The enormous success of the film Oppenheimer at the Hollywood Oscars fits nicely with our Gö Gravel visit to the Forum Wissen in Gottingen. It was in Göttingen, Germany that the ´Father of the A-Bomb´ earned his doctorate in physics from the city´s university in 1927 under Max Born who had established a world leading… Continue Reading
Latest in: History/Life – Geschichte & Leben
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How to express how glad I was to be riding today….? I can´t yet. BUMP IN THE NIGHT Like things that go bump in the night and wake you from your happy slumber, illness or accident can rudely interrupt your life. It´s one thing to have a cold and need to sit tight as it… Continue Reading
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Home dirt road Omloop When I ride my bike alone, I never listen to music, the engagement with the terrain is enough for me and when my mind wanders, I do often follow a train of thought in my head, as was the case on when I rode a revised 40km Gö dirt road Omloop… Continue Reading
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Bad Harzburg reinvented itself from being a mining town into a wellness/spa resort during the 19th century. It became and remained a ´Riveira´ like town of the Harz Mountains, with cake shops, cafes, gardens, and all sorts of things to do when patrons of the clinics sneak out and escape their health regime. Most people… Continue Reading
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There is much to explore in and around Göttingen and after a short train ride we visited the towns of Bad Sooden and Allendorf in Hesse. The towns are in view of each other but are distinct separated by the Werra River and until recently administratively. The story of Bad Sooden and Allendorf is typical… Continue Reading
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Presenting no obstacle to our free movement this Gö Gravel cycle tour saw us cross several active and defunct borders. The ride compliments the All Along the Watchtower both being linked to the control of the land. Once how far you travelled from home was dictated by the distance you could walk in a day,… Continue Reading
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You can see the Hoher Hagen and the Gauß Turm across the Leine Valley from almost anywhere in the Göttingen area. This Gö Gravel informal gravel ride takes us out of Gö to the highest height and we think about Carl Frederick Gauß, who might be the patron saint of GPS and Strava. Gauß was… Continue Reading
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Winter wetter (and cake) is an existential matter for any cyclist. What is the meaning of it all? I was not to be a hostage to my angst and motivated by the company of Sandra and Andrea we rode a variation of the Gö Feldweg Omloop 40km. Angst The weather is a major matter for… Continue Reading
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This was a scouting and GPS setting ride for a coming Gö Strade Bianche – Love of Mud Winter Series party ride. We visit the Kopfsteinpflaster Karussell and the Bürgertal Canyon plus the Rosengarten at Reinhausen. This route features several stiff climbs including one gravel ascent I walked up (25% plus) – the ride rocks… Continue Reading
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The ground had been swollen in the days before my ride by rain plus snow and the weather was bleak in attitude offering a taste of the winter yet to come. The trails will now become increasingly sodden until they freeze and then return to being a quagmire in places during the subsequent thaw. The… Continue Reading
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During a flying visit to Germany by Tom and Irene from the Netherlands, we ate lots of cake, toured Göttingen and then went walking in the Harz Mountains (close to Gö). I have visited the Harz many times but after a year’s gap it was shocking to see large swathes of dead trees. It is… Continue Reading
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With just a few days before the end of the nine Euro ticket valid on all regional transport we decided to cross state lines and revisit Kassel some 50 kilometres from Göttingen. Tickets deals for internal travel within my home state of Lower Saxony will remain. Kassel sits upon the Fulda River in Hesse (some… Continue Reading
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The plan was to make use of our nine Euro rail ticket and visit Hannover, but the train was delayed because of a defect, and we opted to go instead to Kassel as that train was scheduled to leave much sooner. Hann Münden On board the train we decided spontaneously to jump off to visit… Continue Reading
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Bad Harzburg is not a ye oldie German town and has very few signs of life before the 18th Century when it developed into a Spa Resort (it was called Neustadt until 1892). The town situated to the north of the Harz Mountains and is overlooked by them, drew people from across the German speaking… Continue Reading
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When we went into Covid lockdown in 2019 I began writing letters from my new home in Germany and it’s been a while since I wrote my last one. By writing these letters I hoped to understand Germany better and my home country the United Kingdom. Covid/Letters Home This letter was spurred by a plaque… Continue Reading
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We rode out from Göttingen onto the defunct Gartelbahn to Waterloo, and no, we did not pedal as far as Belgium or London. I had for many years lived in London close to Waterloo and the Station, and now by some odd quirk of fate I find myself living a short bike ride from another… Continue Reading
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March 2019 saw me in my new home city in Central Germany and two years on I am living in a time of a pandemic. I began writing these letters at the start of the pandemic in an attempt to understand Germany better and to get to grips with my relationship with the United Kingdom.… Continue Reading
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The first turn of the train wheels broke the stiction holding me to my home because in the past two years plus I have not ventured away. Although I have explored my new home in Göttingen with enthusiasm my last big journey was when I moved from London. The Covid pandemic being a strong reason… Continue Reading
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I have undertaken three rides so far to scout a Göttingen castles asphalt tour, firstly the Rusteberg and Gleichen Castles and then the Grone, Jühnde and Berlepsch Castles were added. My most recent was a visit to Niedeck where I looked up at the summit of the Kronenberg but I didn´t take the gravel road… Continue Reading
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We ventured away from the Dransfeld Ramp (an abandoned railway) and rode into the Börl Valley via the village of Hetjershausen (the village well survives) to the west of Göttingen. In Groß Ellershausen the Lindenhof pub still stands and this was frequented by the first German Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck and poet Heinrich Heine, and… Continue Reading
Velo Klubhaus 