last week was sunny and warm with temperatures up to the high twenties (C). yesterday saw the rain clouds move through and chill everything off. despite this, I was determined to get my car-addled legs in to action, dusted the mountain bike off and headed up in to the mountains.
My view for most of the way up was broken by the handlebars of my bike. That is Grosser Solstein in the background (2541m/8337ft) - it was beautifully white capped in the morning.Some crazy idea had got in to my head and instead of looking for an easy route to start on, I headed for my local mountain, just two minuted ride from my house. This is a "black" route. Steep. And seemingly never ending. Not sure why I bothered wearing fancy cycling pants 'cos they hardly got a whiff of my saddle - I ended up pushing my bike for the better part of 3 hours all the way up to Neue Magdeburger Hütte, flanking one of my favorite mountains in the whole wide world (Großer Solstein).
Boy did I enjoy lazing in the sun up at the hut. And a great big plate full of food did me good too.It was great to do some exercise again, and to hear some of my favorite local birds.
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6 comments:
Hi Dale,
I guess this is still the kind of expedition that you enjoy! But pushing a bike for three hours ;-) I would instead have simply walk ;-)
Dont you wish you were back in Africa where summer is starting instead of winter? :)
So I guess that's snow amongst all that green. It is a beautiful mountain. But I don't understand why you took the bike if you were going to walk.
Chris and Gaelyn, you have a point - it does not seem to make too much sense but two things were at play:
1. I remember the climb from a time when I was super-fit and cycling up impossibly steep roads was just what I did (so I dont remember it as being so bad - or so long),
2. having a bike at the top means that you get to ride it all the way down again! and that was worth every little drop of sweat on the way up!!!
Joan, dont talk to me about African summers. My body is already not so impressed with me that it has not had a real summer for two years. grrr. I try not to think about it.
Dale
Good for you not to take the easy route up! Hope you're having a nice weekend!
Great detail Dale!!!! Stellar captures as always, also congrats on your new position.
Kevin
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