"The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see." ~G.K. Chesterton
I started my day pretty early, around 6 am. After
my rather quick breakfast, I took some pictures of the sunrise over the
beautiful country and set off for the journey. I was really behind my schedule
– for that day I had planned 115 km and supposing that I was 25 km lagging
behind (again, wildly inaccurate measurements on my precious digital map),
I knew I would not make it, but my goal was to make as much as
possible.
Biking in the morning when not a soul is around
has its specific charm. Just you, your bike, nature and the track. All your
busy thoughts just wither away and you find yourself in a state of an empty
mind – it is like meditation. No past, no future, no hopes, no fear, no
thoughts, just you and the very presence of the moment.
This day has undoubtedly taken me through the most
beautiful trails so far. Even though the most difficult, but it was still worth
it. The nature was absolutely stunning! It is funny to say that I went
through places where the others go to spend active holidays.
However, this amazing scenery took its price, too.
I was incredibly tired after catching up on my debt from yesterday and
I barely made more than 20 km from the new day by the noon. Moreover, this
time my left knee started to act up and I was really afraid that it would
be a harbinger of something more serious. This was a clear signal to
take a lunch break, so I did. I stuffed myself with calories
(beans, bread, 500 g ice-cream, biscuits) and left for the ride.
In the afternoon I got once again hopelessly lost
due to my own stupidity. I went to the McDonald's at the outskirt of the
town and wanted to make my life easier by planning “a little detour “. However,
I did not have any map downloaded for this detour and I could only guess what
could come. So I went straight to the woods, then to even bigger woods and in
the end I was biking on an extremely difficult trail from which every
heart of an MTB-biker would leap, but mine was just shaken - only my luggage
leapt which was, of course, not desirable.. Fortunately, I found the way
out of the woods after an hour or so and then I wandered only on paved
roads. I was even further behind the schedule; therefore, I wanted to make the
most of the day and biked until the dusk.
One of the worst biking experiences is riding in the
dark on a poorly marked road where you can easily get lost. Does not matter
how well your GPS works, it has no use if you have 4 or 5 roads in the same direction
and you frantically go astray several times. It goes without saying that it is
extremely frustrating to come to the last known point, especially if you are
tired as hell. I was in similar situations almost the whole day, but
in the evening it was even worse. That evening I also met a stranger
from California who just wandered to Germany. He did help me with the way, but
was incredibly garrulous – still talking about the movie industry, illuminati,
freemasons and how they all ruined his life which was not very pleasant to the
ear. I tried to make an early escape, but it was not so easy because I always have some stupid questions that can turn some people on for
another half an hour of monotonous explanations. Fortunately, the way from
there was very straightforward – obviously, I was in the Switzerland, it
figures. My final evening mission was to get to the outskirt of a big Swiss
town and far enough from the public eye. What an irony that I lost my way
in the city for countless times until I arrived at a place where
I could stay. It was already midnight and I was so tired that I
simply gave up on building a tent and slept in my sleeping bag on
a bench in an abandoned parking lot.
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