The bike on Haleakala, the highest mountain on Maui, Hawaii.
The last transit of Venus took place in the summer of 2012. As part of this, I had the chance to take part in a workshop that included observing the transit. The accommodation for the workshop was at 1000 meters, on the slopes of Haleakala. And why use a car when you can also rent a bike. It was a challenge with luggage, but that didn’t stop me from trying to get to the summit the next day (I had planned a free day in reserve). I was fit at the time and actually made it up to the top. I’ve never cycled that high again, but I’ve managed to climb more meters on other tours.
Altitude profile (red) and speed profile (green and blue)View from Haleakala, Maui, over to Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, Big Island, Hawaii
The bridge over the Rostaelva river at the Rostahytta (Norway)
We have only seen so much water with so much speed at this point on our hike through northern Norway. So it was good to have a bridge. Probably not everyone feels comfortable when crossing because it consists of a lot of nothing.
The bridge over the Rostaelva river with the Rostahytta in the behind
In terms of weather, you can see the change to good weather between the two images. On the afternoon of our arrival at the hut it was still cloudy, the next morning it was much sunnier.
View from the Schneckensteinhalde (old mining hill) to the Vogtland Arena and over the Ore Mountains/Vogtland
A multi-day hike through the Vogtland and Erzgebirge in Germany gave us this fantastic view at almost 900m altitude. The hike was almost exactly 10 years ago. I probably didn’t have a lot of emotions on the trek, as few details have stayed with me to this day. I still remember a lot of the area around the Schneckenstein from childhood memories 15 years earlier, of arriving in Aue because the backpack started to hurt, and of a problem with the trains on the way to the start, but a lot of memories in between are missing. I’m still sure, the hike was good 🙂
This photo was taken on a hike with a friend. At first I just found it interesting that the thistle only has one ring of flowers, the upper and lower ones had already fallen out. Then, when I saw the butterfly, I knew I had to take a picture (it was more a must than a want. Slightly compulsive, however there are far worse compulsive behaviors). My friend then also had fun, as similar like on other hikes before, I stood on an ant nests (not a heap), so after the photo I hopped around a bit to shake the ants out of my sandals.
Khua Lek (Iron Bridge) over Mae Nam Ping river, Chiang Mai, Thailand
My first business trip to Thailand was planned at short notice and as I and a friend had arranged to visit me in England, I wasn’t able to stay as long as I (and the project) had hoped. But it was still great, I mean how lucky to be able to travel to other countries for work. And the nice thing was the extra contact with the locals, and so I got a city tour on the last evening, traditionally without a helmet on the back of the moped.
Moonset next to the temple Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, taken in the park of Chiang Mai University, Thailand
Tilos Bridge over the Barranco del Aqua near Los Sauces, La Palma, Spain
After my second weekend bike tour on La Palma (described in La Palma (6)) on Saturday, I was already back on my bike on Sunday. I had sent the bike from Germany to La Palma and had to do without it for 3 weeks, apparently I then tried to make up for the bike withdrawal. In any case, I was much fitter than now that I’m writing about it, I can’t imagine so many meters of altitude on two days in a row at the moment. After heading south yesterday and heading west last Sunday, with only sea to the east, the logical conclusion was to head north this time. I also enjoyed this tour, so many views and experiences to take in. At the end I was really happy when it was almost all downhill from Puntallana.
Faro de Punta Complida in the north of La Palma, Spain.Elevation profile (red) and speed profile (green) of my bicycle tour.Geographic map using the STRM data with my route, created with https://github.com/ronnyerrmann/cycle_logging. The deep valleys are clearly visible in the data, the amounts of bends not so much.
View into the volcanic crater of Kilauea Iki, Big Island, Hawaii, USA. In the background you can see plumes of steam rising from the Kilauea crater.
After my observation nights at the Subaru telescope in Hawaii, I had the chance to spend a few more days on the Big Island, Hawaii. Besides renting a bicycle (who would have thought it), I also rented a car for one day. And so, almost by accident on my birthday, I went to the active volcanoes and the Kilauea Visitor Center. It was a great day, I hiked a lot, stood on a lot of young rock, had great views and learned some geology. Due to the fact that some craters were active during this period (Nāpau crater), it was not possible to hike that far, but I was still active in the National Park all day.
Something I would do differently from today’s perspective is to be more open. Although I had stayed in a hostel, I withdrew very much and therefore spent my free days in Hawaii alone. Occasional activity together has become important to me, especially in the last few years, and it’s nice to challenge social anxiety too. Sharing about the views an exciting excursion is a nice thing to do, and by writing here I do that partly.
Pine forest and volcanic sand forest path close to Los Canarios (Fuencaliente), south of La Palma, Spain
My second weekend bike tour on La Palma (the first is described in La Palma (5)) led south and steadily uphill again. Since I didn’t want to go back to the west side of the island, I used one of the forest paths back. From then on it was very quiet and I didn’t see anyone for a long time. The change in vegetation was also very interesting, from very dry landscape to pine forests and later evergreen laurel forests. In the end I came out again at the Refugio de El Pilar at 1500m. The return trip was great again, the pleasure of converting the work of the last few hours into speed and the wind in your face just felt good.
Evergreen laurel forest and the clouds that keep it green on La Palma, SpainElevation profile (red) and speed profile (green) from my bike tour. I was definitely faster downhill than uphill. And on the road I was faster than on gravel. You can also count the numbers of hairpin bends going downhill, because I slowed down a bit for them.Geographic map using the STRM data with my route, created with https://github.com/ronnyerrmann/cycle_logging
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