15.09.2023 Netherlands, the good parts

 I havent spent a lot of time in the Netherlands and I wasn't expecting much.

Yet it seems like the country has a lot to offer.

There is a certain architecture which persists in small towns similar to German which use this 'brick' design of the houses and buildings.

I started to follow Fietserpad, which is a famous cycling path going from north to south of the country. Seems a bit weird because almost everything in the Netherlands IS a cycling path :)

This route led me across several national parks which are forest areas and the route uses mostly paved roads or paths.

If you find yourself in one of these national parks it would be quite easy to wild camp and its very quiet, since the rest of the country is pretty much populated. 

Here is was quite rainy but I had a lot of sun in Netherlands as well.

A lot of windmills here but there were also present in Denmark a lot.

I ended up sleeping one night on one of those water facilities (like a small dam) very close to German border. It wa sa nice find, half an hour before sunset (and a nice sunsert it was!). 

The place ended up being very quiet with no residental houses few hundred meters in any direction.

Magical mornings

Bridge reflection

Mighty churches, this one didnt even fit into the picture.

Monument Mens Tegen Macht in Arnhem

About the Netherlands quite amazing cycling infrastructure, speaking to Tom ( my Warmshowers host in the town of Deventer ),  I said the infrastructure in Netherlands was almost too much ( you get confused sometimes with all the lanes) but after I left Netherlands, I see even bigger reason and thats the fact that if you get used to such infrastructure, when you go to any other country, it will feel like their infrastructure is seriously lacking, ( which is not) so better dont go to Netherlands at all :) 

A film night which I spent which my Warmshowers host Tom in the town of Deventer. 

Strangely , in supermarkets in the Netherlands you can find a lot of super quality peanut butter at very cheap prices ( which is not the case in most other countries in Europe) . As soon as I entered the first store in the Netherlands I immediately bought 1kg of super tasty peanut butter for 5 euro ( which is like Poland prices ).

Peanut butter was not lacking in the Netherlands :)

One thing I also liked vey much is bread with raisins which is also available in supermarkets. I would just eat it on its own with no need for other ingredients like a jam for example.

Here you can see examples of trash cans located along the cyclist paths ( yes, they look like basket in basketball ). 

As soon as I saw one it made me smile. The point is obvious, you should be able to throw garbage passing by on a bicycle. Of course most people dont do this neither I have.

A few pictures of the city of Ultrecht in the Netherlands through which I have passed.

Riding the Merwede Canal

18.09.2023 A free shelter in the Netherlands

 A free shelter in the Netherlands you say? Yes, it does exist:) 

After yesterday's half slept night in public park when the police woke me in half of the night, luckily after seeing my ID card, they wished me luck with my trip and I managed to get some sleep.

But I picked the spot completely wrong. Komoot brought me to shelter in that park but it ended up being only some kind of desk table with half a roof.

I did enjoy the evening on several available tables and first I wanted to sleep in the woods because this shelter would not protect me from the rain which was forecasted for the night and morning.

But everything was wet in the evening, all the grass and whenever there is supposed to be rain I always try to find a roof over my head, because there is nothing worse than having all your sleeping gear wet in the morning.

Before bed I somehow decided to cramp my tent under that table and hope maybe I manage to avoid most of the rain.

But in the morning water got partly underneath my tent and still managed to get most stuff wet so I would say pucking tjat spot wasy mistake ( especially considering police could and did see me from the parking lot).

If I stayed in the woods I would be wet pretty much the same but would probably avoid the police waking me up in the middle of the night. Not sure if they were walking around on foot or just saw me from the car.

Btw that desk under the roof reminds me of one night in Norway last year where I managed to find very nice place by the lake one evening, and it had similar type of shelter only partially covered by roof. As it was supposed to rain that night, after eating dinner I decided to sleep right on the table, which would almost protect me from the rain completely. So I didn't use tenr but placed the sleeping pad and sleeping bag directly on the table .

I did use a tarp as well to cover only one side since I knew the direction of the wind and this also helped to keep me completely dry that night.

Funny thing, the Norwegian bike tourer I traveled a bit in Norway ( but we didn't always stay together) saw me the next morning still sleeping on the table, and when I told him the story where I slept one night, he immediately replied: Oh, that was you, I have seen you!

Back to today's real shelter which I found accidentally. It was going to rain again, and it did rain several times during the day, I saw some shelter quite far away, I didn't believe in the morning I was going to reach it, but as the day progressed, and all the little things that happened that day, I slowly but surely kept going towards that shelter. 

Its called Griendwerkershut.

And I must say shelter is really nice, easily reachable, few minutes of grassy path after paved road ends. 

There is no drinking water but aside from that, shelter has it all.

Feels like a mountain shelter compared to all the shelters in Denmark and Finland.

Quite a nice day today, and although I havent slept that well last night, I felt good all day. I managed to find one of those recreational equipment in some local park ( there was also and fingerboard :) 

I also dried my sleeping gear while doing dome exercising.

The headwind today however was very strong, the strongest so far I have experienced in Netherlands. Therefore I decided not to go through Rotterdam and coastline bridges I initially planned because the wind tomorrow is also strong and coming from SW so it would kill me.

Today I also changed rear brake pads. These are now second new pads since the beginning of the trip. Less than last year to Norway which was very hilly.

As for the rear shifter, it's moving quite a bit, I think I will manage to add another zip tie higher up to keep it stable. I still have to check if this plastic that broke can be replaced ( somehow doubt it).

I bought nice sliced ready to eat vegetables today (onion and similar content), it was quite a big pack and on discount so I decided to go for it for change. I havent managed to eat it all for dinner how big it was.

The newly bought non sticking pan is working well so far. It is actually the same as my previous cooking set from Primus which lasted a really long time. 

I haven't been able to use my laptop for a few days now, but tomorrow I can work from this shelter in the morning. 

I only wish I bought yoghurt since I love oats and yoghurt in the morning.

17.09.2023 How many battle scars can my bike get?

 How many battle scars can my bike get?

Today is the worst day since the beginning of my trip ( which is now almost 2 months on the road)

I have been in the Netherlands for a few days now and although I havent been expecting much ( I am more of just passing through, more looking forward to seeing France ), these few days have actually been very pleasant, and yesterday I was at a host in town of Deventer who took me at open film festival, but today misfortune and human misbehavior completely ruined it for me.

I left my bike leaned onto some flower stand next to the store I wanted to go in ( in a lack of a better place). When I finally got out of the store I saw my bike tipped over and flower stand missing, I was gutted.
When you see a bike like that it's never a pleasant feeling ( especially if its loaded with luggage) but to my worst surprise when I went to pick it up, first I saw that the rear shifter handle is completely broken.

I admit its my fault partially for leaving the bike leaned over this flower stand, but this doesnt change the fact that the woman completely lied and denied for what happened ever after I have asked several times who moved the flower stand and why did my bike fall over, only kept repeating its my fault for what has happened ( and I was in the store next by all the time).

I would at least expect from a grown up person to come to me, say what happened and can I help in some way, not trying to play cluelles and make an idiot of me.
I told her several times that she could just have waited several minutes maybe or ask anybody on the street ( and a lot of people were passing ) to help her move my bike anywhere. I dont even know if she just threw the bike so she can bring her flower stand back into the store or she tried to move it and fell in the process and I dont even want to know.

With all the people on the street it was quite a scene.
I even got a "Welcome to Nederlands" from a passer by ( he was trying to be sympatetic which didnt helped nor made me smile of course).

These kind of events sometimes make me want to quit everything I am doing, because if all humans were to behave in such rotten way, what are we left with?

My right Tiagra shifter was broken, and even part of the fenders were cracked ( they are old fenders but still cost money).

Luckily when I later tried to put it back in place ( except for the few broken plastic bits that fell out) , the shifter was miraculously still in the working state and I managed to add one zip tie to the bottom of it to keep everything in one place. That's the only place where I could add a zip tie, because the top of the shifter is a moving part for the brake.

How many battle scars can my bike have?

I had this for 3 years now, it travelled 20000 km only counting touring with luggage with anything from 10 kg (for short trips) to 30+ kg of luggage for longest ones.
It had fell over a lot of times over these years, mostly being leaned over somewhere and the wind simply managed to knock it over, no matter how much I tried to lean it opposite of wind direction to prevent this from happening in the first place.
I had one of two crashes in this period ( from what I remember) where I managed to fly over the bars.
I use it, and abuse it because luggage + my weight make it way over the manufacturers weight limit as it is.

17 7 2023 Planjava Brana Okrešelj Križ

One training day in Kamnik alps (which is the shortest way for me to get in the alps from home). I call it training because I have been here many times so everything is very familiar and no so exiting as it was years ago unfortunately.

The plan was to attempt Planjava - Brana - Mrzla gora - Kranjska Rinka, if the conditions permit. Conditions in this case being the heat, because its the middle of the summer and and quite hot these days. Luckily the day was saved when the clouds gathered in the middle of the day powered by wind and the temperature sudddenly became perfect which is what you want. This laster for good couple of hours, making the hiking very pleasant. The water was (almost) abundant though the day because the snow is still melting and you can find weater sources everywhere.

Route through Grapa za Vrati. It the variation from Srebrno sedlo and its perfect for summer because the whole way its in shade. Actually its perfect in winter as well when condition meet :)

On the top of Planjava, view towards Zahodni greben Planjave, which is the other peak easily accessible from the standard peak using the sinple path. Definitely worth visiting.

Descent towards Kamničko sedlo. You can see the clouds in action which made the conditions and the temperature perfect in the middle of the day.

On the top of Brana. Met group from Međimurje here. They were quite excited that the clouds finally broke up a bit and the view opened because it was quite cloudy on the peaks for a while.

View towards Turksa gora (left), Mrzla gora (right)

Descent from Brana

Kamničko sedlo, Ojstrica visible in the distance.

Mrzla gora in all its glory.

After Okrešelj I decided to skip Mrzla gora, because the day suddenly became hot again, clouds have dissapeared, and I would not have energy and time to do Mrzla gora as well. In the end I needed to get back to my car which was still very far away and I was not ready to suffer that much.

So after Okrešelj I went directly to Koroška Rinka, Križ via ferrata route to Ledine. This on its own was already a big climb. Aftrwards I confirmed the doubts (I did not have :) that there was no way I managed to do Mrzla gora that day as well. The day would lenghten long in the darkness if I went that way.

Velika Baba

Top of Koroška Rinka and around 19 o'clock. It was actually quite cold on the top because the wind was blasting and I did not even had the windbraker.

In the end I descended to the car right before the dark and ended with quite a big blister on my left foot. I guess I took the wrong shoes. And again I did not brake 4000 meters of elevation :)

All in all a good day, some washing in the bloody cold river of Kamniška Bistrica and some peanut butter before sitting in the car and driving home.

 

10 7 2023 Kukova Špica Škrnatarica Dovški Križ

Day started hot, too hot .  I also started too late (around noon ) because I drove from home that day. Its my first time on this route. Parking lot was empty so I knew most probably I wont meet anybody which is almost to be expected on this part of the Julian alps, especially over the week. Thats a good and the bad, depending how you look at it. If you want a crowd, going to Triglav at any route is your best bet always. If you are looking for peace and quiet, this is the place to be, like most other non marked hiking routes, or like Slovenian call them "brezpotja", translated roughly like "no paths". There are paths ofcourse, but they are just not marked.

View on the Triglav. The path is clearly visible on start and goes through the forest at the beginning,  which is great becuase its in shade. Later it exits the forest and becomes pretty much standard loose rock uphill battle. Those familiar know that the route from Plaz Črlovec to Kukova špica is actually best done in winter, when all the gullies get covered with snow and in good conditions it becomes a joy to climb up directly though the gully. 

On the top of Kukova Špica. The view is pretty serene and worth any efforts. Triglav on the left in th distance,  Škrnatarica on the right, on which we are going next.

Better view of Škrnatarica with a might amphitheater on the right.

We chose approximate free style route on the right marked in red dots. There are many options. Official route goes through the gully on the left, which still has some snow, but its duable as well.

On the top of Škrnatarica. What this picture does not show is that to get to the actual top of Škrnatarica you need to free climb roughly 5 meters of steep rock (around grade III). The same goes when you want to come down, which then gets even harder. I managed to get around this when going up, because if you dont go through the gully, but instead you free climb right, you get straight t

Beautiful amphitheater right of Dovški Križ

Better view of Triglav, which is usually not the most beautiful peak (whcih will many people tell you), but from this angle, it looks quite good. Its probably the best angle to look at Triglav. Also the huge 3 kilometer long rocky north face of Triglav is always impressive.

Crossing the ridge towards Dovški Križ actually requires the rope for many abseils along the way. The path is equipped with abseil points, if oyu have the rope of course. Alternative it the go down  and left of the ridge where the path is almost normal most of the way and you can get along without needing the rope or anything else.

Mountain flowers along the way.

On the top of Dovški Križ. Looking back from the ridge we came from.

Heading down. Bivouac (orignall called Bivak na Jezerih) visible on the right. This place is called Šplevta. 

Last good view of Triglav before heading down the steep route of Poldov Rovt, which has a lot of loose rock on the way. Loose stony debris on a slope we call "sipar". This is a good way to come down fast but only if have real high mountian shoes, like you would in the winter. If you are in a sneakers, than its a disaster for your sneakers :)

This is how my shoes look after few of these loose rocky descents. Things get expensive very quickly :P