For our free weekend in Denmark, I decided to venture out on my own, to Rønnede, Denmark to experience Camp Adventure. You see, I’m lucky enough to have a part-time gig that I love going to – even after a week full of teaching. I spend my weekends at the treetop adventure park, Go Ape, in Raleigh. Our mother company actually started in the UK, so I looked into that. However, I soon discovered that Denmark had a treetop adventure course of its own, so naturally I had to go explore.
I began with a peaceful walk to the train station, where I boarded my empty train car in Østerport and settled in with a book and coffee for my hour train ride. Along the way, I enjoyed seeing smaller towns and countryside through the window. Once I arrived in Holme-Olstrup St., I had about a 30 minute wait for the bus to Camp Adventure. However, after a short bus trip, I was on my way to Camp – I just had to walk the remaining ½ mile to get to the actual reception area. Along the walk were lovely wildflowers and the Forest Tower peeking through.
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| Coffee + book + empty train = bliss |
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| Forest Tower spotted from path to Camp! |
The journey in total took about 2 hours; I’d booked a ticket to climb at 12, so I looked for a place to eat my lunch; I settled on eating at a cute table on the boardwalk, where I observed people walking by with dogs. Next, it was time to gear up. When the safety brief began, the instructor spoke only in Danish. I had Google translate up, but I was still not catching everything. Imagine my relief when he got to the end of his spiel and asked, “Does anyone speak English here?” My hand shot up immediately – as well as those of about 10 other guests in our group of 35-40. From there, we watched the safety instructions (also in Danish, but with English subtitles) and got into harnesses. I was pleased to note that the harnesses and safety equipment were similar to those that we use on our course at Go Ape, so I had no trouble getting myself strapped in. The helmet was new for me, but I soon became thankful for it, as I have a propensity for hitting my head… a lot.There were people of all ages and coming from many different places. I was intrigued by the number of younger kids who were preparing for the course, too.
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| Boardwalk lunch |
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| Getting geared up |
After gearing up, it was finally time to climb! Another instructor took our small group of English speakers ahead and provided instructions on how to secure ourselves onto the course, how to maneuver over crossings, and how to zipline. After a brief, supervised practice, we were off! Well, after I figured out the map (I may have eavesdropped when someone else asked the guide where to start). Because I have experience, I decided to jump right into one of their intermediate courses.
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| Map of possible courses Source: https://www.campadventure.dk/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Baner.png |
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| Info for courses Source: https://www.campadventure.dk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Klatrepark_Baner-2.png |
I began with the Turquoise, which sat around 20 meters high, was 680 meters long, and had 14 obstacles and 4 ziplines. This particular route started out very similarly to the courses at home, but soon became more challenging – especially without any signage to answer the question of “How do I get across this one?” when I came across something I hadn’t seen before. For example, the odd looking sled thing in the picture below and the free-hanging, upside down “T.”
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| Start to turquoise |
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| Um...what? #1 |
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| Um...what? #2 |
The turquoise course ended where the red course began – though I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I began. Looking back at the map, it was the “sport” course – one of the longest. Though I should’ve expected a challenge when the course began with the rope ladder…
On the red course, I got held up a bit, but as a result, I met a nice Danish man who was visiting and completing the course with his adult daughter, son-in-law, and 9-year-old granddaughter. He let me in on the jokes his kids were making as they were climbing and helped me to the platform when I thought I was going to slip. We discussed how the safety equipment was similar to that in the U.S., his previous trips to the adventure park when his granddaughter was younger, and his travels to the U.S., where he spent time building factories in Tennessee and West Virginia. He recommended one of the courses and was even kind enough to video me coming in on the longest zipline of the course (see video below!). We parted ways on the ground, and off I went to do the final course of the day – the one he recommended. It was mostly ziplines, which felt nice after sweating it up on the red course.
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| Start of red course |
Below are some of the pictures and videos I captured up in the trees. First, a rope net that I assume you swing into and climb up (we have one at Go Ape!). Then a test of agility -- the obstacles were not at even heights and even had some diagonal pieces. Finally, a nice after shot, sweat included! The video shows the height!
After the gray course, (and being properly sweaty) I decided to hang up my gear so I could make my way to the Forest Tower. The path to the Forest Tower was a scenic boardwalk through the woods. After what felt like forever (probably a mile or so), I arrived at this unique piece of architecture and prayed that it didn’t have stairs.
Fortunately, when I made it to the tower, I saw that it was a ramp that spiraled up to the top of the tower. So up the tower I went…and went…and went. I climbed that tower for probably 10 minutes before making it to the top, all the while watching the trees get shorter and shorter. And lemme tell ya, the walk was worth the view. 45 meters from the ground, looking out at the surrounding landscape and forest – whoa. The tower was designed to create a space for humans to appreciate the surrounding nature, by bringing people face-to-face with the trees and allowing them to gaze at the surrounding south Zealand region beyond. The tower is a nod towards the Danish desire to create structures that highlight and harmonize with nature, allowing everyone to experience it, without harming the natural world.
After a quick wardrobe change, a stop in the giftshop, and an ice cream, it was time to make my way back to the bus station, to return to Copenhagen. Though I traveled alone through southern Zealand, the interactions I had with the people and nature made me feel at peace and happy. I even experienced the friendliness of Danish children, excitedly trying to share with me their own adventures at the Forest Tower and nearby Bon Bon Land – and even sidling up next to me on the bus stop bench. I read on my return ride to Copenhagen, feeling weary but refreshed – and happy with the experience.
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