In 1971 I was 17 years old, and during a family stay in Åbenrå, the Haervejsmarch was mentioned, which the cousin and her husband had attended.
When I got home, I mentioned it to my best friend that I would like to try walking the 2 x 45 km, to which my friend said that I might as well put that thought out of my head, as I wouldn't be able to complete it anyway.
It turned into a bet, where we bet 4 pilsners - of course served in a restaurant (cost DKK 4.50 at the time)
It would require some training, so in May I went hunting for a test, and then I could appropriately walk home – a distance of 12 km. I borrowed a pair of old military boots from dad; but it was not a distinct success. The trip took a good two hours; but the worst part was almost all the offers I got to ride along. When rebuffed with a suitable explanation, people looked incredulous.
It was only in June that I had obviously given my companion a guilty conscience. In any case, they managed to lure him along on a training trip to an acquaintance's summer house - a return trip of 25 km.
My friend wanted to wear another pair of my father's old boots - but he also got wiser along the way... I myself had climbed in a pair of foot-shaped (shoes). A success in that I only got a few small blisters.
The result of the trip was for my companion a pair of very sore feet and a desire to file for bankruptcy - for 4 BEERS!
With this ballast of experience and training, I then went to Viborg.
At breakfast on Saturday at 04:30 I ate well with bacon sausages - I had heard something about using a lot of salt!
The start was a little after 05.05, and I followed my cousin and her husband for a little over 30 km until the routes diverged in Ø-bakker.
The trip proceeded without major events, until approx. 15 km before the finish line. By then I had lost all sense of how far I had walked, so when I saw the back of a blue town sign that said Viborg 7 km, I was happy; but.. a little further on we turned off the road onto a disused railway line.
The Tuborg brewery had that spring launched the campaign "A green Tuborg makes life a little greener" at the same time as they launched a new type of Light Tuborg. For the sake of advertising, the depot manager in Viborg had therefore filled a beer truck with this new product and placed it on the route for free use. What a crowd!
The luck was also not diminished by the fact that there was a small spring right next to it, so I sat there with my feet in water and enjoyed 4 pcs. cold beer in the summer sun.
After a 1½ hour rest I staggered on down the STRAIGHT, LONG and DUSTY dirt road. I was soon accompanied by some friendly Copenhageners who did their best to make me forget my at least 10-15 blisters. But I reached the finish line at 14:00. I was actually quite proud of myself.
At least I wasn't going to the “Blister ball”. My entrance at dinner made such a pitiful impression that afterwards, in spite of my protests, I was driven up to the civil defense blister smiths at the Tinghallen. Two men for nearly an hour; then I was also plastered for the next day.