Day 16, Rødvig: Proof of Extinction

Friday, 19 July

There’s a lot of history here in Rødvig, from flint and lime kilns,

Danish sea battles against the Swedes, medieval churches falling into the sea,

all the way back to 66 million years ago when the 17km meteor hit and the dinosaurs and most other life on Earth became extinct

We have happened to moor just around the corner from cliffs that show, in a thin layer of ‘fish clay’, the proof that the dinosaurs were killed by an extinction event.

Walter Alvarez came here in 1978 specifically to show that the tell-tale line separating strata with lots of fossils, and strata above with very few, that he had found in Gubbio, Italy, was a global phenomenon.

These cliffs, that look so impressive, are now a UNESCO World Heritage site and there’s a very fine museum explaining everything.

We hired bikes and cycled to the museum and then onto the light house.

We walked back along the footpath on the cliff tops.

We walked past Højerup church, built in 1357, that fell into the sea. Well only the choir did (in 1928) and they underpinned the rest to the 30m high cliff. They also built a new church further from the sea. We had a buffet lunch nearby.

We continued past the Cold War museum: this spot in Denmark used to be NATO’s first line of defence. There are 18km of tunnels apparently so we didn’t have time to do this museum.

We really enjoyed stretching our legs along the beautiful path – with a sparkling sea and meadows full of summer flowers. Skylarks were flying high and singing their hearts out and I saw a yellow hammer and a Merlin and heard a white-throat.

There were loads of very happy pollinators getting on with their busy lives:

We had to say goodbye to Alex today but he’s promised to rejoin the boat later on, hopefully with Jonny, as he’s keen to cross the Channel with us.

We also met the talented Trine Bond who makes the most wonderful ceramics inspired by the fossils discovered in the cliff and in the sea. She has a gallery here with a kiln in the back and makes all her own glazes. We were so lucky to meet her!