Melissa Barrett

One thing Denmark is full of - at every turn - is brochures. They have them at rest stops, obscure parks, and the entrances of main (and not so main) attractions. Outside the library in downtown Odense is another place for my favorite freebies. Yesterday I picked up Odenses skove. Is gives maps to and details for 7 forest areas in Odense.

I had the car for the day and the weather was decent so I thought - why not. Peter and I drove on over to Kratholmskoven - et væld af kilder (The Kratholm forest - a flood of sources) with a GPS address of Brogårdsvej 90.

It was lovely, right up my alley. Floodplain along the Odense Å, bordered on one side by steep sloping forest. Lots of little drainageways flowing down to the river. The vegetation was great - goldenrod, rununculus, bulrush, and jewelweed...all similar to the kind we have in the U.S. but also just different enough for me to question myself as to what I think it really might be. Even my high energy 5 yr old was quite happy to just sit near a steam, listen to the water, and poke around at the bugs for a good long time.




Also in my book was Næsbyhoved Skov, which I had been meaning to check out and is located in pretty much north downtown Odense. The *big* thing there is an old castle mound. It was just OK. We were the only two people there except for that stray young guy who popped out of the trees at one point. I know people park their babies on the street to sleep here, but still, I don't always feel 100% completely safe.

I also saw this dying mushroom which somewhat resembled a morel. But I don't know if they have those here.