"The Water Is Already Too Warm To Swim"

...remarked one of the locals. I stand in a clearing in the town forest. All my clothes smell like smoke and I'm on my fourth cup of coffee for the day. The sun already rises at 6:00 and doesn't set until 9:45. What I had thought would be a regular school trip to collaborate with two other universities was in fact mostly an excuse to walk through dense forest, swim in cold water, and wonder why it's still so cold in mid-May. Behold, Finland! 

A walk through the forest on Tuesday morning. 

I had just three nights in my own bed between my bike trip and this one. We left quite early from Middelburg on May 4th and almost missed our flight because of a malfunctioning train. It was one of the newest models run by the NS on one of their busiest routes, but a software failure brought us to a stop for 90 minutes between Rotterdam and Schiphol. It was unclear whether some workmen on the side of the track did something to repair the train or if they turned the system on and off again. Regardless, after running through the mostly empty airport, we made our flight at noon with 20 minutes to spare. 

Upon landing in Helsinki we rode in a bus with students from Estonia to the town of Ekenäs, 60 miles to the west. What is the Buenos Aires Dog???

The whole week was a joint project between my own HZ University, Novia University in Finland, and the Estonian University of Life Sciences. We studied the Raseborg Municipal Forest in Västerby; which is for all intensive purposes a tree-farm with some hiking trails. Our job was to recommend ways to improve the quality of the woods for both humans and animals and present our findings to the city.

The town beach and bathhouse on the Baltic Sea. (which is mostly freshwater!) This region of Finland is mostly Swedish as you may have guessed by the place-names. Many signs, products, services and people are tri-lingual around here, and even the old folks know English well. 

The weather was chilly; never warmer than 50 degrees Fahrenheit and with a cold wind from the north.

We stayed in a real live motel for six nights; perhaps the longest I've ever spent in one hotel room before. Just out the front door was the beach, in the opposite direction was the city center and university. It's a nice place and had a splendid free breakfast every day before walking to school.

Most days we spent at least a few hours in the field, meeting with local experts on forestry, wildlife, foraging, soil types, and water. Tuesday was an all-day outing complete with a nice lunch around the campfire. (until it started to rain; then we all crammed into a big yurt and ate our hot dogs in there) 

Project manager Stefan grills food in the yurt. The forest is already full of campsites like this one, which are free to use for the day or for multiple nights. 

Cooking outdoors and an ersatz hot dog. 

Despite the impression of these pictures; all the trees in these woods are the exact same species and age, planted in log rows for easy harvesting. 

Long marches like this one were a staple. 

For the rest of our time, we heard lectures on ecological restoration, forest management, and did many group-activities and workshops to prepare our pitch to the city. From all this I got the impression that the Finns are looking to maximize efficiency, profit, and recreational value from their forest: all the ones that I talked to quickly changed the subject when I mentioned anything about biodiversity and resilience. I won't question it too far, but I wasn't really surprised either. 

Our lunch spot also deserves a mention here. "Villa Smakhus", which is a sort of community-oriented buffet place with a fixed menu. And by jingo have they perfected everything! For €13.50 it's as much home-cooked Finnish cuisine as you can eat. Their clients were us students and what had to be every senior citizen in the town, plus a few construction workers and fishermen. 

A surprisingly colorful collection for a Nordic cuisine. Desserts not pictured: pancakes with strawberry sauce, blueberries and cream, chocolate mousse, and mysterious thick yogurt with fruit. 

While on the topic of food, I must mention the pizza in Ekenäs. On Thursday night the entire HZ crew went to a place on the recommendation of one of the Finnish professors. Their selling point was that 98.7% of their ingredients were of local origin: tomatoes, olives, and grapes don't exactly thrive in the Finnish climate. I would rank it as some of the best I've ever had: 

Left: herring, red currant sauce, and garlic. Right: forest mushrooms, pickled onions, reindeer sausage, and feta cheese. Perhaps such toppings would offend an Italian but I loved them!

Left: carrots, sage, pickled onions, "Finnish kimchi", and havarti cheese. We were a big group in a really small house: the wood-fired oven made the place quite warm!

Of course, when in Finland one must try some Finnish traditions. High (perhaps highest of all!) on that list is a swim in cold water, regardless of the weather. So one evening I pitched the idea to my roommates, and the rest is history: 

First time trying a video-insert here, hopefully it works. 

With all this tomfoolery the week was done in a heartbeat. I won't bore you with the finer details of our final presentation, but our pitch was to integrate some deciduous tree species into the endless rows of spruce, and to make some new wetland habitat along a stream. For our labors we all got a certificate for the course AND a fancy dinner in a harborside restaurant!

I only made a picture of the fish soup. The rest was quite good though! 

Saturday morning had us on the train back to Helsinki at 9:00, for a flight that didn't leave until 4:00. Perhaps the Finnish trains are too fast: we stopped by the city center for an hour, then spent another four roaming about the airport. 

At the station, and the still streets of the town as we walked there. 

From here, it's a 40-day sprint to get all my work done before going back to Minnesota on June 21st. I think a few extra weeks to get settled and locked in for this marathon would be nice, but time can't be slowed. Thanks for reading, have a nice week, and wish me luck in this last month of school! 

Ardennes Adventure

 The original plan was to ride from Lille eastwards to the Ardennes, the low mountains which cover much of Wallonia. But given the setback of food poisoning, I instead opted to take the train most of the way and bypass some unsavory cities. (I've heard rumors about Charelroi) From Lille to Namur on the River Maas is a little over two hours, and I began my solo route from the latter. 

Elevation! It was the first time I've taken my bike along inside a cable-car. This is the view from the town citadel, which as the name implies is a giant hilltop fortress overlooking the city and the river. 

No red tile rooftops here. I stayed only long enough for a snack and to cruise along some of the old town streets. I'd later hear that the rest of the city is, as my hosts would put it, "a huge dump". 

From Namur I followed the Maas downstream to Huys, and turned eastwards into the hills. A convenient rail-trail got me up to about 950 feet above sea level, from 150 along the river. The whole week was in the mid-70s and low 80s, so I was going through plenty of water on these hills. I recall stopping at libraries, city halls, cafes, pharmacies, a garden center, a Greek specialty foods store, and many private houses to ask for water. 

For the evening I tried wild camping for the first time. I found this amazing spot beneath an ancient oak tree at dusk, on a ridge between two fields. 

A bum dinner from the supermarket, supplemented with plenty of snacks. Some people go on vacation to relax, but I prefer the thrill and adventure of chance, circumstance, and decision.

Watching the sunset and reading. Wallonia is quite empty compared to Flanders; I hardly saw a single car on my way to this spot. (and of course I leave no trace save for some flattened grass) 

The next day I climbed many hills, some 3400 vertical feet! Three 600-foot climbs in a row is a lot of work. At the top of one was the perfect little cafe, where I got one of the best sandwiches of my life (prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, arugula, fresh and sundried tomatoes, parmesan, pesto, with balsamic vinegar on half a baguette) and a sort of cinnamon-sugar-butter-tart. Stops like this make everything worthwhile! (this is the place) Foolishly, I forgot to take pictures of this special moment. 

All of this sweating was on my way to the Cicuit Spa-Francorchamps, home of the Belgian Grand Prix in Formula One. I realized three things as I approached this venue: 1) it is in the middle of nowhere, 2) it is on top of a gigantic hill, and 3) it is MUCH larger than it seems on TV. The pictures don't do it justice: 

The famous "Eau Rogue" corner. There was a German touring-car club at the track that day, and they were going at pace-car speeds. This section is nearly flat-out in a F1 car!

Such cars like this Ferrari compete in Formula One, a series of Grands Prix across the globe. "Formula" refers to the set of rules that each car is constructed to, and "One" implies that it's the premier racing series of the world. (IndyCar would like a word!) 

Left: Eau Rogue up close and the "Bus Stop" chicane. Note that everything is in Belgian colors. 

The start/finish straight and the pit lane. Incredibly, the whole complex was open for visitors! I parked my bike at the entrance and wandered around for a couple of hours in places that would be VIP-only on the weekend of the Belgian GP. 

After Spa I continued on into Malmedy, a regional town down in a river valley. Here I started to hear more Dutch than French: the Hollanders were all on vacation for the May Holidays, like myself! As mentioned above, I mostly eat out of supermarkets on trips like these: grab-and go things, salads, etc. Tonight it was a nice quiche, rice pudding, and a pack of cucumbers. I found the cheapest campsite in town, €8 per night with showers and laundry. 

Only one caveat: it was next door to a massive youth-hostel that was totally booked with perhaps 100 Dutch middle-schoolers. And like their counterparts around the world, they are really loud. They invaded the campsite to play football and tag, so I went to read in the common-room of their hostel until they all went to bed. I feel like an old grump writing this- but it was especially annoying at the end of a long day!

Campsite 2 and a lovely couch where I spent a couple of hours. My book (on right) for this trip was The Country Ahead of Us, the Country Behind, a collection of short stories my David Guterson. 

In the morning I started with a long climb up to Signal de Botrange, the highest point in Belgium. It's quite underwhelming: a stop on the side of the road, some monumental plaques, nothing fancy. The Belgians built a little stone tower to reach exactly 700 meters above sea level. (the ground is at 694 meters, 2277 feet above sea level) 

The long climb up the mountain: 1100 feet! Luckily is was a quiet road and I had snacks. 

The tower and a selfie on top of it. Because what else do you do on the roof of Belgium? 

Wow. What a view!

I had a long descent into Eupen, which marks the beginning of the German-speaking corner of Belgium. (until I arrived I didn't know there was a German speaking region in this country!) I headed northeast towards Aachen and crossed the German border for a while, riding through a dense forest to my next stop: the tri-country point of Belgium, The Netherlands, and Belgium. 

I also found the Camino de Santiago and rode along this path for a while! 

The highest point in The Netherlands. Not much to look at, eh? 322.4 meters, or 1,058 feet above sea level. It has been a post of many elevations and measures. 

I should have known better, but the tri-country point was a total tourist trap. The Belgians operated a frites-kiosk in their sector, there was only forest on the German side, and the Dutch side was the most developed: 150-foot observation tower, multiple restaurants, a hedge-maze, and a small botanical garden. With thousands of parking spaces for all the visitors. I think this says something about the three nations! 

The tri-border point and a view from the tower of the Dutch sector. 

I did the final 12 miles of the day through the rolling hills of Limburg. They are quite isolated here from the rest of Holland, and have a very thick accent verging on a dialect. The terrain is a lot like SE Minnesota: the third time on this trip I've reminisced about biking through my state! Rolling hills, cliffs, caves, streams, and quaint towns. 

The fun police have blocked off these caves; they could be a source of too much excitement and adventure for the population. 

In Maastricht I stayed with some lovely Warmshowers hosts, Lieveke and Timo. (read about Warmshowers here) They have a cozy house in the suburbs and no fewer than nine bikes for a family of four in the shed. I was graciously fed supper and told many stories; and learned that Hogwarts is called Zweinsteins in Dutch. Their kids are 7 and 5, and absolutely obsessed with Harry Potter. We spoke mostly English, and the Dutch was nice and simple. ("Stop hitting your brother!", etc.) They were real squirrely and jumpy and first, but got quiet fast when they realized I knew Dutch too. Hilarious! 

It's hard to express my gratitude in words to these kind hosts! It's hard not to feel intrusive when staying with total strangers. I'd have been happy with a spot in the yard to pitch my tent, but was given the guest room to sleep in. And after a bit of oatmeal and some goodbyes, I was on the road the next morning at 9:30 for the last day of the trip. 

Shady canal paths all day, like this one. And a slight tailwind! 

My goal for the day was Tilburg, in North Brabant. I completed 73 dusty and sweaty miles to get there, pretty much all flat. The reasoning was that it's just one transfer on the Dutch railways back to Middelburg from there. I'd have loved to finish out the trip on bike, but I'd made an appointment to donate blood on Friday morning at 9:00 AM, so the schedule was set in advance. 

The bike in Tilburg station and a goofy selfie. The salt and sunscreen were dense today! 

And just like that I was back in Middelburg! Eight days and about 330 miles by my reckoning. And many, many new stories. It will be a short turnaround, just three nights in my own bed: on the 4th I'm off to Finland for a project week with partner universities of the HZ! I'll be back from this one on the 11th. Time is running out before the summer break begins on June 20th. So expect to see a lot more posts here soon! And have a great weekend. 

A heatmap of all my biking adventures across Europe so far. Generated with Strava.