under another sun

Up and after eating scrambled eggs on toast Romy had made, we packed as the others went for a short walk over the dunes. Later we drove in a convoy slightly southeast Henne Kirkeby Cro (Cro translates as Inn in Danish). A beautiful place in its own grounds, with a big garden at the back where many of the  fruits and herbs and so on were grown. A lovely restaurant room, tasteful minimal decoration, crisp white tablecloths, artfully selected flowers, and interesting Danish recent art on the walls. I was looking at two pictures of the backs of heads. A meal of many little courses, all exquisite sweetbread, mackerel, cod, little crumpets served with cream and caviare, sauces with wonderful delicate flavours, lemon and herbs for example, all served with style. As we were three drivers we drank kombucha in different flavours (mine a lovely cherry flavour. A cheery meal and good to get to know Nori and Verna better. Romy and Toby treated us to it, to say goodbye to us, and hello to Nori a...

Properly rainy morning, all a bit wild. Toby and Romy slipped into the hot tub. I went for a longish walk and did a bit of sketching. Just the way the wind blows over the dune grass is lovely. All looked pleasingly bleak. In the late afternoon we all piled into Lorraine's car to Nymindegab Kro -- a hotel restaurant Romy had been recommended. Good food there, and a nice atmosphere with attentive service.  Below  the Kenny bros in the restaurant, a damp start, Toby and Romy in the hot tub, which Lorraine and I went into too. I took a pleasingly bleak looking walk along the beach, and our party in the restaurant.

Slept really well. A relaxed morning, coffee and breakfast and lovely to be able to sit about catching up with Toby and Romy, and great to see Gillian again. Overcast and ominous weather, with rain. I mooched up to do a spot of drawing, much taken with the grass there which I looked up and its called marram and it binds the dunes together. There are a line of high sand dunes along the coast which is a long white sanded beach that goes on for miles. We are on a strip of land, between the north sea, and Ringkøbing Fjord behind us. This is not really a fjord, it's more like a lagoon, with a small opening to the sea a few miles north of where we are. I wonder if the water is brackish. All of us amused by Germans in the next house doing lively but joyless stripped to the waist exercises on their decking. A quick walk with Toby then Lorraine, Gillian and I made off to the supermarket by car. Raining quite heavily when we arrived. A nice shop full of Danish flags, and good stock. Added a ...

A pleasant flight, despite my misapprehensions and nervousness. I was looking at my phone at some of my recent poem during takeoff and this, along with Lorraine next to me, made me feel strangely calm. At Billund the Brexit dividend of a long slow queue. Lorraine talking to people in the queue and several going to weddings. Once through, we got a first 'tak' from a man. We collected our hire car from a very pleasant Somali origin guy. The car hire building set apart and nice and calm.  The landscape seemed to be very open and rural, with excellent roads, with hardly any cars on them. A big difference to southern England. Once Lorraine installed in the car -- a new automatic Audi -- and had become a little more confident as she had never driven an automatic before, she really liked it. The trip to the west coast of Jutland incredibly easy with very few other cars. Farmland, hedges and the odd wood, and the occasional small village or town. All very lovely, like an unspoilt Engla...