Natalie wrote me an SMS. Fancy a ride, she said. It´ll be dry, she said. ;-) Now dry it wasn´t, but fancy one ride I did. And I thought, well, get an early start, drop by the Deele café and have some lunch and do some foraging beforehand, and this I did. Had some delicious bun with homemade meatballs and a big mug of coffee at the café and then I was off to the hills. Got some blackthorn (prunus spinosa, in German: Schwarzdorn) for mead spicing and syrup...
An was on my merry way over old hills and far away for the rendezvous at the lake.
It wasn´t raining cats and dogs exactly, but I still got wet a tiny bit... Let´s ride, she said. IT`LL BE DRY, SHE SAID!!!! ;-) Anyway, I actually liked the drizzle and the calm atmosphere. I met no one out there, which was cool.
The forests lay dark and enchanted and were singing their rustling song in a gentle breeze.
I stuck to the fireroads, just toodling along and smelling the spring air.
Then I came across some sweet woodruff (galium odoratum:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galium_odoratum, in German: Waldmeister) for syrup and mead spice and stuffed it into my bag, too.
Don´t take them when in flower, because they become mildly toxic and you end up having headaches.
Then, some singletrails later, I met with Natalie at the trailhead and made fun out of her weather forecast, and we started our ride along some swampy trails.
Like this, see? ;-)
It was simply cool to see everything in blossom... and the weather even got better, mind you... ! ;-)
We rode a load of forest trails, single- and doubletracks, sometimes pausing to chat or just to smell the roses.
Lots of scenic vistas, and for a rookie, Natalie deserves a lot of respect, for she mastered the sometimes challenging trails and had fun in the process!
There were rolling hills and ups and downs through dense forests and fine clearings.
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Through the Ennepe valley we rode towards the small village of Rüggeberg, situated on a hilltop.
The singletrails were often flowy and a lot of fun!
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Near Rüggeberg we came across an old site of a fortification, which marked the border of two countries. We used the old ramparts as launch sites and caught some air. There´s a message hidden somewhere here... forgot where I put it... can you find it? ;-)
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Along the ridge of the hills...
... and still more fun trails to ride.
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Even if it started to RAIN AGAIN!!!! ;-) On the ridge my bike collapsed again for a change and I fixed it under the driving gusts of stormwind.
I have to thank Natalie a lot, because she kicked my lame butt to go out riding, and is just a fun person to have around-it is very motivating to have someone like her kicking you out to ride. And the best part: The virus is spreading, and we get more in number!
