of teenagers on hire bikes arriving in the late afternoon and setting up to stay the night. There was a small amount of noise but they left the area spotless when they departed the following morning, vacating it for a few families with young children to move in, unpacking bottles of pop, beer and packs of burgers from their boot.

We spent the afternoon looking into getting Will's passport renewed and taking a portrait photo for it. You can submit the application online but the government requires you to send in your old passport before issuing a new one. We will need to be in the UK to do this, leaving enough time for the new one to arrive before we cross over the channel to continue our travels.

The following day we waited until mid afternoon before leaving for Copenhagen because Will had found city parking that was free afer 5pm on a Saturday. We enjoyed a walk along the cliffedge, looking down to the stones and fallen chunks of chalk 40m below. They weren't as tall as the ones we'd recently visited at Møns Klint but they were still impressive.Read more