Because we had some rain in the forecast, we had planned for an indoor/outdoor day, but it ended up being primarily an outdoor day after all, and that meant we got soaking wet during the “squall part” of our hike. We left around 8:30 am because the rain was not supposed to come our way until about 11, and walked from our place on a bike path that led through wheat fields and meadows (with a lark ascending, singing his heart out–Andrea says it is her childhood sound of summer; I never heard these as a child). Our destination: About two miles inland, there is medieval round church in the middle of nowhere, one of several on the island, but the largest one, called Østerlars. These churches were basically fortresses with a small circular church below (the roof on this one was added in the 1600s), enormously thick walls and buttresses, and stairs leading that are worn from almost a thousand years of people climbing up to the top. The ground floor is still used as a church, and has beautifully restored medieval frescoes that were whitewashed during the reformation and later restored. I especially liked the very funky-looking Satan overlooking the damned that was part of a classic Judgement day scene (the damned to the left, the saved to the right of an enthroned Jesus). The church has a classic churchyard surrounding it, and a display of three stone markers (of about 40 found on the island) that combine Christian crosses with runes.
After our church tour we had a sumptuous second breakfast of Danish sweets and cakes at the cute café across the street. We got four different things and split them all in four pieces–yummy! But when we left, it had started to rain hard, and after waiting for it to stop pouring, we set out in the rain for our next goal, a waterfall that was only about a mile away, but did not impress in the rain nearly as much as the one the other day. Then we had to make a call: walk back from the waterfall to a main road and get splashed by cars or go along the creek on a path through the woods that we knew would be muddy and messy. We opted for muddy and messy and did not slip and fall, but we were glad for the occasional bridge and rope to help us along. The forest is damp under the best of circumstances (as evidenced by lots of moss and lichen, not to mention a plentiful wild onion that seems to be in season right now and makes itself known by a garlicky smell that made me hungry for dinner about every 50 feet) and it was just dripping like a rainforest.
The path along the creek got us safely but mud-stained back to the coast, and we took advantage of a break in the rain to have our sandwiches at a picnic table with view of the beach. One more rainy walk of about 10 minutes got us to our next stop: a glass-blowing studio / shop called Baltic Sea Glass where they demonstrate their techniques basically all day for a forever changing group of tourists. Two glass-blowers were making glasses in a well-established routine (Mark timed them: 3 minutes 20 seconds per glass). Because we had a glass blower among the art professors at Hastings College and Mark even took a class with him, Mark and I had seen this many times before, but it is a fascinating process, and given how damp I was, I also appreciated that it was rather toasty even at a distance from the ovens where the glass is melted and reheated!
We did not leave until it had finally stopped raining for good, and the way back home was only about a mile, but we were pretty exhausted–especially Peter, who had hurt his knee a couple of days back and was now in pain. So we were glad we were back home before 3 pm. The hike (about 6 miles) was longer than yesterday’s by just a little, but felt shorter because there was less up and down! I grabbed a few things we needed from the store, and we had more interesting Danish pastries (this time, we just split four pastries just in halves, since they were pretty similar, but I liked the one with custard filling best) as we watched the weather clear up from the living room. We all rested for a while (we are all fascinated by the swallows, and Mark finally captured one in a photo), and around dinner time, Andrea and I went to a little Thai place that had takeout, and got rice and various vaguely Thai dishes for dinner.
Mark and I went for a little walk afterwards, just to the harbor (where we DID have some ice cream, because desserts are always a good idea) and back, watching tourists, boats, little dogs, and aggressive seagulls. While it remained cloudy, the sky was clearing up a bit and the sun peeked out several times, reminding us again how beautiful this place is.