6 kmGrene Sande - inland dunes near Billund
The same sandy natural habitat and peaceful walking experience as Rækkebjerge.
Rækkebjerge is a narrow sand ridge along Simmel Mose, where the walk passes through sand and heather-covered peaks. This is not an area with many route options or services along the way; the experience is a simple walk on a distinctive sand formation in an otherwise flat landscape.
The trail follows the ridge, and there is only one trail, making navigation straightforward. The surface is sandy and uneven, however, and the terrain rises and falls. This makes the site best suited to adults and older children who can manage the hills.
Public access is from the car park at Søndre Egsgårdvej 23. The car park is clearly visible from the road and has both a parking sign and an information board. Dogs must be kept on a lead, and there is neither a toilet nor a bench, so the walk is best suited as a short nature outing without expecting any facilities.
Rækkebjerge is part of Billund Indsander on Grindsted Hedeslette, a blown-sand landscape formed after the last Ice Age. The conservation of Simmel Mose is intended, among other things, to preserve the geological formations and the botanical characteristics of the bog. What is special here is not a high viewpoint, but the narrow, uneven sand ridge beneath your feet.
On the sandy slopes of Rækkebjerge, a small round hole may be more than just a hole. The beautiful bee digs its nest directly in the bare, sun-warmed sand soil, where a narrow tunnel leads down to small chambers.
With a little patience, you may be lucky enough to see the bee standing in the opening and surveying its surroundings — a little head in the sand, cautious like a curious neighbor.
Rækkebjerge is an easy route without many choices: from the information board, follow the sandy gravel road across the heather-covered ridge and on into the protected Simmelmose. The road ends in a dead end, so the walk is about 4 km there and back along the same track.
The area is privately owned. During the daytime you may travel on foot or by bicycle along the gravel road and on uncultivated areas along the road, but enclosures must not be crossed. Dogs must be kept on a leash.
Rækkebjerge is a protected, narrow sand ridge east of Grindsted, where dry slopes and flowering heath provide good conditions for butterflies in warm weather.
Keep an especially close eye out for the painted lady: orange-brown with black and white markings and a migrant that arrives from the south from Southern Europe and North Africa. Some years it turns up in large numbers, other years much more sparsely — often near thistles and other nectar-rich flowers.
When the day draws to a close, the small long-horned bee can crawl right into a yellow composite flower. There it sits between the petals, its fur and legs dusted with pollen, almost as if the flower has turned into a bed.
It is one of the small nature experiences at Rækkebjerge, where you have to look down into the flowers to catch the crooked and quiet moments.
Lingonberry does not form a large stand at Rækkebjerge, but appears scattered among the heather on the sandy ridge. The plant is a low, evergreen dwarf shrub with glossy leaves, small bell-shaped flowers and red berries.
Flowering usually takes place in May-June, while the berries ripen in August-September. It can be confused with cowberry; in lingonberry the leaf margin is rolled under, while cowberry has a flat leaf margin and net-veined leaves.
