13

13. Immervad - Rødekro

Here you can get a map that is more suitable for print:

	The Hærvej bicycle route, asphalt/gravel		Youth hostel
	The Hærvej hiking route		Tourist information
	Second bicycle route		Hostel
	Sight		Shop
	Primitive tent place		Area with a hiking folder
	Camping site

The trip goes past a couple of the most known places of Hærvejen- Immervad Bridge and the Hærulf stone– before you arrive in Rødekro, where Hærvejen became the town’s main street.

Immervad Bridge.
The Hærulf Stone.	Damgård Mill.

1. Immervad Bridge

Immervad Å runs to the west where it runs into Gels Å which later becomes Ribe Å. By Immervad the traveller was since 1776 able to get over the stream on a stone bridge built of split granite boulders - "the Skovby rock". Formerly there was presumably a wooden bridge, but the name Immervad indicates that the place was used as a ford before the bridges came.

Fords and bridges have always been haunts for the travellers, and therefore also an inn lay here. Immervad Inn was known for its split peas and pork. Today the inn is however closed, but there is a picnic area there.

2. The Hærulf stone and Strangelshøj

Just north of Hovslund Stationsby a remarkable runic stone stands at the roadside. The inscription is not long- only the name "Hærulf" – or "Hairulfr" as the runerist wrote in the 10 th century. The stone was moved to Berlin as a German booty in 1864, and was not returned until 1952, and it now stands in its original place.

At the same place on the east side of the road you can see a Bronze Age hill- Strangelshøj. South of the hill stands a 2 m high single-stone monument. A legend says that the stone turns when it smells bread. There is access to the hill and the stone from the picnic area by the road.

3. Damgård Mill

South of Hovslund Stationsby lies Damgård Mill about 1km west of the Hærvej route. The mill was built in 1867, and it is beautifully restored. It was among other things used as a buckwheat mill, and the establishment that is still intact is the best preserved in Denmark. There is access from the main road under the railway or via Hovslund Stationsby (open 1. April - 1. November, 10-17).

4. "Æ Vold" or Vendersvold

A few kilometres south of Øster Løgum lies a fortification establishment from the end of the 3rd century. The establishment was about 3 km long of which 500 m can be seen today. It consists of a rampart and a grave to the north which today is a sunken road. From the Hærvej route there is access from the picnic area on Andholmvej.

About 1700 years after the building of the rampart another fortification establishment was created on the spot. On the western part lies a well-preserved cannon battery- "the Andholm battery" - from Sikringsstilling Nord.

5. Rødekro and Rise Church

Most often the inn takes its name after the town, but in Rødekro it is the other way around, the inn from 1642 gave the name to the town. The Hærvej goes just past the inn, and further through Rødekro`s main street.

Just south of Rødekro by Rise Church a road sign stone from Christian the Seventh’s time stands at the roadside: "Weg nach Flensburg und Sleswich" (“Road to Flensburg and Slesvig”). The Roman church with anchors in the tower has well-preserved furniture from the Middle Ages.

Links to trip folders:

Skovene omkring Aabenraa (The Forest and Nature agency). Folder about the Forests by Aabenraa. There are no trip suggestions, but on the map forest roads and paths are shown.