Riding south -- day 2

I thought I had it all worked out -- had the map all marked and thought I knew how to use the bicycle signs.  I guessed correctly that there was one right outside Wesel train station and set off brightly having bought an extra inner tube and some chain lube which silenced the incredible squeaking I had developed yesterday afternoon.  But about and hour into the ride, the signage let me down and I ended up doing an extra 10km heading off in a direction that was wrong and then having to double back.  Disgusted, I pulled out my phone and got a direct route to Dusseldorf along bike paths, but right through all the towns.  I didn't see the river till I got to the endpoint and there the bike path finally went along the water for a few kms before I headed into the centre of the city to find the Hauptbahnhof (main train station).  Best guess at distance today is 68 km.  Riding with a phone in one hand is not as hard as I thought it might be, but the battery on the phone can't take the hour and 51 minutes, so when I got onto a stretch where it was fairly straightforward, I turned the phone off to save some battery.

I did make it with time to spare, but it was rush hour and so the train was very full.  I had the bicycle's ticket, but the conductor informed me that he could have made me wait for the next train as riders have precedence over bikes.  But I had been standing on the platform with him and I think he felt sorry for me.  It was about 2 stops before enough people got off and the individuals who has grumbled when asked to give up their seat for the bike space, got to sit down.  I was 'die Dame mit dem Fahrad'  (the lady with the bicycle), for the rest of the trip.

Comments on today.
Some towns were very middle eastern with lots of language that was not german and most restaurants and fast food places proclaiming Turkish, Greek and other cuisines.
Trains and trams and busses are everywhere -- elevated, below ground and at street level.  We could learn from the excellent public transit.
Bicycles and people can coexist very nicely.  Most of the time the bikes were on the sidewalks with the pedestrians --no problems.  A little ring of the bell and even the kids move back onto their section of the walkway.
There is an election coming up this Sunday.  Posters are everywhere.  I think the less said on the poster, the greater the chances for the candidate.

Again today, with the concentration on getting to the endpoint, there was no chance for stopping to smell the roses -- or look at the churches, or explore the gardens, etc.  Next time I will get a better guide so that I can be confident of the route and the length of time it will take.  Having to spend about 3 hours on a train also really cut into the day.  Also, I guess I would like to take a cruise along this part of the river to see what I missed between the beginning of today and the end.  That's for another time.

Always good to have future plans!

Riding south, day 1

The tour that I have booked with the Rad und Reisen people, goes from Anhem north to Rotterdam.  However, that is only a 5 day tour and I took an extra 7 days from when the others left.  This leaves me 2 days to ride to the south of Arnhem and cover some of that part of the river which I have not yet ridden.

So it was a foggy start and I wore the rain jacket and rain pants for most of the trip.  I had bought a Dutch map of the area from here to the German border.  It was amazingly easy to navigate with the sequence of numbered points that I easily got from the map.  Most of this stretch was within view of the river and the barges gliding up and down.  I was delighted to find that I was still able to ride just a little faster than the barges going up river.  The bike is a heavy commuter bike although it has 24 gears.  I ride very upright and quite comfortably.

Much of today's ride was on the dyke system which protects the towns along the river from the periodic floods.  It also affords a lovely view of the surrounding countryside.  It was a great ride beside cows, sheep and some horses; crops of corn, beans, and sugar beets; over cobbles, pavers, acorns, chestnuts avoiding slugs.

Sadly, the German signing of the Rhine path was not nearly as clear as that in the Netherlands.  I took a number of wrong turns, had some backtracks and even had some long detours.  It turned out to be about a 5.5 hour ride and the closest I can come to guessing the distance was 94 km.  But I came into Wesel about 4:30 and picked up the 5:17 train back to Anhem.  The bicycle needed its own ticket -- 3.5 euro.

Unfortunately with so much time on the bike, there was no opportunity to most of the many towns which I passed by or through.  I saw a bit of Emmerich and Wesel, simply because I needed information at the train stations, but there were churches and museums which will have to wait for another time.  Good to know there is always more exploring possible.

Google can't seem to get its act together, so there is only one picture for today.

This adventure -- Part III

This adventure started almost 2 weeks ago when I flew to Amsterdam and then to France to visit my friend Rhonda who lives just outside of Basel, Switzerland.  I met her 31 years ago when she moved onto our street in Millgrove and I was canvassing for the kidney foundation one fall.  We have been friends ever since.  Since she moved away about 20 years ago, our time together has been much reduced, but we do skype a couple times a month and when we visit, we just pick up where we left off.  Both of us have 2 children who are now married and have grandkids in each family.  We talk a lot, go shopping and garden but mostly we laugh.  She has taken up golf and played 9 holes while I was there.  I have never golfed in my life and just went through the woods next to the fairways and picked up lost balls -- a dozen, good result for a few hours strolling.  She hates cycling, but there was plenty to do, so no problem.  She is allegic to gluten, lactose and fructose -- I love bread, fruit and cheese.  It's a strange match, but it works.  I miss her being down the street and hanging out, but am lucky enough to be able to travel and she comes to Canada too.  A good friend is truly a treasure!

Part II of this trip was in Rotterdam with Joanna and family as she got ready for and then competed in the World Triathlon Championships.  Those of you with Facebook already know that she came 9th in her age category--amazing result!  So while she was readying self and equipment, the rest of us visited windmills, took boat rides, explored the Markethal, travelled out to the North Sea beach, toured the SS Rotterdam and generally watched the city from the fabulous vantage of our 40th floor apartment.  She was able to join us for the pancake boat and the Madurodam miniature village -- some time off training was possible.

And so this morning, JJ and family left for the airport to return to Canada, and I started this final phase of the adventure.  I took a train to Arnhem through Utrecht.  I have a hotel right beside the central station and from here I will be cycling for the next 3 days (hopefully).  Tuesday and Wednesday I plan to go south into Germany along the Rhine and then on Thursday I start northwest to return to Rotterdam by Sunday night.

I was tempted to ride today as the bike was already here when I checked in at noon, but then it started to rain, so I took to exploring the city.  My history is not very good so I did not realize that a significant battle happened here in Sept. 1944 concerning the bridge.  I visited a church which was burned in that battle, and has been restored which and eye to the past and the future.  Every September there are reenactments of the British airborne attack and subsequent surrender when the reinforcements did not arrive.  The past is still very alive.

But the city is also focused on the future.  The central library is an award winning building with historic displays and archives, but also auditorium, music lessons, art studios and cafes all in a beautifully designed user friendly space. Every place has something fascinating to be discovered.  Hurray!

Different kind of farming

My Dad loved being a farmer -- in fact he moved family and started a new life at 39 so that he could be a farmer.  That didn't happen for another 8 years, but he finally got his farm and stayed there for the rest of his life.

Yesterday we took a bus to the north-east corner of the island -- Nordeste.  It was the local bus, so it carried school children, ladies going from their country homes into the towns for their shopping and tourist like us, just along for the ride.  We went up and down mountains and in and out of gorges that make up the coastline where rivers meet the ocean.  There were numerous little towns with streets so narrow that the full sized bus had less than a metre on each side from the houses.  We were navigated over one lane bridges where cars had to stop and back up so that we could pass.  I truly admire the drivers!  The 80 km trip took 2.5 hours.

And we travelled through farm country -- very different from home.  Besides being very green at this time of year, the fields are usually quite small and since there are hills and slopes everywhere, angles quite ridiculously sometimes.  I can't image tractors on most of those inclines, nor on the dropoffs to the ocean.  The fences are of stones or bamboo hedges, but often just a terrace and a drop off to a lower lever.  Most of the fields were planted in grass -- don't know if it was going to be wheat or a grain crop, but now it just looked like grass.

Lots of cows -- milking cows were usually free moving in a fenced field while younger animals were tethered by a leg or chain around the neck and allowed to eat in a circle -- then moved up the slope when they had cropped the area.

Some market vegetables -- usually cabbage.  Orange trees were fully of lovely ripe fruit.  There were a few small potato fields.  And there were lots of banana fields tucked away in protected areas (like the gorges).

Always interesting to see how farming is done in different places!

What does your garden grow?

My Millgrove garden, the most serious I have ever had, was a collection of my favourite flowering plants plus unusual evergreens.  In the 27 years of gardening there, I tried many exotics which failed, and some which I coaxed along and eventually brought to good health.  It seemed I was always pushing the edge on which kind of lilac or poppy or rhodie I could get to grow.  Vineland Nurseries had an abundance of unusual plants, gown in the microclimate of the Niagara-on-the-lake area which was a full climate zone warmer than up the mountain in Flamborough.    When it came to planting the garden at Gatewood Court, I chose the ones I had to have, and have still managed to kill a number and had to rethink locations for others.  Every space has its limitations.

It is winter here too.

But here on Sao Miguel, the Portugese encountered a climate of eternal spring and, being the exploring types that they were, they brought back plants from all over the world.  Their municipal gardens are showpieces of spectacular trees and flowering plants from Africa, New Zealand, Australia, China and the Caribbean.  Norfolk Island Pines stand as tall as the magnificent avenue in Napier, NZ; Australian banyan trees snake their roots through the forest; bougainvillea hang over garden walls, birds of paradise ring the fountain in the roundabouts; palms tower over tiny walled gardens and there are Camellia and hibiscus hedges everywhere.  In the summer season, the island is a blaze with hydrangea -- they are grown as fences between fields and keep the cows from escaping.

So I have been thinking, what would I put in my garden if I lived here.  Certainly azaleas and rhodies which are my very favourite and there lots of them around and blooming now, but also some of these strange little bushes which I have no idea what they are.  After that, the sky -- or at least my garden wall-- would be the limit.

And what have the locals just planted in their flower pots outside the cathedral and the town hall? Pansies!

Adventure versus routine

I know this blog is called Adventures-eva, but I am not really a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of person.  I hate when situations get out of control.

I hate arguments between people.  I firmly believe that if you can't say anything nice, you should not say anything at all.  (My dear Mom told me that arguments between her parents were burned into her memories and she and my Dad did not want that for us kids, so there were never hot words between them in our presence).  Once something is said, you can't take it back.

I don't like riding my bike down a hill that is so steep that I can't stop or control it.  I once (actually twice) went down a snowy hill so fast that I could not control things and have a sore spot in my leg to remind me that I was extremely lucky that my thigh had hit the tree instead of my head.  (Now you know why I don't ski downhill.)

So probably I am a control freak.  My school classroom was always done by my strict organization.  My kids always knew the limits and consequences.  I am not a frivolous purchaser and have lived with a budget forever.  I hate when things get out of place in the kitchen -- makes me less efficient when I have to search for everything.  I lived for many years spouting the philosophy that an organized person can do anything -- and everything.  I had a 5 year plan.

Yes, ripe for a major upheaval in life.  Mine was Allan's stroke in Mexico -- a situation so totally out of my control that it and the resulting life alterations forced a total rethink.

So here's where the adventure comes in.  I love to go to new places (I try to keep it safe so there are destinations I will not see).  I want to see how other people live -- love checking out their grocery stores and trying the local cuisine.  I try to say something in their language, even if it is only obrigado.  I love to see the history of a place -- castles, cathedrals, mountains, caves, oceans, museums, parks.  I have learned what creature comforts I need to be happy and enjoy finding different local places that I can enjoy.  I love adapting my routines to a new situation.

I think I am less demanding than I used to be.  I think I accept others more now without feeling the need to change them.  I find comfort in feeling the belonging of a group -- in church, at stained glass class, volunteering at Wesley.  I give myself permission to not have to be in charge or perfect.

So this adventure is about seeing if I can exist here for 2.5 weeks without driving myself (or Ian) crazy.  My pace is very much slowed thanks to the boot, but the plan had been for this to be very low keyed in any case.  I have a number of books (actually gave myself permission to finish the book last night reading till 4am), puzzles, the 'beloved' cross-stitch (the back of the package says "You create a work of art... an heirloom to enjoy for generations to come."  We shall see how excited the grandkids will be to be saddled with this item if it ever gets finished), the computer with netflix and a harbour (that disgorged hordes of people this morning as there is a British cruise ship docked today) to enjoy.

Expanding one's experience -- the true adventure.

Local tradition

Our days continue, hobbling along, picking up groceries, reading, TV, and cross-stitching.  Life is good.

On our walk this morning, we came to two persons changing the cultural signs -- as it is February.  On the new poster, it indicated that there would be 'Singing to the Stars' this evening in the Municipal square, at 6 pm.  Eager to be there, we set out at 5:30, I am slow.  But not that slow, as we arrived about 5:45.  No one.  6 pm no one.  There was a bit of activity at the town office about 6:15 so we made our way over there.  Indeed, about 6:25, there came a parade of kids, 4 to 10 yr. it seemed, along with a leader, a flautist, an accordion player and a violinist and followed by dozens of parents.

They chanted for the President, who did finally come out of the building and listened to them sing three songs.  The kids were enthusiastic and quite musical.  It was delightful to be there.