Langeland, Cold War and the forest “Lunden”, Hike, March 23, 2020

The Langeland Fort was built by the Danish Navy in 1952-54. The task of the fort was to prevent enemy naval forces from penetrating the Great Belt/Langelandsbæltet. Further the fort had the task to protect the minefields which, at the start of a war, the Navy intended to put out to control the passage of the Great Belt and counter an invasion of Denmark from the Baltic Sea. In addition, the fort's anti-aircraft fire was supposed to protect the Air Force and Navy's radar stations at Langeland.
The location of Langeland's idyllic southern tip signals central contradictions: the idyllic and peaceful landscape versus a military installation. According available information the Warsaw Pact planned to put a 70kTon nuclear bomb on the fort in the early stages of a nuclear war.
The contradictions between the idyllic landscape and nuclear warfare are symptomatic of the Cold War and daily life on the edge of a devastating conflict that at times seemed eerily near.

The trip was approx. 8 kilometers.

When I came to Østervej I turned left and immediately then right to the Strandvej at Broegaard

The coast at the bottom of Strandvejen, View of Føllesbjerg Marine Station, the only active military installation left after the fort was closed down in 1993.

There are many cargo ships passing.

View from the end of Strandvej to the north.

Remains of the underwater microphones (hydrophones) and magnetic cables (loops) that were established on the seabed off the coast at Langelandsfortet to, for example, reveal foreign submarines while crossing the Great Belt.

Below Føllesbjerg

View of the small forest called “Lunden”

Inside the Nature Agency's small forest, “Lunden”

In the Lunden. The Danish Nature Agency has created some fine trails and a primitive camp site. https://naturstyrelsen.dk/naturoplevelser/naturguider/sydlangeland/

In Lunden. Primula vulgaris, the common primrose
https://naturstyrelsen.dk/naturoplevelser/naturguider/sydlangeland/sevaerdigheder/

As soon as I came out of the Lunden forest I had a nice view of Keldsnor Lighthouse.

View to the north to the southern entrance to Lunden

View from Rathvej over Keldsnor. It is barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis) that are in the field in front of the burial mound.

Keldsnor.

Barnacle geese.

View of Keldsnor Lighthouse, from the south.

Lundemosen, just vest of forest Lunden, https://naturstyrelsen.dk/publikationer/turfoldere/fyn/sydlangeland/

The old house serves as a holiday home

Some roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) keep an eye on me as I am taking the photograph

There are many beautiful views towards the Langelandsbelt from Lundevej and Vognsbjergvej

From Vognsbjergvej there is a small road down to Føllesbjerg Marine Station

View from Vognsbjergvej

My hike started and ended at the parking lot at Langelandsfortet.

The map is from on application from 2009: Development of a new Cold War exhibition on Cold War Museum Langelandsfortet: The Cold War - a warm period in our history.

Cranes next to the village that love cranes, 3 April 2020

Tranekær is a village on the middle of the island Langeland (The Long Island) in Denmark.
It is the former capital of the Northern Langeland Municipality, now a part of the Langeland Municipality.
Tranekær is also the home to a big manor, former a castle to defend the island from luting from tribes from Northern Germany and inhabited by a count who says that the manor is the oldest permanently inhabited house in Denmark.
But back to the cranes.
Literally Tranekær means the village that loves cranes.
For many years there were no cranes around the village that loves cranes, but approximately 10 years ago they moved into the wetland south of Tranekær called Flådet.
First, they were very shy but now they don’t take care of the cars passing on the road right next to Flådet.
To avoid that the Flådet stays as grassland, it grazed by a group of stallions, that is deported here from a big herd of Exmoore ponies that grazes the southern tip of Langeland who also have the task of reducing the up growth of scrubs. The stallions are exported here from the southern tip of Langeland to avoid an inbreed of the Exmoore ponies here, and a new stallion with is imported to bring fresh genes into the population.

The Tranekær pair of cranes taking a brake and maintaining their plumage

The Flådet wetland with Exmoor ponies and crane

The Flådet wetland with cranes (in the centre of the picture)

A crane together with European roe deer, also known as the western roe deer or simply roe deer. The roe deer is a relatively small deer, with a a shoulder height of 65–75 cm, and a weight of 15–35 kg, and the crane is a big bird, Cranes are very large birds, often considered the world's tallest flying birds. And the crane on the picture is far taller than the deers!

One Exmoor pony and three roe deers.

One Exmoor pony and three roe deers.

View from The Medicine Gardens towards Tranekær Castle. The Medicine Gardens is a botanical garden for medicinal plants.
https://medicinhaverne.dk/english/