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.