Our stop at Kyst- og Fjordcentret was really about the place rather than the attraction itself. We came to Voer Færgested and spent some time around the centre and the fjord, but we did not actually go inside, so our impression of it comes from the landscape and the surroundings rather than from the exhibitions or activities. The centre stands directly beside Randers Fjord in a remarkably open setting, with water, reeds, low fields and dykes stretching away on either side. It is the sort of place where the geography becomes much easier to understand simply by standing beside the water. Randers Fjord forms the final part of the long water system that begins with the Gudenå, Denmark’s longest river, and here the fresh water flowing from inland gradually mixes with salt water coming in from the Kattegat. The Kyst- og Fjordcentret was established in 1996 as a nature interpretation centre and concentrates on the wildlife, landscapes and traditional life of the fjord. Its activities are deliberately practical, with canoeing, fishing, wading, outdoor cooking and other ways of exploring the water and the surrounding nature, but since we did not take part in any of them we preferred simply to enjoy the setting outside. What made the stop particularly interesting was that the centre is beside Voer Færgested, a crossing point with a history stretching back more than four centuries. A ferry between Voer and Mellerup is recorded as early as 1610, when people, animals and carts were taken across the fjord on a flat-bottomed boat. The crossing changed several times over the centuries, from rowing boats to a cable ferry and later motorised vessels. Since 1963 the small ferry Ragna has carried traffic across the roughly 500 metres separating the two banks. It is a wonderfully modest piece of transport infrastructure, but it has survived because the fjord still divides the road network here in exactly the same way it did centuries ago. The landscape itself has changed much more. Randers Fjord was once considerably wider, with marshes, islands and shallow water spreading across a broad delta. During the twentieth century large areas were enclosed by dykes and drained for agriculture, while the navigation channel was deepened to allow ships to reach Randers. From Voer Færgested a particularly straight section of channel was dug northwards, and material removed during the work helped create Kanaløen. Even today, the contrast between the narrow navigable channel, the reeds and the very flat reclaimed fields makes it clear that this is partly a natural landscape and partly one that has been reshaped by people. The surrounding fjord is also important for wildlife, especially birds, and much of the outer area is protected. Large reed beds still dominate parts of the shoreline, and reeds have long been useful as well as picturesque: they were traditionally harvested locally, while some are still cut commercially today. From outside the Kyst- og Fjordcentret, all of this makes more sense than it would on a map. We did not need to pretend that we had visited the centre itself to find the stop worthwhile. For us it was a chance to see another, very different side of Djursland: not the sandy beaches of Fjellerup, the old streets of Ebeltoft or the busy harbour at Grenaa, but a flat, quiet landscape shaped by a river, a fjord, centuries of ferry traffic and the constant movement between fresh and salt water.
