The weather has been gradually getting better and better around these parts and suddenly on Tuesday the temperatures jumped to 17 degrees Celsius in the shade. In the sun, you could almost throw your shirt off and kick back on a blanket outside.
Of course, that wasn't the case for everyone, as I watched people crawling out of their burrows to spend quality time outside, while I was having a busy day at work, doing chores and running around.
Finally, in the evening, when I was finished working, I ran outside, to grab my bike and do a quick trip around the hood, it quickly got very dark and windy, smelling of upcoming rain. Disappointed, I had to postpone my ride and stepped back inside, as it started pouring down.
Fast forward to Wednesday. The weather promises to be nice again, not as warm as on Tuesday, but close. Luckily I'm prepared and finish work early. We jump on the saddles and start our foot-engines.
We start our ride from the neighbourhood private residential area and quickly beeline to the bog in as direct line as possible, to leave the pavement and get some forest air.
The bog roads have still some rain and mud puddles, which we have to splash through, but I'm already feeling it. Smell of warm weather, smell of nature, smell of outdoor sports.
As we reach the tower on the other side of the bog, we do the mandatory climb and grab some photos of the view. Some people pass by down on the ground "Hey ants down there". They head a bit further to the bench for a picnic. We do our best to keep to different corners of the tower. The view is beautiful up here.
We push on further, to leave the forest and reach a small patch of industrial area. "Scrap metal purchase", announces the graffiti on the wall. You should have included a nice painting as well, lads. I grab a shot of the crane, just because I like high places. I wish I was granted a license to climb everything I ever wanted, wouldn't you?
We have to cross the road to get to the forest on the other side. Luckily, traffic is not very intense and we cross the road, reaching the forest on the other side. As we climb over the railroad tracks (no train in sight), we reach the bleak wasteland.
Not wasteland per se, but it certainly gives off wasteland vibes with less greenery, dusty paths and remnants of structures here and there.
But that's kind of obvious, as there are less pines, which are evergreen trees. None of the other trees have yet to grow new leaves, the grass has no color except for the desaturated brown or beige and there's not a soul in sight.
As we pass through a narrow strip of land between some small lakes, I take a closer look. The water looks inviting but alas, this having been some kind of industrial or military area way back, there's some suspicious metal spikes poking out from the surface of the lakes.
As we push further we almost reach our destination - a private forest on top of a peninsula, beautiful nature and heavenly views. You can get a glimpse of the lake and it's beaches through the trees in some places.
Alas, there's a small patch of water that you have to circumnavigate through the bushes, to get to the final spot, but due to early spring, this road is totally flooded. The road, the bushes, everything under water. As we have been doing cold water swimming, the water does not feel that cold today, so we remove our shoes, roll up our sweatpants and grab our bikes.
Damn, the water gets deeper and deeper, some heavy vehicles have really made their number here. As we get up to our groins, we stop our trip here. We'll return here in a couple of days with towels and some additional gear to have a nice barbeque on the other side.
We return home, taking a little different route this time. Grabbed some shots of derelict buildings, as we pass through yet another ancient military outpost.
Almost home now. 'Til next time.
