[1st Copenhagen Walk 🇩🇰] Changed to a day trip! ~Walk & Talk from Copenhagen Central Station to Roskilde Cathedral!

Hello, this is Toru Sasaki from the Happiness Exploration Agency's Netherlands branch. Regarding the "1st Copenhagen Walk" I announced the other day, I am making some changes to the plan. I have changed it from a 2-day, 1-night trip with a participation fee of about 10,000 Japanese yen to a "day trip with no participation fee"!

After publishing the previous article, I interacted with about 10 people and received feedback that "it is difficult to make plans for a weekend that includes an overnight stay" and "a participation fee of about 10,000 yen is expensive." My co-organizer Riona and I put our heads together online and decided to hold it as a day trip on Saturday, May 17th, with no participation fee. The itinerary is as follows.
(Header photo is Roskilde Station, Denmark)

Also, we are planning the following events for next month, June.

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~The following is the same content as announced previously~

To everyone living in Denmark, here is some great news! We are holding a real-life event themed around Walk & Talk, where we will walk along a historic route and talk while feeling the spring weather, the 1st "Copenhagen Walk"🇩🇰

Why you can talk when you walk

When talking about recent updates, holiday plans, rumors at work or school, or something a step deeper, "slightly deeper topics," it's difficult to create the right atmosphere, isn't it? Many of you have probably had the experience of finally coordinating schedules to meet face-to-face at a cafe or pub, only to find that you couldn't talk about what you really wanted to, and before you knew it, time had passed with just small talk.

Car enthusiasts might have noticed that it's easier to talk about "slightly deeper topics" while driving. I think this is because the surface layer of consciousness is occupied by driving, making it easier for the deeper parts to emerge. I thought that walking might have the same effect.

The opening of the railway was the distance a human could walk in a day

This year marks exactly 200 years since the world's first railway opened in the UK in 1825. The Stockton and Darlington Railway connected a distance of about 40km. 22 years later, in 1847, Denmark's first railway opened between the capital Copenhagen and Roskilde, a distance of about 30km. In Japan, 25 years later, in 1872 (Meiji 5 in the old calendar), the railway opened between Shimbashi and Yokohama. This was also a distance of about 30km.

30 to 40km roughly corresponds to the maximum distance a human can travel on foot in a day. Even during the Sankin-kotai (alternate attendance) of the Edo period, the daily travel distance was said to be about 30km. In other words, "connecting a distance that takes a whole day for a human to walk in less than an hour" was the beginning of the railway. In this event, we will walk the distance between Copenhagen and Roskilde, which was connected by Denmark's first railway, over about 8 hours!

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1st "Copenhagen Walk" Overview

It was early March when I started discussing course options with Riona, a friend living in Denmark who is 30 years my junior from the university I graduated from at the Netherlands branch, saying, "Let's plan an event where we walk around Denmark and talk while walking." After spending several weeks searching for a course with the help of Google Maps, we finalized the course and finished the site visit!

Course Introduction

Now, I will introduce the course while showing you photos from the site visit the other day. Also, although this course is a considerable distance of about 31km, because we are walking along the train tracks, if you feel it is physically difficult, you can head to the goal by train from the nearest station, so you can rest easy.

1) Meeting place: Copenhagen Central Station, the plaza between Starbucks and McDonald's

It is a bit early, but we will meet at 6:50 AM and depart at 7:00 AM. We will meet at the square where Starbucks and McDonald's face each other. After we depart, I have found places where we can take bathroom breaks about every hour and a half, so don't worry!

2) 8:30 AM: First break

We will head west from Copenhagen Central Station and take a break at a gas station with a Circle K convenience store. I have already negotiated with the owner, saying, 'If we buy something, please let us use the restroom.'

3) Backup break location (after 10:00 AM)

If everyone is feeling very energetic, we could skip the first break and walk straight to this point. We can take a break at a nice shopping center.

4) Entering an area with nothing

Once we leave the city, we will gradually enter an area where 'no one is walking.' Because it is an area that can make you feel lonely, it is the perfect place to talk about various things. During the preview walk, we naturally had deep conversations in this area. There was even a motel that reminded me of the U.S. West Coast.

5) 11:30 AM: Lunch in Taastrup

Lunch will be in Taastrup, 18 km west of Copenhagen. Since there is an IKEA and a McDonald's, if we arrive earlier than planned, we will have lunch at the IKEA restaurant, and if we are short on time, we will have lunch at McDonald's is the plan. On the day of the preview, the two of us were so hungry that we forgot to take pictures of the lunch spot 😢

6) 1:00 PM: Only 10 km to go!

The road joins a cycle route heading for Roskilde. The bike path stretches straight ahead, so we can walk safely. I did the preview on a Saturday, the same day as the actual event, but we were the only ones walking, and we only passed a few bicycles occasionally.

7) 3:00 PM: To Roskilde city center ~ Duck clouds?

From the suburban area filled only with car dealerships, the city gradually comes into view. On the day of the site visit, I saw the 'duck cloud' in the photo. Don't you think it looks exactly like a duck, from its beak down to its feet?

8) 4:00 PM: Arrival at the World Heritage site 'Roskilde Cathedral'.

Roskilde Cathedral was built in the 12th century and was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995. Denmark is a constitutional monarchy, and the successive kings and queens of Denmark are laid to rest here at Roskilde Cathedral, not in Copenhagen. Please take a look at this article for details on the interior.

On the day of the event, the cathedral is open for tours until 5:00 PM, so our goal is to arrive around 4:00 PM!

We look forward to your participation!

The number of Japanese people coming to Denmark, especially for study abroad at Folk High Schools, is increasing. Even so, there are probably almost no people who have said, 'I walked from Copenhagen to Roskilde!' Please apply via this Google Form!

Why not think back to the time when railways first opened in Denmark and join new friends for a 30km walk? If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the organizer, Riona, or Sasaki from the Happiness Exploration Agency, Netherlands Branch.

We look forward to seeing you all there!
(April 29, 2025 🇩🇰)