Herning Green Circular, Jutland
Introduction
Section 1 - heading north along the east side of Herning
Section 2 - heading west along the north side of Herning
Section 3 - heading south along the west side of Herning
Section 4 - heading east along the south side of Herning
Possible variation
When our final meeting at the Herning Convention Centre ended in the middle of the Friday afternoon, I had 3 hours to spare before dinner. I could have gone for a snooze, or wandered around the shops, and maybe still fitted in a short run. Or I could take more time and try a longer route. I decided to make the most of the opportunity and see how much of the city I could cover.
I was able to get a quick idea of the possibilities for the route from the free Town Map available at the hotel. I could see areas of parkland spread around the edges of the town, almost connecting up into a complete green belt. It shows all the parks, and most of the cycleways and paths are marked in yellow, although it doesn't distinguish between them. As I ran along I was able to work out the next section of the route to join up the green bits on the map.
[Herning's belt of parkland and managed woodland and heath is significant enough to have been chosen as a comparative case study in how green land is managed in a sustainable manner - see the case study here.]
The weather was as it had been since I arrived a few days earlier - breezy with lots of clouds, some threatening a sharp shower of rain, but with sunny intervals. It wasn't too warm for running.
The following description is a bit lengthy, but I've tried to give enough information to help anyone else to find their way around the same circuit through many junctions with roads and cycleways. It's divided into the four "sides" of town, starting with the east side, running in an anti-clockwise direction. You could also take a bus from the centre of town to enjoy the individual parks.
Section 1 - heading north along the east side of Herning
Leaving the Scandic Hotel I ran north up the Fonnesbechsgade and past the Convention Centre where we had spent most of the time over the past 3 days. The continuation ahead was along Kampmannsgade, which then reached a T-junction with Thomas Nielsens Gade, where I turned right. We'd driven along this the previous day at the start of our study tour to Århus and I'd wanted to go back there to have a better look at the fine houses which lined the street. Now I could see that they had individual designs within the same overall style, although I don't know enough about architecture to be able to date them correctly - maybe around 1900?
At the end of this street I turned left onto Sjællandsgade, crossing over at a church (Fredens Kirke) in typical modern Scandinavian style. I took the street to the right just after the church, Golf Vej (no prizes for translating that).
Just after passing the grounds of the church I found the entrance into a park (Mindeparken). Across the grass on the far side were tall columnar trees and a play area. Although I hadn't really got into my stride (having stopped to take a few photos already) I thought it worth exploring and was delighted to find a set of small enclosed themed gardens in the corner along to the left. I spent a bit of time looking at each of them - the summer garden, the rhododendron garden, the rose garden, and so on, indicated by a metal plaque. Each was very different in structure and planting although perhaps surprisingly there wasn't a lot of colour on display. The rhododendrons had just finished and the sweeps of lavender hadn't yet come fully into bloom.
Returning onto the Golf Vej by the next exit in the corner of the park I continued along it to where it crossed a cycle track, at the corner of the golf course. Turning left, the cycle track ran ahead of me in a dead straight line, slightly east of due north. Down to the right was the golf course and to the left was a strange clutter of little gardens each with a little house or glorified hut. Most had Danish flags streaming out from poles. According to the map, these are Kolonihaverne, or garden colonies. They seemed like a cross between allotments and little holiday houses, presumably where people could go to relax and potter around in the garden away from the pressures of home, without actually going very far. I'd seen something similar when out running somewhere else; I think it was Dusseldorf in Germany. [This website page indicates that these facilities are a long-established feature of Danish society, now protected by law to prevent them being lost to developers. Apparently Denmark has more of these allotments per head of population than any other country. There are also many more national flags flying than you'd find in the UK!]
There was another garden colony on the right, tucked in at the side of the golf course. The cycle track crossed another track, and soon after it reached another crossing with a road to the left and modern commercial buildings ahead to the left behind trees. I turned onto the road which went through Herregårds Parken and noticed an impressive manor house with a square of trees around the front. This, according to the map, was Herningsholm, which houses the Blichermuseum. A later check on the internet indicates the manor house dates from 1579 and Steen Steensen Blicher was a prominent novelist (and parson) from Jutland (1782-1848).
[With the museum devoted to the work of artists Carl-Henning Pedersen and Else Alfelt on Silkeborgvej just beyond the golf course on the east side of town, visitors to Herning can mix cultural attractions with walking.]
The grassy parkland had some hedges in roughly concentric shapes around a bonfire waiting to be lit, with grassy banks at the opposite end to Herningsholm. It looked as though it would provide a venue for public gatherings.
Section 2 - Heading west along the northern side of Herning
Just beyond the grassy banks and stream behind them, the road through Herregårds Parken joined the main road, Sjællandsgade, which I'd crossed earlier. Now I crossed over again and ran north past the commercial area on the other side, the start of "Herning Nord business district". Turning first left into Lillelundvej, this was the least inspiring part of the run, but it was only about half a kilometre. I passed two turnings on the left, then turned into the third as the road turned a little to the right. There was the grey tubular shape of the CEU main administration building at the junction. I thought this was something to do with the European Union, but it turned out (again from the internet) that it's some sort of technical college.
The short road became a cycleway with another cycleway forking off to the right into trees, and I took this. Now I was heading due west, with the edge of a residential area to the left. Next there was a "cycleway crossroads", with a football field across to the left. I pondered a bit here, checking on the map where to go next. I went ahead, on an unsurfaced track, which bent round and along an avenue of trees with playing fields on the other side. When I reached a T-junction with another surfaced cycleway there was some light rain falling. I turned right and soon reached a crossing with an unsurfaced recreation track, marked as "Lysløpe" on the map. It emerged from attractive woodland on the right, but I turned left along it across more open ground where recent planting had taken place. It looked like an early stage in a process of land remediation. There was a series of strange brown bollards along the left side of the track at regular intervals, maybe to use for interval training, and a section of the track with duckboards over what is probably marshy ground.
I couldn't see a track on the map linking this one with the Gullestrupvej, the main road which I had to cross next, but it curved round very close to it, past a clump of young saplings. Then there was an open area of short grass with just 30 or 40 metres to cross to the roadside. I went across there. It was the only section of the whole "green circular" without a pavement, track or path of some sort. Maybe the municipality will link it up sometime to make the circular route a reality!
At the side of Gullestrupvej I dithered again. I was halfway round my circuit, the rain had stopped, but this was the point where I should cut the run short if I was feeling too tired to complete it. The Gullestrupvej ran directly south into the town centre. I decided I was OK to continue and still had plenty of time. Nevertheless I started to head south for a short distance but realised there wasn't a route through the thick woodland to the west. Later I found out on the map that the Herning swimming hall was through on the other side of the trees.
I turned around and went north, heading out towards the outer ring-road which I could see in the distance. Just before reaching it I should be able to turn left onto the Brændgårdvej, but there was a short-cut to it through a small lorry park via a narrow path on the other side.
Facing me was a junction with a road leading through an area with shiny new commercial buildings. This would lead to my next target, the Fuglsang Sø, but I preferred to take the track marked on the map. I turned left down Brændgårdvej for a couple of hundred metres until it bent to the left of a wedge of housing ahead of me. The cycle track I was following continued to the right of the housing. The end of another wide stony track was on the right, and this was the one I followed: at first straight, then right and left to join the road to the lake.
I crossed the low bank along the side of the lake and found it enclosed a sandy beach beside Fuglsang Sø. There were people over to the left seeming to be doing something with watersports equipment and right in front of me two men were unloading gear from the back of a van. It looked like they were setting up a stall of some sort. On the sand behind them were goals for beach football. The sand itself had been carefully raked, avoiding a couple of sets of barbecue equipment. It had the appearance of a Japanese zen garden!
The lake seemed to be another remnant of an industrial past, converted to leisure purposes. The western bank was a straight line with tall new apartment blocks looking over the water and residential streets behind. On the eastern side where I was, a few stones had been put into the edge of the water to give a more natural look, and there were metal piers extending into it at various points either for boats or swimmers.
The track continued close to the south-eastern short and then another track led to the left across a bridge over a drainage channel towards an angular hill (marked on the map with a star symbol). I ran across and up the flight of steps leading to the top to get a view over the lake and south towards the town. A wide track descended the hill to the south-west, and checking the map now I can see that I could have gone this way. Instead I went carefully back down the steps and over the bridge to rejoin the path close to the lake shore.
It passed the southern corner of the lake and crossed a stretch of land where work was under way to manage the flow of water. The path itself was being resurfaced. It reached a cycle track running from the edge of the housing to the north; I crossed this onto a softer track winding between ponds before joining another cycle track continuing south-west through the green belt with the edge of the housing to the right and the stream down to the left. Ahead and just to the left I could see the twin chimneys of some sort of plant rising above the trees - maybe a district heating plant.
It wasn't much further to the Holstebrovej, a main road running out of town in a north-westerly direction. The cycle track ran through and underpass and up the other side.
Section three - heading south along the western side of Herning
Emerging from the underpass there was a cycleway continuing ahead and another running to left and right. It looked like an attractive continuation of the green corridor in front of me but it would take me out around the houses on the edge of town. It was time to turn south. Crossing a bridge over the stream I had been following from the Fuglsang Sø there was another good view of the two chimneys rising above the trees, now to the left on the far side of the road.
I crossed the Ålykkevej and paused to look at a circle of young trees to the left of the cycleway, a stone engraved with the words "Nordisk Venskab" and an information panel with more information on the company. I couldn't work out why it was there though. Soon after, I reached another junction of cycle paths. One continued ahead alongside the Holstebrovej, another went ahead but diagonally to the right - due south. I followed it through a peaceful stretch of grassy parkland with trees and shrubs on either side then crossed a quiet road, the Ydunsvej.
On the other side of the road the track split, the left-hand section leading ahead to a flight of steps, the right-hand section curving round and climbing gently to rejoin the other one at the start of a bridge over a railway line. I chose the steps. There was a similar arrangement on the other side, and I turned left down the curving track between trees. At the bottom of the curve another track went ahead. I checked the map then took it. This was another green corridor leading south to the Ringkøbingvej.
Once there I hesitated again, checking to see how best to get through to Knudmosen on the south side of town. There was a cross-roads of major roads to get through, surrounding by housing and (to the south-west) the Herning Vest industrial area. The most straightforward route seemed to be to run east to the junction of the main roads, then south along the Messevejen - on a pavement then cycleway. It meant running across a bridge over the railway line and continuing under the Dronningens Boulevard, going straight ahead to find the cycleway alongside the Messevejen.
It wasn't the best bit of the run and needed careful navigation with the map, but it was just half a kilometre or so. Then, just after crossing another railway line, it turned left onto a quiet road (Godthåbsvej) along the edge of the housing with woods to the right.
Section four - heading east along the south side
About 300 metres down Godthåbsvej I took the first little turning on the right at the start of housing. It led straight through to the wild land behind with a narrow path continuing ahead in a roughly south-easterly direction. This was a lovely stretch of countryside with ponds just visible through the trees to right and left and the sun breaking through the branches above. The path was dead straight, then suddenly started climbing and bending to the right, before levelling off. I found a narrower path going steeply up the bank on the right to the top of the hill (maybe the main path curved round further along to reach the top, and I had taken a short cut).
Once at the broad flat top I was rewarded by a fantastic panoramic view over the woods of Knudmosen, the industrial area of Herning Vest, and the taller buildings of the town to the north. There can't be many places in Denmark offering quite such an extensive vista. And it was topped by a large boulder displaying typical Danish humour: "Knudmosebakken 79.3 meter høj plus denne sten" (Knudmosebakken 79.3 metres high plus this stone).
After taking a few photos I followed the wide grassy track heading gently down the eastern slope towards a car park at the bottom on the edge of the woods. A dirt road connected this to the Chr Ydes Vej running south from the centre of town. I should have taken the cycle track to the left just before crossing the road, but I went over to the verge on the other side hoping to find a track into the next section of Knudmosen. Instead there was a fence with open heathland beyond.
I turned left along the verge - it was easy enough to run on - and went north about 300 metres before the cycle track emerged from the trees on the other side of the road. This would have been the better route to follow. Just after that on my side of the road there was another car park. At the back of it a path led into the woods. It ran due east near the northern edge of Knudmosen and although the built-up area along Grøndahlsvej was visible through the trees it was a lovely stretch to run through.
It was only around half a kilometre before I reached the next car park beside the Gl Vejlevej. Signs beside the road indicated this was the edge of Herning. Straight across the road a gate led onto another track which continued into Knudmosen. Now I was back into the section which I had visited two days earlier (see the Herning Town and Country walking story). The track took me past the wooden gate at the end of the track covered with woodchips leading south from the riding paddocks.
I could have turned left along this for a shorter route back to the hotel. However I wanted a final run through the large open grassy area which I had enjoyed before. The track bent to the right and continued to the edge of the open area. I ran across it on the same track of mown grass which I'd taken the last time, and went out through the gate on the other side.
Then it was a repeat of the route winding through the birch trees to the riding paddocks, through the trees to the duck pond. Out of the park, across the road at the lights to rejoin the Gl Vejlevej where it led to the underpass, and out the other side, turning right through the bus station to arrive back at the Scandic Hotel.
I had completed an ambitious route and felt elated. There was still over half an hour spare for a shower before dinner.
A purist might avoid the town centre, and instead take the cycle route from the Godsbanevej (the road running across to the north of the riding paddocks beside Knudmosen), across the end of the Herning Motorway, continuing north to the Golfvej where I had joined it a couple of hours earlier. This would be a more complete "green" circular but it would miss out little Mindeparken with its neat themed gardens. In any case, you need to start and finish somewhere, and the eastern end of the town centre is conveniently close to the parks on the edge of town.
Contributed by Andrew Llanwarne - June 2008
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