Denmark's best kept secret

One of the UK's funniest new breed of travel writers, Bernie Friend, releases his debut book, Cycling Back to Happiness, on April 28, 2008.

In it he describes his adventures along the torturous North Sea Cycle Route a coastal cycle route of 6,000 kilometres which takes in the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Scotland and England.

In this second instalment he discovers Denmark's best kept secret - the little town of Ribe...

It was love at first sight. Ribe stabbed its head above a flat plain as the majestic spires and towers of its focal cathedral penetrated an untainted sky of perfect blue.

Heath, marsh and reedy fields banked the remnants of a once important trade river sharing the town's name, spiralling a protective moat of an arm around a cluster of orange tiled roof tops and red brick chimneys.

A gentle breeze sent a shiver to my body's core as a spooky feeling of something ancient rattled my bones.

Little did I realise on approaching this magical, but minuscule town, it would be a living library of so many wonderful stories from forgotten ages, as well as being Denmark's best kept secret.

Passing over wooden bridges, straddling small canals feeding off the River Ribe, a mothballed inner sanctum of crooked cobbled streets and 16th-century half-timber-framed houses was revealed.

History was oozing out of every doorway and lump of brickwork. "I've never seen anything like this. It's just so old, but still looks so good," I dribbled.

Rhys was open mouthed and speechless. Ribe is the oldest preserved medieval town in Scandinavia and we could so easily have been travelling back in time cycling along those bumpy roads.

The peppermint green sloping roofs of the robust cathedral dominated the centre of town, Torvet, with tightly hemmed in lanes and shadowy hidden alleys twisting off at every opportunity from a spacious high street.

Feeling like an excited young boy hunting out adventure, I couldn't wait to start exploring all the nooks and crannies of this unique antiquity.

Ribe's residents were rightly proud of their heritage and one of the kindly natives had offered us a bed for two nights at the immaculate Danhostel.

The ultra modern guesthouse sits on a quiet meadow overlooking the river, just a short stride from the breathing museum outside.

In a place where being so up-to-date makes you the odd one out, the hostel is an environmentally friendly Green Key establishment, translated as having everything from water-saving taps, toilets and showers to a strict waste recycling programme.

Luckily for me, a highly infectious middle-aged lady, Gudrun Rishede, was married to Jens, the man in charge.

A historical nut with a healthy complexion and winning smile, she was desperate to give me the grand tour free of charge, promising mesmerising tales of Vikings, witches' curses, headless pirates, fairytale queens and returning storks.

Cycling Back to Happiness (ISBN 9781906206710) is published by Pen Press. It is available to buy and order from all European book stores, or across the world from www.Amazon.co.uk.