I was sitting in my nice warm VW Fox eating a cheese and tomato sandwich and watching wet sycamore leaves helicopter down onto my windscreen. The rain had blown over but the trees above me were sodden with moisture. The window was half-down and a breeze came in, soft and fragrant - one of those clean, pure breezes that we city-dwellers think are such treats to experience.
In this wood, in the far north of Denmark's mainland province of Jutland, I appeared to be alone. It was still August but the first tips of the oak and ash leaves were beginning to yellow as the dawn temperatures dropped and autumn began to take up residence.
The car door slammed and echoed through the wood. I pushed through a thick hedge which grabbed at my jacket and seemed unwilling to be disturbed. But with a heave I was past the pointing twigs and slapping wet leaves and in my own Narnia on the other side.
A green path led away, lined by sentinel oaks and from further off in the wood came the sounds of laughter. Along the path cycled a family dressed toe-to-toe in bright red, utterly drenched anoraks and ponchos.
They looked on me not as a potential enemy - this strange man on his own in a lonely wood in rural Denmark - but as a long-lost friend.
"Hi," called the father; the mother waved. I was greeted with a sea of smiles and perfect teeth and blonde hair matted to foreheads. The children (one boy, one girl) were close in age but neither older than 10.
Whenever my long-suffering parents dragged me up wet mountains in Wales during our family holidays I howled like a banshee - so much that I am surprised that they did not leave me there for good. Yet there in that wood was a family soaked to the skin, cold too no doubt, with sore calves and creaking knees and perhaps a touch of saddle rash, neither bleating nor showing any sign of discomfort. In fact they gave the distinct impression that that day was perhaps the best of their lives.
Did they not crave the Mediterranean? The beach? The sun? Apparently not.
"We are on the great North Sea Route but we took a detour because the wood looked nice," the father told me when I admired their bikes and the numerous panniers attached. "We have everything we need for three weeks on the road."
They had enjoyed four days of dry weather and endured seven of wet. It's good, they said - healthy to be wet and dry in one day. "Like taking a shower in the outdoors," said the mother.
After 20 minutes chatting to the happiest family in the world in that otherwise deserted wood in northern Jutland, I needed no more persuasion. The next day I drove north, parked my car in the delightful town of Skagen and hired a bicycle. The bike shop had no panniers and was fresh out of bike lights, so I would have to settle for being a day-trip cyclist. No matter. In August in northern Denmark the days are long and cycling can be performed from 4am to 10pm without lights - or panniers.
On my first morning I pored over the map while limbering up with coffee, croissants and pickled herring in Skagen's delightful Brøndums Hotel, my base for the next few thigh-testing days. The North Sea Cycle Route is a long-distance cycle path which travels 6,000km along the coasts of seven countries, using existing national cycle routes.
It opened in 2001 and is the world's longest cycle route according to the Guinness Book of Records. The Danish section starts at the German border and hugs the west coast all the way to Skagen before turning south to Århus.
I joined the route and headed south through the town, past its yellow-walled and terracotta-roofed houses and into the Skagen Klitplantage nature reserve, making a detour to visit a geographical wonder - a church built in the 14th century which has been all but swallowed up by the encroaching sand. Onwards through the Bunken Klitplantage reserve before taking a right turn along a side road which leads to the small settlement of Skiveren looking out over a mournful North Sea, layered with a grey and steady swell.
If ever you want to escape the rat race and disappear from life for a while, Skiveren is the place to go. Of course it helps if you have a strong melancholy streak in you that demands hours of sitting and staring at a brooding seascape and watching the many Arctic terns performing acrobatics in the northern air.
I mistimed my return trip, making numerous detours off the path, and found myself freewheeling back into Skagen under a 9pm dusk, just in time for a plate of yet more pickled herring and pumpernickel bread, to which I was happily becoming addicted.
The morning brought a sky filled with sunshine. The breakfast waiter proudly informed me this was the famous "Skagen light", the same radiance that has drawn painters there for many years.
"We have had a lot of rain this summer but now the light has returned," he said, as if reading the foreword to a Norse saga.
I asked him where to cycle on a day of such brilliance and he pointed north. There isn't much north beyond Skagen. In fact, it is only a few kilometres to the most northerly point of Denmark - the large sand spit known as the Grenen.
A few hundred yards out of town I caught up with a peloton of 20 cyclists, their bikes draped in panniers and small Danish and Swedish flags flying from 1.5m aerials. They were pedalling serious vehicles - racing bikes that looked as if they had a few thousand kilometres behind them. I felt a fraud as I overtook them on what can only be described as a lady's shopping cycle. I got halfway through the pack before a shirtless man struck up a conversation.
"Nearly there," he panted.
"Nearly where?" I asked.
"The top! The end of the road."
The Grenen is the end of the North Sea Route, or the beginning, depending on your preferred direction of travel.
This cycle team had slogged north from Holland ? "apart from one bit on a train", the man admitted.
"You can ride in with us. We will be having a party." And so I rode in to the Grenen car park with the real cyclists as they rang their bells and whooped for joy and relief at having made it to "the top".
People stared and smiled and wondered how one cyclist had come so far on a shopping cycle with no panniers. I parked my bike, left the team to their celebrations and walked through the dunes and along the beach to the very tip of Denmark, a serene place where the Skagerrak and Kattegat straits meet in a scrappy confusion of wavelets lapping over the sandbank.
Ankle-deep in cool water and under a huge open sky, I promised myself I would come back to Denmark and cycle the North Sea Route, and arrive here at the end of the journey, exhausted and exhilarated and desperate for another plate of pickled herring.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Transmission: ten-speed
Power: 420bhp
Torque: 624Nm
Price: Dh325,125
On sale: Now
RESULTS
6.30pm: Emirates Holidays Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner: Lady Snazz, Richard Mullen (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).
7.05pm: Arabian Adventures Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Zhou Storm, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
7.40pm: Emirates Skywards Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Rich And Famous, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
8.15pm: Emirates Airline Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Rio Angie, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: Emirates Sky Cargo (TB) Dh 92,500 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Kinver Edge, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
9.15pm: Emirates.com (TB) Dh 95,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Firnas, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
Stage results
1. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Deceuninck-QuickStep 4:39:05
2. Michael Matthews (AUS) Team BikeExchange 0:00:08
3. Primoz Roglic (SLV) Jumbo-Visma same time
4. Jack Haig (AUS) Bahrain Victorious s.t
5. Wilco Kelderman (NED) Bora-Hansgrohe s.t
6. Tadej Pogacar (SLV) UAE Team Emirates s.t
7. David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ s.t
8. Sergio Higuita Garcia (COL) EF Education-Nippo s.t
9. Bauke Mollema (NED) Trek-Segafredo s.t
10. Geraint Thomas (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers s.t
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Results
Stage 7:
1. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal - 3:18:29
2. Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep - same time
3. Phil Bauhaus (GER) Bahrain Victorious
4. Michael Morkov (DEN) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5. Cees Bol (NED) Team DSM
General Classification:
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates - 24:00:28
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers - 0:00:35
3. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 0:01:02
4. Chris Harper (AUS) Jumbo-Visma - 0:01:42
5. Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo - 0:01:45
Aggro%20Dr1ft
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Harmony%20Korine%3Cbr%3EStars%3A%20Jordi%20Molla%2C%20Travis%20Scott%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%202%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Diriyah%20project%20at%20a%20glance
%3Cp%3E-%20Diriyah%E2%80%99s%201.9km%20King%20Salman%20Boulevard%2C%20a%20Parisian%20Champs-Elysees-inspired%20avenue%2C%20is%20scheduled%20for%20completion%20in%202028%3Cbr%3E-%20The%20Royal%20Diriyah%20Opera%20House%20is%20expected%20to%20be%20completed%20in%20four%20years%3Cbr%3E-%20Diriyah%E2%80%99s%20first%20of%2042%20hotels%2C%20the%20Bab%20Samhan%20hotel%2C%20will%20open%20in%20the%20first%20quarter%20of%202024%3Cbr%3E-%20On%20completion%20in%202030%2C%20the%20Diriyah%20project%20is%20forecast%20to%20accommodate%20more%20than%20100%2C000%20people%3Cbr%3E-%20The%20%2463.2%20billion%20Diriyah%20project%20will%20contribute%20%247.2%20billion%20to%20the%20kingdom%E2%80%99s%20GDP%3Cbr%3E-%20It%20will%20create%20more%20than%20178%2C000%20jobs%20and%20aims%20to%20attract%20more%20than%2050%20million%20visits%20a%20year%3Cbr%3E-%20About%202%2C000%20people%20work%20for%20the%20Diriyah%20Company%2C%20with%20more%20than%2086%20per%20cent%20being%20Saudi%20citizens%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
MATCH DETAILS
Chelsea 4
Jorginho (4 pen, 71 pen), Azpilicueta (63), James (74)
Ajax 4
Abraham (2 og), Promes (20). Kepa (35 og), van de Beek (55)
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
AL%20BOOM
%3Cp%20style%3D%22text-align%3Ajustify%3B%22%3E%26nbsp%3B%26nbsp%3B%26nbsp%3BDirector%3AAssad%20Al%20Waslati%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%20style%3D%22text-align%3Ajustify%3B%22%3E%0DStarring%3A%20Omar%20Al%20Mulla%2C%20Badr%20Hakami%20and%20Rehab%20Al%20Attar%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EStreaming%20on%3A%20ADtv%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%203.5%2F5%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
