Town festival day

August 27, 2015Leave a comment

Today was the town shooting festival! We woke up to fresh bread rolls and honey, kindly left by the tent by Iris – delicious! Then we had a lazy morning around the hotel enjoying a cup of tea and skyping our families.

Then it was time to head into the village. We had heard that things kicked off in town around midday, but when we got there at 12:30, there was nothing really going on. We asked someone what was happening and he said it’s all over already! Such German efficiency! But the festivities continue in the hall up the road, so off we went to the hall.

When we got there, there was a large group of people in uniform standing in rows listening to someone talking. Then the band among them played whilst the people in their fine regalia marched down towards the hall past us.

Parade of fancy dresses and uniform

More parading – with flags!

The highlight of the festival is that there’s a carved wooden eagle wearing a crown and holding a sceptre. The eagle gets shot down over the course of the evening – anyone can buy a shooting ticket and take a shot at it. When it eventually comes down (after hundreds and hundreds of tiny shots into the dense wood!), the person who took the last shot is the king of the hunters!

Wooden eagle with crown and sceptre

We chatted and drank beers in the sun for a few hours whilst the shooting got started. It was a lovely atmosphere with everyone milling around in their fancy outfits catching up with their village friends. There were bands playing and the beer was flowing!

In the late afternoon we decided to head off and get some chores done before we have to leave tomorrow morning. After shopping and laundry, we had a tasty dinner and headed for an early night with the sound of a nearby party going on in the background.

– Anna

Ponds and bison

August 22, 2015August 31, 2015Leave a comment

We were picked up at 7.15 this morning by Sophie and Jakob, and went to help them with the famous ponds. We didn’t know much about them this morning but we do now!

We drove through small forested valleys in the misty sunshine. As we came around one corner we saw a pack of wild boar with loads of piglets in tow heading towards the car. Apparently they get fed here, so when they see the pick-up truck they always head over in the hope of a free breakfast. We had been told that the wild boar here have a reproduction rate of 230% per year, and seeing all those piglets confirmed it for us. The boar are fed to stop them destroying crops over the winter, which keeps them happy, and also keeps the hunters happy, so everyone’s happy as far as I can tell. Except the ones that get shot I suppose.

Wild boar with piglets

We were heading along a forestry track when Jakob spotted a baby roe deer looking at us through the trees. It was a great safari!

Baby roe deer

When we arrived we found a small stream and several shallow hand-dug ponds, which were absolutely full of Elodea – a water plant that was introduced to Europe from America in 1836 and quickly spread across the continent, choking slow-moving waterways, outcompeting native species and removing nutrients from the system.

The job for the morning was to remove the Elodea, and another unwanted species – the grass in the picture – from the pond. We got some sexy waders and a rake each, and in we went!

Looking good!

It was hard work raking up big clumps of Elodea, checking them for fish and invertebrates, then chucking the plant material up on the bank. We could all see it was a pretty futile effort in the long run. Elodea will root from fragments of material, and there was no way we were going to get rid of all of it from the pond. I expect some of the stuff we chucked up the bank will just fall back in if it rains in the next few days as well. It’s a breathing space at best, and at worst we just went in and wrecked whatever habitat there was in the pond by raking through the bottom and removing all the hiding places. On the other hand if the Elodea is left to dominate the pond, it will choke out everything else anyway! Tough problem, but an interesting one!

Before

During

After

Once we’d finished dredging the pond we went back to the Prince’s castle where Jakob and Sophie are staying for Sophie to swap cars. It was pretty spectacular, all those bread trees obviously paid off!

The Prince’s residence

We went back to Olaf’s place to drop off the tools, and took the chance for a photo. Olaf says he can’t smile unless he’s had a couple of beers, but I think he almost managed it here!

Jakob, Sophie, Anna and Olaf

We said bye to the interns and wished them luck with their year working in the forest. I’m slightly jealous of them, although I don’t envy all the pond clearing they’ll have to do. It reminded me a bit of the movie Holes.

Anna and I went back to the campsite for lunch, after which Olaf came to collect us and took us to Wisent Welt for the bison tour. We met 30 employees of the local water company who were on a work day out. We wandered round the enclosure with Olaf telling us about the history of the area. It was totally deforested for timber and charcoal burning, and was subsequently replanted with spruce and beech for timber. Now, the spruce is still dominant but there are some areas where mixed forest is being allowed to come back.

As we got near the end of the walk we came across the bison relaxing in the shade in a small valley. It was great to see them again after the Netherlands experience, although it was different to have a fence in between you and the animals. The bull was obviously massive, but somehow looked smaller behind the fence. I think it’s a good stepping stone for people to start to accept these animals though – especially to help people be less afraid. The bison are so chilled out, they didn’t really take any notice of us at all, although we got quite close. I think the biggest problem will be that people try to feed them!

Big bull

Tourist

After saying goodbye to our tour-mates we sat down for a beer and a chat with Olaf and the other Bison Ranger, Joachim. I was interested to know Joachim’s career path since Bison Ranger seems a bit of a niche; it turned out he worked with big farm animals before. We asked Joachim how he saw the bison project developing now that a population has been released into the wild here. He said that he hoped they would just become part of the fauna of Germany, like the red deer and wild boar. He thinks this would have to include hunting of the bison. Because the bison tend to form herds of females that are serviced by only one bull, the breeding programmes at the moment often have a surplus of young bulls. He thinks this will also be the case in the wild. So the young bulls will be good candidates for population control through hunting. We wondered what would have happened to those young bulls historically, whether they might form bachelor groups, but the Rangers didn’t know. We also asked about damage to property, and Joachim said that the red deer already cause some damage, but because they are hunted, people don’t tend to mind too much. He thinks this will eventually be the same with the bison.

Been a tough week!

We asked Olaf about the ponds, who built them and why. He said that the Prince (who is now in his eighties) was sent to Sweden during the war, where he saw a lot of ponds and bird life. When he came home he decided he wanted the same thing, so he started digging. Olaf said that when he started work as a lumberjack around 35 years ago he saw a guy digging in the woods with a spade. He asked his colleagues “Who’s that idiot?” to be told “Shhh, that’s your Prince!”. When the Prince’s son was old enough he was taken to the woods to help digging “whether he liked it or no”. The Prince has had a great result from his ponds; the black stork has now returned to the area and there are now six breeding pairs. All he has to do now is figure out how to get rid of the waterweed….

After our beer, Olaf showed us the visitor centre and seminar room, which is decorated with paintings done by Olaf’s father. They’re really good! Apparently there isn’t much work as a lumberjack over winter, so Olaf’s dad started painting, and now 50 years later he’s great! Olaf said that his dad has massive chunky workman’s fingers, but when people ask how he can paint with those hands he says “I use a brush….”.

We got dropped at our campsite by Olaf and his wife, and decided it’d be rude not to have another beer. So that was four beers before dinner. Tomorrow is the festival for the area’s shooting (not hunting) clubs in town so we agreed to meet up again at midday to watch the procession. Now we just have to stagger to the tent.

– Dave

Working hard and bison hunting

August 22, 2015August 31, 2015Leave a comment

Today we met Olaf at 8am and he drove us to Bison World (Wisent Welt). There’s a car park, a cafe and a natural play park there at the entrance to the bison enclosure. We met the two interns working in the natural play park. Sophie and Jakob are three weeks into their year-long internship. They have both just finished school and are getting enthusiastically stuck into the work here. Today they built a wood shed – and it looks very nice too!

Sophie and Jakob building a wood shed

Wood shed

Under Olaf’s instructions, we helped move logs around, stacking wet ones to dry and dry ones in the wood shed. Then we all set to work building a wooden xylophone for the natural play park. It turned out half well, the longer logs making nice sounds, whilst the shorter ones were more like ‘donk’.

First attempt at a wooden xylophone

In the afternoon, Sophie and Jakob took us out in the pickup to look for the wild bison! We didn’t manage to find them, but we had a nice walk in the area and nice chats. There is such dense forest over such a large area, I think our chances were slim!

Looking really hard for the bison

We learned a lot about the forestry here today. The trees that are planted are mostly spruce trees, although there are some areas planted with beech. None of the wood here is of particularly high quality, and most is sold for firewood or wood chips. The spruce trees grow fast and make the most money (it’s called the Bread Tree) whilst the beeches grow very slowly. Some of the beeches that look quite small are actually 150 years old! The poor soil and elevation are to blame for that. But the area was historically beech forest with other deciduous species too, so some areas of beech plantation are protected – they can be cut down as long as the area is replanted with beech.

On our walk, we saw where the bison had eaten away at the beech bark, which they love! The foresters get quite upset by the damage because the trees are so old and they weren’t due to be harvested for some time, which means that their children’s or grandchildren’s inheritance is effectively being damaged. They get compensated for the damage (the value of which is judged by an independent party), and they can then sell the timber, but they still feel bad about the whole thing.

Some damages are quite small, but others look pretty bad.

Minor bison damage marked for valuation

At the end of the day, we got dropped off back at our tent. We were pretty tired and cooked ourselves dinner before showering and having a beer before bed. Hmm.

Tomorrow we’re in for an early start but we will definitely see the bison because we’re doing a tour of the enclosure!

-Anna

Rothaargebirge

August 20, 2015August 31, 2015Leave a comment

I’ve been on a boat in the Netherlands for the last few days seeing my mates from home. It’s been awesome; one of them is finally near home after a year and a half travelling, another managed to tear himself away from his young family for a few days and another, who is a teacher, used some of his precious summer holiday to come out. Nothing’s changed when we meet up, except there are more stories to tell, more “wisdom” to share and more hilarious injuries / mishap. Good times.

Yesterday Anna and I met up again in Bad Berleburg, Germany. It took me 9 hours on four trains to get here, although I guess that beats five days cycling! It was worth it though, I have to admit I did miss her a bit.

This morning we went to meet Coralie at her office in Bad Berleburg. Coralie is the Bison Researcher at Wisent Welt (Bison World). Wisent Welt is a project that has re-introduced European Bison into a managed-forest environment here in western Germany. The idea came from Prince Richard Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg who owns a large part of the land in this district and decided it would be better with bison on it. In 2010 the first bison were introduced to the forest, where they were kept within a fenced enclosure. In 2013, a group of eight bison were released from the enclosure into the wild.

The first stage of the project is coming to a close, and Coralie is really busy writing up the project report. She still found time to spend the morning with us explaining the project and talking through some of the successes and challenges that the bison have presented. It was really interesting and I wish I could remember it all, but here are some of the highlights.

The project area is very close to the border of two districts. There was broad approval of the project from the district where the Prince lives. In the neighbouring district, approval was markedly less, but still 50% of people asked were in favour. Tourists are over 95% in approval.

Since the release of the bison into the wild there have been some conflicts with local landowners. Bison like to eat the bark of trees, and when people are growing trees for timber they prefer the bark to stay on. In each year since the release, there have been about €10,000 paid out in damages from the bison. There are no figures yet to show how this matches up to the tourist revenue generated from the bison, but I suspect the tourists are bringing in more. I guess the trick is to make the bison pay in all sectors of the economy, rather than costing in one and paying in another.

The reintroduction of the bison has been monitored to detect potential impacts on other species in the area. There have been no negative impacts documented so far. In a small positive impact, the bison dung have been shown to support a higher population of dung beetles than is supported by the domestic and other wild herbivores in the area.

After lunch Coralie had to go back to her report, so we got on the bikes and cycled to Wingeshausen, which is where we will camp for the next few days. We’re just outside the village across the road from a hotel and next to the trout ponds! We met up with Olaf, who is one of the Rangers here and will be showing us round for the next few days. After saying hello he left us to ourselves, so we got some dinner and an early night, expecting to be put to work tomorrow.

– Dave

Rain, hills and mud

August 20, 2015August 20, 2015Leave a comment

When I went to bed it was raining. When I woke up it was raining. When I was packing away it was raining. I ate breakfast in the damp vestibule of the tent, staring at the wet grass. Thankfully the campsite had a laundry room, so I hung out the inner tent and ground sheet to dry whilst I was packing everything else away. The outer shell of the tent was completely soaked inside and out. My shoes were sodden, my bags were all damp and, by this time, the dry clothes I’d put on in the morning were wet again too.

I was finally ready to leave around 10:30, it was still raining. I rode the 4km back along the dead-end road I was on (without taking the cycle path this time!) and joined the main road.

My breaks had worn down so much yesterday that they now were barely slowing me down, let alone stopping me! But if ever I’d had the feeling like I was in the middle of nowhere, it was here. There wasn’t really anything except managed woodlands, farms and tiny villages. But perhaps the next village has a bike shop? You never know.

Luckily it was uphill to the next village. A lot of uphill. But there was no bike shop there. Luckily it was uphill again to the following village. So much uphill! I hope I find one before I have to go down again…

Worn out brakes

I saw a man on his bike collecting his son from Kindergarten and asked about bike shops. He said there was one in the very next village, only 3km away – hurrah! He was even going that way for a bit, so we rode together uphill and chatted between catching our breath, neither willing to slow the other one down. When he had to turn off, he pointed me on a small road through the fields and gave me directions to the bike shop.

After the fields, I came to the top of a hill with a warning sign that the descent was 12%. Gulp. I pulled over to try and make the best of my shitty brakes. They were worn down so far past the wear line that they were giving off weird grey goo when they scraped on the rims. I tightened them up so that I could at least use them and hoped that they wouldn’t wear out completely and ruin my rims on the way down.

This sign…

…made this face

It was a steep hill but not that long and I made it down, letting the front brakes off half way down because they started making a funny noise. Now I was in a tiny village. This place has a bike shop? I rode along ‘main street’, that was nothing but fancy country houses, took a side street past some more houses, then there it was – quite a big bike shop! But it was closed until 3pm. I phoned the number on the door, explained my predicament and the man said, “Wait, I’ll be right there.”. And no sooner had he hung up than he was walking up the street towards me! The shop belongs to his son, but he just lives next door and works here occasionally too.

He replaced both pairs of brake blocks and I was ready to hit the road again! The way I had to go out of town was UP a 13% hill. Shit, how is there so much uphill today? I struggled to get up it – it was almost 1 km of 13%. Then there was a short, gentle downhill to the next town. Then straight back up again.

Leaving Medebach, I saw a bike sign for Winterberg, where I was heading. From there, it said 22 km – about the same as taking the road. So off I went along the cycle route. (Haven’t I learned anything these last few days?!)

To my happy surprise, it was a beautiful new paved cycle path through the countryside. Up and down a few crazy inclines, through the fields, still in the pissing rain. Then the path went past a farm and turned into a gravel track. Then across a narrow wooden bridge over a river. Then along a wet, muddy, overgrown trail. It was hard work pedalling through the mud, over rocks, around puddles, through puddles. I even had to ford a fucking stream – my feet got dunked and everything! Not that they were any wetter as a result.

Back on a proper road, or is it a river?

Then back onto a gravel track, then back onto a small road, phew. At this point, a few cars went past me. Where the hell they were coming from, I hadn’t the faintest clue. But we were all heading to the main road, so I knew I was close.

Finally I came out onto the proper road and the sign said Winterberg 4 km. Salvation awaits! A bus full of pensioners went by and I waved and grinned at them from under my soggy raincoat. Straight away on the road to salvation, I was going uphill again. My tired, unenthusiastic legs weren’t exactly eating up the road. ‘At this rate, I’ll be there in an hour’, I thought jokingly to myself.

It actually wasn’t a bad guess – it took 45 minutes, because it was uphill all the way. I must have gained a bit of altitude today!

I arrived in Winterberg and rode down the main street, past enticing hotels and restaurants towards the campsite. The campsite was quite out the way and I kept taking wrong turns, unable to check the tablet without being under cover. After another half an hour of back and forth and up and down, I found it. And the office was closed.

By this time, I’d really had enough of the whole thing and the thought of getting the sodden tent out in the fucking rain was unappealing to say the least. My feet were cold and all my skin was rain-wrinkled. I turned around and headed for a hotel.

After hanging all my stuff in the ski room to dry (so gloriously warm!), I enjoyed a shower that didn’t run out after 4 minutes and did my laundry. Then I got myself a pizza and a beer and sat on the sofa in my room watching TV until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. Oh yeah, worth every penny.

-Anna

Three cheers for adversity

August 18, 2015Leave a comment

I was worried that today was going to be the most boring day so far because I didn’t have far to go, but luckily the day had better things in store. I woke up to the pitter patter of rain falling on the tent. I thought I could wait it out, but it just kept coming. Eventually I started packing up. Putting away a wet 3-person tent by yourself when you can’t lay it on the gritty ground is really hard!

At 11:30am I was ready to hit the road. But where should I go? Without any wifi, I couldn’t look up a cycle route to the National Park. So I found the cycle path I’d arrived on yesterday to look for a sign towards somewhere useful. There was a signpost for Wolfhausen, which was vaguely the right way, so I took it.

It started off as a lovely cycle path along an old railway line. Then it went on a cycle path along a road, which was also fine. Then I got into the next town and the signposts disappeared. I checked the map and took a likely-looking path through the woods. It was difficult navigating, especially in the rain when I can’t get the tablet too wet. There was nobody around anywhere, which seemed weird for a Sunday. Even when I arrived in Wolfhausen, it was really quiet.

I hadn’t gone that far yet but it was 1pm and I was hungry. Of course, it’s Sunday again and on Sunday EVERYTHING is closed. Except cafes and restaurants. So I headed for a Greek restaurant and the waiter immediately brought be a shot of their home-made cherry liqueur, which was delicious and did wonders for my cough! A tasty lunch and hot chocolate later and had my route in Google maps and was ready to go back outside in the rain (ugh).

Once I got out of town, the route was along a ‘cycle path’ through the forest. At first it was a lovely little paved road and I tried not to think about how creepy the forest looked. It was used for forestry so it was all dark underneath, with the occasional cut-down trunk looking a little too much like a person squatting in amongst the trees. If it had been sunny, it would have been fine, but it was dark and the hood on my raincoat made it hard to hear properly or use my peripheral vision, so it was all the creepier.

Then my smooth little road turned into a gritty little track. And I came to a junction that wasn’t on the map. And the way that Google said I was supposed to go said ‘private, no entry’. There was clearly nobody around and I got the feeling that I shouldn’t be there at all, like it was only logging trucks that ever came down here. Then I heard a car coming and saw that it was a camo-painted Landover. Who owns a camo-painted Landrover?! Definitely only serial killers. I wanted to hide somewhere when it drove past but I didn’t have time and only saw the passenger staring unsmilingly at me out the window and they turned off just ahead of me. I’m in a horror film.

I took the track that lead back to the road and tried not to get taken out by the trip-wires that the serial killers had undoubtedly left out for me. When I made it to the road, I felt so much better! A little bit of space between the trees let the light in from above over the wider road and I could hear a car coming. I happily rode along, making sure my back light was on and in position.

At the end of the road, I had to join a bigger road and pulled over to sort out my luggage. With the tent wet, I’d had to split everything up differently and the way it was packed was pretty unwieldy. There are two bags on top of each other on the rack behind my saddle and they kept sliding off to the side, so I kept having to put them back. I was busy doing a full re-shuffle that involved removing the bags and wriggling them around when a lady wound down her window to ask if I needed any help. “No, it’s all fine, but thanks for asking!” And I felt the warm glow you get when strangers help each other out for no reason other than kindness.

After just five minutes on the busier road, I had to head back onto a cycle track. This one was in really bad condition and an ominous sign read ‘cycling at your own risk’. I had to watch the ground so closely to avoid bumps and dips that I couldn’t really look around, so I could just feel the darkness of the forest around me and imagine the creepy things that were lurking there. And it was still pissing it down. Please no flat tyres here, please!

Eventually I met up with a proper road again and took it through a town, where I started to feel a lot better. There were some people around and even a shop that was open – and it was a camping shop! I took the opportunity to get a new can of camping gas before heading down a 4km-long dead end road to find the campsite.

There was one more cycle path to take before I arrived, and it was a good one! Whilst the road went gently downhill, I was led into the woods again, up a gentle incline, along the flat for a bit, then I saw a warning sign saying ‘cyclists dismount’. I peered out over the abyss that stood before me – an absolutely insane descent! My breaks were worse for wear on account of the constant rain and there was no way I was getting down it on the bike without incident. At the bottom on the hill, there was a 90-degree turn and the path was covered in wet leaves! I also couldn’t get off my bike and walk next to it, because I wouldn’t be able to control the unwieldy weight effectively from the side. So I stood straddling my bike with the brakes pulled full on and skidded cautiously down the hill at a snail’s pace. When I was almost at the bottom, I got back on in an attempt to gather some speed before the impending up-hill, but I hadn’t seen the huge rut in the track after the corner! Donk, donk! My unhappy wheels clattered down it and my back wheel skidded out on the gravel as I started to crunch my way uphill again. Man, touring is hard work!

When’s it going to stop raining?

Then, after the next corner, finally, there was the campsite! Somehow it’s 6pm by now, so I set up my tent, do my chores and head to the pub for a hard-earned pint. And perhaps a schnitzel.

– Anna

Route finding

August 18, 2015August 18, 2015Leave a comment

After yesterday’s experiences on the road, I was keen to take some proper cycle routes today. With Google maps ready and loaded in the morning, I set off along a recommended river route straight out of the campsite. It was really lovely – pink wildflowers blooming on the banks, the cycle path full of cheery weekend riders, the river carrying the occasional canoe past.

Riverside cycle route

After about 20 km I had to leave the riverside path, so I stopped for an apple on the banks to soak it in for five more minutes before heading into the woods. It was a good route in the end, all sign-posted and paved. I went through farmland, woodland and through villages. It was so nice and easy, I got a bit bored again.

Forest trail

Then, as if on cue, my cycle path ran out at the side of a country road and I had my work cut out for the last hour on the way to the campsite.

I arrived in one peace, pitched up, showered, laundried, ate the rest of my lunch and headed to the cinema! On the way there, I found a huge bramble bush by the roadside, untouched, berries glistening in the evening sun. I gorged myself on the sweet fruits, enjoying the flavour and the opportunism, but lamenting coming into the last weeks of summer. Then I got to the cinema and sat back for a few hours with a bag of popcorn to watch a predicable chick flick and forget about it all. Ahh.

Back at camp, I cooked up my pasta pesto and chatted to the other tourers – a Dutch couple on their 10^th summer tour and a guy on his annual 4-day escape from work and family. My cough got so bad that I couldn’t talk any more without aggravating it and the Dutch lady kindly gave me some sweets to calm it down before bed.

It’s nice in this part of Germany. The riding is easy, the people are friendly, the scenery is pretty good. But it is a bit dull. I mean, it’s not exactly Canada. I’m ready to arrive at the next project and meet up with Dave again! Still, 3 more days to go… and only 100km to the next stopping place! So I’m going to take a detour and visit a nearby National Park on the way, lest I arrive early.

– Anna

Mountains shmountains

August 18, 2015August 18, 20151 Comment

I slept fabulously and practically bounded out of bed when the alarm went off at 7am. Undoubtedly that was the result of my cakey dinner. I had a leisurely breakfast and took my time over packing up, but it was still all done in an hour. How is it quicker by yourself?

Unfortunately my swift exit was then stifled by the lack of internet. I diligently looked up the route for the day in Google maps last night, but this morning it was gone and I couldn’t get it back. So I had to try and look through my offline maps and figure out a route for myself. It didn’t go that well.

Roadside cycle path

I left town en route to the next town, taking a busy country road that had a cycle path alongside it, which was fine. There were a few gentle inclines to contend with, but nothing major. After 20 km I stopped for a break beside a quiet, leafy roundabout on the edge of town, ate half my pretzel and cream cheese and talked to numerous passers by.

“Where are you heading?”

“Eschershausen.”

“Oh my, you’ve got a few mountains to climb!”

“Oh yeah?”

“Oh boy, they’re steep! One of them is 12%!”

“Wow that is pretty steep.” [Thinking yeah, whatever, I’ve been over the Rockies, the Picos, the Pyrenees and the Alps. I think I can handle the ‘mountains’ here.]

I headed through town and took a cycle path alongside a main road. Then, at a junction, the cycle path ran out. I took the side road and the cycle signs pointed in a lot of directions, but none that I wanted to go in! A man who’d parked up his company truck for a cigarette break chatted to me about route options.

“Where are you heading?”

“Eschershausen.”

“Oh, you’ve got a few mountains to get over between here and there!”

“So I’ve heard.”

He recommended me a side road and off I went again to look for the mountains. And soon enough, there was my first one. It crept up on me, gradually at first, not even looking like an incline but slowing my down none the less, then steeper and steeper until granny gear was engaged and I was chugging up at 6kph. It was so muggy and I was sweating like crazy! I had to stop a few times on the way up for water breaks and to get my breath back. But really, it only went on for 2 km maximum – definitely not a mountain! Perhaps something bigger is coming, I thought. Then I remembered having to walk up the tiny but insanely steep hills in Exmoor and thought I suppose they don’t have to be that high to be really bad.

I zoomed down for a bit, then started climbing again. And then after a few ups and downs were done, I stopped for a little rest to eye up the next hill. This one was the biggest of the day – and whilst it was far from a mountain, it was still enough to have me working after a few weeks of beer festivals and beach holidays!

The cycle path had been coming and going some more between towns and I was missing it on this steep hill. The traffic was mostly good to me, but it’s stressful having to check the mirror all the time, adjust road positioning, thank drivers (or call them wankers, as appropriate), worry about getting knocked off and try to find places to pull in for a rest and to check directions. It was relatively busy and people drive quite fast on the country roads! I did manage to make sure that nobody could overtake me when there was oncoming traffic, and nobody blared their horn at me, so that’s something.

At the top of the biggest mountain, there was a café and I pulled in. When I got off the bike, I felt all weak and wobbly. How long since that half a pretzel? The oppressive heat really stops you feeling hungry! I got a fizzy drink and sat down to take on the sugar. Then I rolled down the other side of the hill and headed towards the campsite. Just one more stretch of busy road to go and I’m done for the day!

It was only 3pm when I arrived and I found myself without much to do in the evening! I showered, did laundry, chatted to some English people who I had zero in common with besides English, ate the rest of my lunch for dinner, finished my book and attempted to do yoga, but it was busy and I felt self-conscious. What do we usually spend our time doing? Thankfully there was free internet and I browsed unenthusiastically until bedtime. Then I didn’t really sleep at all because the tent was pitched on a hill so I kept sliding down my roll mat, and I’ve got an annoyingly tickly cough. At that point I was probably better off on my own with nobody to moan to!

– Anna

Start of solo tour

August 17, 2015Leave a comment

I left Celle around midday and headed southwest towards Hanover. I only planned to do about 50 km as an easy first day out. And it was pretty easy – no real hills, no real headwind, all on cycle paths. I got a bit bored of the lack of adversity.

Foraging on the way

Around 4pm I arrived at a campsite outside Hanover that was on a lake. It was pretty and relatively quiet so I set up, showered and headed out for supplies. It was so hot all day that I didn’t really feel hungry and I was probably quite dehydrated. The thought of eating pasta and pesto for dinner was not appealing, so I indulged my cravings! For tomorrow’s lunch, I got 6 apples, a large pretzel and a pot of cream cheese. And for tonight’s dinner, I got chocolate milk and strawberry cake. Haha!

– Anna

Memory lane

August 17, 2015August 20, 2015Leave a comment

When we left the Dutch dunes, we headed to Celle in northern Germany to spend a few days there. When I was aged 9-12, my family lived in Celle and I wanted to visit and show Dave where I spent some of my formative years! (Who knows whether some of my more Germanic traits are the cause of nature or nurture.)

We arrived to Celle station in the evening and rode to a family friend’s house. Nele, her husband Jost and their two boys were regular visitors to the Heslop house in Celle and Aberdeen (not sure who was following who around). I told Nele we were going to Celle and she invited us stay with her for a few days, although the boys were away. She welcomed us into their beautiful house with open arms, a delicious stir-fry dinner, beers and a catch-up.

We had a great few days exploring where I used to hang out with my family, eating delicious food, drinking some local beers, watching movies, chatting and sleeping in a big comfy bed!! The town is just as lovely as I remember it being. The old town is characterised by gorgeously wonky timber-framed buildings, and there are lots of green spaces. The flat where we used to live has a shared garden on the river and we used to spend our summers paddling a little boat upstream and drifting home.

In town

By the river

On the last morning, we were just getting ready to go when Jost came home and we got to catch up with him for a bit too! What a delightful visit.

Dave left that morning on a train back to Amsterdam to meet some school friends for a few days. One of the boy’s parents has a boat there and they plan to spend some time hanging out on a big lake, drinking beer and gambling (probably?).

Whilst he’s off enjoying himself with the boys, I’m cycling 300 km to the next project! Second solo tour, here I come…

– Anna