Take an Adventure!

One of my most favorite things to do in Germany is to take an adventure, and explore a place I’ve never been before. When I lived as a student in Marburg, we had free passes to ride the train throughout our state. German trains are much more popular than American trains. They go to virtually every town, no matter how small, so there really were a lot of places I could explore. I made it my goal to make it to as many of the cities included in the student train pass as I could. I didn’t make it to all, but I made it to about half of the more major cities, and learned so much more about Germany. I loved getting a “taste” for each town, to see what particular flavor it had. 

Being in Germany now with my boyfriend, I realize it can be really hard to get up off the couch, especially if you have spent the whole week working. Then I often just want time to myself, to sit and do indoor hobbies. However, as much as I want to give in to my inner laziness, I know I will feel much better after I have gone adventuring. It really is worth it. 

The Baldeney lake is by our house and we always wanted to bike around it, but never did it. We have gone there to go stand-up paddleboarding, which is a lot like surfing but on calm lakes. People use paddles instead of relying on waves to propel themselves. This was a lot of fun, and made us want to come back to the lake more often. Unfortunately, I think we have been giving in to our inner laziness, and not fulfilling our wish to visit the lake more often. 

Today, Lucas and I took advantage of a good sunny day and biked there. We were sick of sitting inside, and wanted to explore more of the world. Our lazy selves told us to pack the bikes in the Jeep and drive down to the lake (about 2.5 miles or 4.4 km away, and downhill!). We didn’t want to have to bike back up the hill on the way home. Plus, we had just biked the hill the day before, and did not want to do it again.

However, our active sides reminded us that it would not be easy to fit both bikes in the Jeep, and that it would be more exercise to bike there and back. In the end, we did not give in, and decided to bike there. 

Our journey started with biking down a big hill. It is always so much fun to fly down the hill (a 270 foot or 79 meter drop) at full speed. The wind blows through your hair, and the sun shines on you, and you get to go fast! 

Once we reached our starting point on the lake, we started biking around it. We realized that the wind was blowing very strongly against us, and that we were on the wrong side of the lake. We were traveling against the wind, which was very challenging. We just shifted our bikes in a lower gear and persisted on our journey. 

We stopped at the point where we had to start heading back, and got to see a rustic old train bridge which was now used for the trail. We explored the bridge a bit, and as we were exploring, we saw another more modern bridge in the distance. We decided we wanted to explore this bridge, too. So instead of turning back, we went even further. 

The modern bridge was also used for cars. As we crossed it, we got a tad bit lost (which is the only way I like to adventure), and had three ways to choose to continue on to our destination. We picked the second option. This was a trail alongside a street. It must have been the least-ideal trail, because we saw almost every other biker taking the street route to head back around the lake. Despite this, we continued blazing our own trail on our own path, and ended up biking past an old mine. There were still mining cars outside of it! It really was very cute. 

It so happened that our biking trail then merged with the street, and then we continued on our journey around the lake with the other bikers. 

The way back was also a bit windy, but we were protected by some hills, so it wasn’t nearly as bad. Now we know for next time that we will bike the other direction around the lake, to avoid the wind. 

Then came the tough part: riding back up the hill to get home. We put our bikes in the lowest gears possible and just kept pedaling. The hill has a steady inline, and we had to pedal about 5 minutes to reach the top. But we did it! We felt so fulfilled!

Even though it was windy, we persisted on and thus got the chance to see a lot of new scenery and explore a place we’ve never been. 

Lesson: Even though you don’t want to get up off the comfy couch, take every advantage you can to go someplace new. You never know what mines of treasures you will find! 

Share your adventures in the comments below! And don’t forget to share this post with a friend!

“LIVE LIFE WITH NO EXCUSES, TRAVEL WITH NO REGRET.” – OSCAR WILDE