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
Latest in: History/Life – Geschichte & Leben
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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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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
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WH Auden, the Anglo/American poet wrote ´Funeral Blues´ or also known as ´Stop all the Clocks´ for a 1936 satirical political play (The Ascent of F6) and then subsequently he rewrote it removing several lines which referred to specific people and events in the 1930s. It became a more personal work thereafter. The poem can… 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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(Lost villages) It´s good to stop and think… I did that, at what has become a regular riding spot for me. In my first week of moving to Germany I sat on a bench at Kerstlingrodefeld and wondered at what I had done. I was now an immigrant. Käthe KollwitzI began this ride at a… 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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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 Iron Curtain was a political and physical division created after World War Two splitting Europe into East and West. I rode my gravel bike to visit an abandoned bunker part of what was once the German Internal Border erected to enforce this schism close to the city of Göttingen. Salt the Fields?After the war,… 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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I am a cycling fan and I have done all I think possible to be as Belgian or Dutch as I can, I have drunk Belgian beer, eaten Belgian chocolate (lots of), scoffed Stroopwaffles (Netherlands) and frites I am yet to match a Belgian or a Netherlander in being either. I have also ridden many… Continue Reading
Velo Klubhaus 