Fossil hunting and the lucky survivor of a major catastrophe

After the storm surge on the Baltic Sea had reached its peak during the night and we had experienced quite a bit of storm and wind - despite being in a fairly sheltered spot in the middle of Zealand - the wind subsided and we ventured back to the coast.

First we went to the small town of Faxe, which is known for its large limestone quarry with many fossils. The limestone contains the fossils of a coral reef that lay on the seabed here over 60 million years ago.

In the Geomuseum, a modern exhibition provides information about the history of its origins and the species that once lived on the seabed.

We had booked a tour with an excavation at the limestone quarry. When we arrived, the museum was deserted and we were given a private tour with our guide, who first showed us important features of the exhibits in the museum.

Then we went down to the lime quarry, where mining still takes place today. But it is also open to all (hobby) fossil collectors - the only one in the world. Everyone can look for beautiful pieces here and then take them home with them.

We were given a hammer and chisel and our guide explained to us what to look for and what we might find.

So we searched the bottom of the limestone quarry for 1.5 hours and at least found some beautiful fossilized corals, remains of crab and snail prints and even one of the rarer shark teeth.

A few stones richer, we returned to our motorhome and drove further towards the coast.

In Rödvig we actually wanted to visit the former Stevnsfortet rocket and cannon emplacement, which now houses a Cold War museum. However, we found ourselves standing in front of locked gates, even though it was supposed to still be open.

So we spontaneously drove on to the Stevns Klint Experience center in the old Boesdal limestone quarry on the cliffs.

This exhibition is about the asteroid impact that is said to have brought an end to the dinosaurs.

Only the small mammal Lucky survived and is also available as a plush version in the museum shop. Lucky is said to be the ancestor of all modern mammals and looked somewhat reminiscent of a large rat with a long tail.

We took a short walk to the coast. For the next day - due to the good weather forecast - we have planned a longer hike on Stevns Klint. Today it was still quite stormy and rainy.

Finding a place to park for the night turned out to be more difficult than expected: the harbor was closed due to the storm damage and the campsite in town was also no longer accessible due to fallen trees. We were kindly allowed to spend the night in the parking lot in front of the barrier.