Grenen, the headland of Skagen, is the northernmost part of one the world’s largest spits, the Skagen Odde, which has been formed since the last ice age 10.000 years ago by sediments of sand and gravel from the west coast of Denmark. Each year, 800.000 m3 of material is transported by the sea up along the coast due to the very strong northerly currents. The main part of this is deposited at Grenen, which grows by approximately 8 m each year in a northeasterly direction. The name Skagen derives from the Old Norse word skage, which means appendix. Grenen is such an appendix.
Grenen is constantly changing in shape and size– from year to year, from day to day and from dawn to dusk. The strong currents and the shallow waters around Grenen caused many a shipwreck in years gone-by, and still do from time to time. The ships often wrecked off the north coast of Grenen, but due to fact that Grenen is constantly on the move, these wrecks nowadays can be found off the south coast. The waters around Skagen and the northern part of Denmark are therefore an El Dorado for divers treasure hunting.
At Grenen, the two seas, the Kattegat and the Skagerrak, meet - and you can literally stand with one foot in each sea. A tractor driven bus, called The Sand Worm, takes visitors along the last stretch out to the very tip.
Grenen is both the top of Denmark and the European continent, a gateway as well as lands-end - a magical wonder of nature attracting over one million visitors every single year.
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