Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2022 Stage 3 - Vejle to Sønderborg (Denmark)

Stage 3 of the Tour de France and it is a 182km long flat race that starts in Vejle, in the south east of the Jutland Peninsula of Denmark and ends in Sønderborg in Southern Denmark.

The Map

Sights and points of interest along the route

Vejle Windmill built in 1847 can be seen from a great distance.  It was a functioning mill until 1960.

St Nicholai Church built in the 13th century. One of the best conserved Iron Age bog bodies, that of the Haraldskær Woman, is on display in a glass-covered sarcophagus.  The exterior brick wall of the north transept has 23 spherical indentations, each approximately 6 inch in diameter, which hold the skulls of 23 robbers who were caught and beheaded in the nearby Nørreskov forest.

St Nicholai Church

Jelling, an old town dating to the Viking Age and home to the Jelling Stones. It was originally a Pagan site, but was later enlarged and converted into a large-scale Christian site.  There are two large burial mounds and beneath the mounds is a large stone ship dating back to the end of the 9th century  

Jelling Monument Site

Lake Farup, one of the deepest lakes in the region.  Kolding, its medieval castle was built in the 13th century by the King of Denmark. In the 16th century it lost its defensive importance and was turned into a royal residence.  It now houses a museum.  Then there is Christiansfeld, Christinero Park, Haderslev Cathedral, the town of Aabenraa and Brundlund Castle built in 1411 by Queen Margareth I, being fully restored in 1985 before becoming an art museum in 1998.

Brundlund Castle

The town of Graasten famous for the apple variety Gravenstein, the German name for the town and Graasten Castle was built in 1603 and in 1935 became the summer residence of the Crown Prince Frederick and Crown Princess Ingrid, who late became King Frederick IX and Queen Ingrid.  The castle is the used for the official photo shoot of the royal family in summer.

Graasten Castle

The race finishes at Sønderborg in the South of Denmark.  Sønderborg Castle was built in 1158 during the reign of Valdemar the Great the castle has been extended and transformed over the years and was used as a barracks and prison until the 1960's and 1970's.  There is a castle chapel, dedicated to Queen Dorothea, which is one of the oldest and best preserved Lutheran chapels.  

Sønderborg Castle

Who Won the Stage and Who Won What Jersey

The Stage winner is Dylan Groenewegen for Team Bikeexchange-Jayco/Aus

The Yellow Jersey won by Wout van Aert for Jumbo-Visma.

The Green Jersey won by Wout van Aert for Jumbo-Visma.

The Polka Dot Jersey won by Magnus Cort Nielsen for EF Education-Easypost/USA.

The White Jersey won by Tadej Pogacar for UAE Team Emirates.

Combatif Award won by Magnus Cort Nielsen for EF Education-Easypost/USA.

Leading team: Jumbo-Visma

The Challenge: Sønderborg is where we start off today.  This coastal town is bisected by the Als Strait, making it an important location for shipping and industry.  In fact, the oldest boat found in the area is the Nydam Boat which has been dated to 320CE - that is 1700 years ago (if our maths is right)!  A newer addition to Sønderborg's history is Niels Christiansen, the CEO of Lego.  Lego has always encouraged creativity and we're pretty fond of all things creative too.

Spin something you wouldn't normally spin with.  We're not talking a different type of wool here; we're talking a different thing.  Could it be grass?  Fabric?  Strawberry laces?  If you're going to go full-creative and start working with foodstuff we'd recommend not using your wheel or spindle...  maybe just a little twist by hand!  We'd love to see pictures of the result, too!

What I did

Erm, yeah, I'm not doing this challenge either so what I decided to do was to spin the rest of the Stricken Scandinavian Mountain wool from yesterday.  The term Stricken refers to the unique colouring where the white colour base wool has black/brown fibres running through it.  This creates a textured cream colour.  It's quite a scratchy yarn so I'm not sure what I will eventually make with this one.

So, 100g spun to sport weight gives me 252m of finished yarn, which in terms of the TdF length calculations is 756m - 2 singles plus the plied length = 3 x finished yarn length.