Egmontbroen og Hou Søsportscenter GB
Istransport til Samsø. 1929
Intro
In 1997, Hou Water Sports Centre set up a popular pier providing access to the Kattegat Sea for wheelchair users and people with impaired mobility.
In 1997, Hou Water Sports Centre set up a popular pier providing access to the Kattegat Sea for wheelchair users and people with impaired mobility. Unfortunately, the flexible pier tended to break up whenever strong winds blew up from the east. It took two caretakers one-and-a-half months to dismantle and reconstruct the pier each spring and autumn.
Thanks to a grant of DKK 4.4 million from the Danish Labour Market Holiday Fund, a permanent 150-metre pier for bathing as well as for mooring purposes was constructed, and it was opened in grand style on Constitution Day, 5 June 2009.
Hou Water Sports Centre opened in 1997. It consists of 11 holiday chalets, all of which are adapted to accommodate disabled people.
Right from the outset, while the Centre was still on the drawing board, the three words ‘Holidays for everyone’ have been the philosophy behind the general concept and design of Hou Water Sports Centre. The centre, therefore, is ideal for people with mobility-impairment as well as for wheelchair users, irrespective of whether the guests want to engage in water sports or just enjoy the landscape, the sea, and the views.
Hou Ship and Boatyard, which is part of the Water Sports Centre, continues the traditional craft of boatbuilding, a trade for which Hou has been renowned for almost 100 years. Located centrally on the marina, the boatyard leaves its mark on the harbour as well as on the small town. While in former times, large numbers of fishing vessels were built here, the boatyard is now looking to the future, and activities include the construction of sailing boats fitted out to accommodate disabled people, in this way providing opportunities for wheelchair users, for example, to experience at close hand the sea and the joys of sailing.
Opposite the Egmont Bridge, you see one of several wooden sculptures on the campus of the Egmont Folk High School, namely the Hou Madam – donated to celebrate the opening of the Water Sports Centre in 1997. The original wooden sculpture was carved from a 75-year-old elm tree and modelled on a local girl. But the ravages of time take their toll, and a new sculpture has now replaced the old lady.