LAND 38 From my starting point on the main road I headed east and uphill, away from the flat fields and forests between Rønne and Hasle. The day was still and clear, the sunrise golden.
My meandering path switched direction several times, down towards the coast and then uphill again. A tractor passed between two of the huge windmills dominating the skyline.
I continued northeast into a gently undulating cultivated landscape with a patchwork of fields, small woods, farms and homesteads.
Later I reached a large and impressive-looking farm, Simlegaard. A sign or plaque on the farm proudly described how former farm proprietor Lieutenant Colonel Michael Ekstein had been instrumental in ending the Swedish occupation on Bornholm in 1658.
I saw very few people or cars, the only signs of activity were the tractors working on the fields. Immaculate lines looped and followed the contours of the fields.
I walked around Bolbybanen, a motorcross track recently opened by a determined group of volunteers. Not for the first time I thought about how Bornholm’s land is changing all the time – granite, sandstone, fault lines, ice ages, forests… and how our use of this land is also in constant change – from agriculture, to forestry, to industry, to recreation – constantly evolving and transitioning. Around the track I found several young sand lizards – a protected species that at one point had threatened the very creation of the racetrack.
I continued through a fine oak and pine forest at Torpebakke, and then north through dales and hills towards the church at Rutsker. The church sits high in the landscape and could be seen from many points during the day’s walk. Above me buzzards circled lazily in the thermals.
As I approached the church I had a sense of transition – of moving into a new space and time. It was a fine, sunny and warm day, but I could feel autumn waiting in the wings, and the landscape felt different. I looked forward to the turbulent weather of the coming months and the wilder landscape of North Bornholm.
From Ruts church there was a fantastic view down to the sea and the setting sun. It was the day before the autumn equinox. The sun dipped behind a bank of purple clouds and the day was done.
LAND 38
WEATHER REPORT – Mostly sunny all day. Temperature 17 – 23 degrees. Wind 4 – 5 m/s, from the southeast. Hours of precipitation: 0 hour. Hours of sunshine: 9.5 hours.
STOPS with the BIVVY – 0
KILOMETRES WALKED – 19.44 km
DAY LASTED – 12h and 21 m
PEOPLE TALKED TO – 1
BIRDS SEEN and HEARD – 41 species (0 new) = 129 species in total.
LESSONS LEARNED – I should have spent a bit more money on my new binoculars.
IN MY HEAD – The art project ‘Klippekroppe’ that I was involved in. The creation of the anamorphic land art square I had to make. How little time I had to do everything. Performance art. The SWLA catalogue. Biogas. How to engage the public. Radio and TV interviews.
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