Between 1200 and 1000 years ago, there was a town called Hedeby, at the end of the Schlei, just across from the present day Schleswig. It was a Viking town, built to facilitate the trade between the Baltic and the North Sea. This is because from this place it is only 18 KM to the Treene river which, via the Eider river runs into the North Sea. It is therefore the easiest trade route, bypassing the long and dangerous sea route around Jutland. An ideal place to build a trading post. Between 870 and 1050, Hedeby grew to be the biggest city in North Europe. In 1050, and again in 1066, the town was sacked and eventually totally destroyed. The town of Schleswig was built a few KM North of its site. Rising waters destroyed what remained and the existence was completely forgotten until the 20th century, when archeological excavations unearthed very significant amounts of Viking artefacts, building materials, graves and even a complete Viking ship. There now is a very interesting museum nearby and on the actual site of Hedeby, a number of Viking houses have been reconstructed.
We cycled to Hedeby from our berth at Schleswig, a 6KM ride. It is midsummer's day today, 21 June, and it was sunny and relatively warm (maybe 20C). When we got back, the wind started to get stronger, up to over 20 Knots (6 Bft). We had already planned to stay here. Tomorrow we'll go down the Schlei again, probably to Maasholm and from there see when the weather is suitable to go to our first Danish port.
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