that I went on.
And whenever I feel inspired to do so, I’ll share some of the highlights here.
During a very nice day of our current Indian summer, I rode for about 17 kilometres. I got a little hot in my sweater and the pomace at the side of the tracks was particularly fragrant because of the warm weather. In German, this weather condition is called “Altweibersommer” which literally translates to “old women’s summer”. One of the two competing explanations, at least according to Wikipedia is that the name comes from the strings of spider silk that sheet weavers use to fly during this time, as they look like long white hair. Not only did I see many of those, I also collected quite a few on myself, my bike and my backpack! </span>
Permalink to the bike ride 2023-10-08
This one was quite windy. So much so that I had this Frisian folk song stuck in my head. As is usually my plan for windy rides, I went against the wind at first, so that I could enjoy the second half.
That strategy took me up a long hill, from where I could see some nice cloud formations that looked like long, puffy cucumbers. From their placement and shape, I assume they were caused by upwinds from the other hills, about which I also gathered some more knowledge thanks to some handy information boards. I also saw a few children flying kites in between the numerous wind turbines, that worked extra hard today to get me that sweet, sweet electricity!
Just before I turned around, I stumbled upon a nature reserve and an old vineyard hut that also had its own info board. When I was just about to cycle back, I saw some cars from the preservation group that built the reserve and went back to talk to them a bit. As it turns out, they had just set it up the previous day! Since they were there to check up on their work, they showed me around for a while before I started my way home, during which something in the bearings of my handlebar broke, making it practically impossible for me to go anywhere but straight ahead. That made navigating the dirt tracks way more interesting…
A small addendum: Apparently my handlebar was fixable by dis- and reassembling it. I got that done and bought 3 books downtown today, all for €25. So take it from me: Shop local! </span>