My friend Rory and I doing the tourist thing at the famous Little Mermaid

I didn’t know before I went that Copenhagen is famous for its cycling. Cycle paths were planned in at a very early stage and 36% of the population cycle to work or place of education. The Danish Government are aiming for 50% by the year 2015. Think of it!  And the cycle paths aren’t just a painted line on the road.  Most of them are separated from the road by a small curbstone and the pedestrian areas also have this little curb. So even though cyclists, pedestrians and cars travel right alongside each other, there doesn’t seem to be a problem.   The car dirvers have so much respect for the cyclists.  It took me a little while to gain confidence amongst so much bicycle traffic. But before too long I was whizzing along confidently with all the thousands of other cyclists in the city.

One day we put the bikes on the train, –  very easy and commonplace, – and then we cycled out to Jaegersborg Dyrehaven, a forest park north of Copenhagen.

Jaegersborg Dyrehaven translates as The Deer Garden and there are about 2000 deer living peacefully on the 11 square kilometre estate parkland.

Here are a few of the 2000 dear at Dyrehaven grazing peacefully in the forest

This would normally be a foresters nightmare, but Dyrehaven is maintained as a natural forest park, with the emphasis on tourism  over commercial forestry.  However of course new trees need to come in so as to perpetuate the forest. Some areas had been planted and were deer fenced.

New planting beside a forest block is protected by a deer fence.

In other areas the forest block itself had been fenced, including some neighbouring grass land so that the forest could regenerate and expand naturally. I thought it was great to see examples of both being tried.

Some oak, beech and minor species regenerating naturally behind the deer fence.

Old trees are felled only if they are a danger to the public, so there is plenty of dead and dying old trees adding their unique atmosphere to the healthy forest. It was a Saturday when we were there and many people were out enjoying the peaceful, natural setting.

Children climbing and playing on upturned old tree roots

I loved to see the huge amount of dead wood standing and lying around where the big old trees had fallen.  In these ways the park took on a truly natural and quite magical character.

Here's me sitting in an area of dead and decaying beech trees. - A haven for insects and birds

I was blessed lucky having such a great tourist guide in my friend Rory, who has lived in Copenhagen for nearly twenty years.  That made all the sightseeing easy and a lot of fun. We spent some time wandering through Christiania where people have been forging out another way of life in the city centre over the last thirty years.

The lovely tranquil setting of Christiania, right in the heart of the city

It was impressive to see how nature and home made houses have been allowed the freedom to remain, right close to the centre of Copenhagen. Wandering along the unmade road beside the river I could have easily imagined I was way out in the countryside again.