Love your enemy (Bøjden)
Today, my laissez-faire attitude really backfired on me. Having made it my habit not to check out neither the weather forecast (thinking it is often better not to know), the terrain ahead (assuming I would just fret about it) NOR the actual distances I am planning to cover, it is no wonder that at times, my plans become mere over-optimistic daydreams.
Perhaps due to my late departure from Copenhagen yesterday, I had not managed to cover much more than half of the ground I had wanted to. Stubbornly, I was still quite convinced that getting to Hamburg for Saturday night was doable. In my mind, if I had managed the whole distance in two (admittedly very long) days last year, doing the same in three leisurely days would be no problem at all. This assumption was of course quite irrelevant, considering the fact that I was NOT following the same route as last year, but had chosen to cut accross the Danish islands of Zealand and Fyn, thus approaching Hamburg from the NW instead of the NE as I had last year. Even more ridiculously, I did not (and still don't) even have a map of the whole route and thus had only a vague idea of the distances involved.
To make matters worse, the persistent head wind that has been my companion for most of the past two weeks was now getting more powerful. The open landscapes of the Danish countryside offer no cover from the wind at all, and for most of today I had the wind directly in my face. It felt rather like pushing a car with the handbreak on: the bike did move ahead,but only with constant, determined effort. Actually, I discovered that in these circumstances uphills are the only relief, as at least for a while the hill will be a windbreak!
Although trying to ration my strength, the wind did wear me out quite quickly. Upon reaching the westernmost of Zealand, I was already well and truly tired, with only 60km behind me. Taking what must have been the most expensive 12min train ride of my life (20EUR for me and the bike to cross the bridge where no bicycles are allowed, I arrived at the island of Fyn. The staff at the tourist information instructed me that the last ferry from the island's opposite side would leave in a little over 3 hours. In normal circumstances, covering the 60km there would not have been any kind of a problem. Now, however, with the wind still in my face and my strength quickly diminishing, I could not be so sure.
In my haste, I had made the stupidest mistake and skipped lunch, grabbing instead some chocolate-filled scones while waiting for the train. In the end, I think this was what killed me, as all of a sudden,my energy levels just crashed and no protein bar, candy or other snack seemed to help.
I did make it to the other end of the island,but over 1,5 h after the ferry had left. Am now at an overpriced campsite right next to the harbour, but have already had to admit to myself that I will not be making it to Hamburg tomorrow. In the best of circumstances, I might be able to cover the 200+ km there, but with this wind it is not going to happen. Luckily,once I had admitted the situation to myself it stopped irritating me. After all, I am on holiday.
Perhaps due to my late departure from Copenhagen yesterday, I had not managed to cover much more than half of the ground I had wanted to. Stubbornly, I was still quite convinced that getting to Hamburg for Saturday night was doable. In my mind, if I had managed the whole distance in two (admittedly very long) days last year, doing the same in three leisurely days would be no problem at all. This assumption was of course quite irrelevant, considering the fact that I was NOT following the same route as last year, but had chosen to cut accross the Danish islands of Zealand and Fyn, thus approaching Hamburg from the NW instead of the NE as I had last year. Even more ridiculously, I did not (and still don't) even have a map of the whole route and thus had only a vague idea of the distances involved.
To make matters worse, the persistent head wind that has been my companion for most of the past two weeks was now getting more powerful. The open landscapes of the Danish countryside offer no cover from the wind at all, and for most of today I had the wind directly in my face. It felt rather like pushing a car with the handbreak on: the bike did move ahead,but only with constant, determined effort. Actually, I discovered that in these circumstances uphills are the only relief, as at least for a while the hill will be a windbreak!
Although trying to ration my strength, the wind did wear me out quite quickly. Upon reaching the westernmost of Zealand, I was already well and truly tired, with only 60km behind me. Taking what must have been the most expensive 12min train ride of my life (20EUR for me and the bike to cross the bridge where no bicycles are allowed, I arrived at the island of Fyn. The staff at the tourist information instructed me that the last ferry from the island's opposite side would leave in a little over 3 hours. In normal circumstances, covering the 60km there would not have been any kind of a problem. Now, however, with the wind still in my face and my strength quickly diminishing, I could not be so sure.
In my haste, I had made the stupidest mistake and skipped lunch, grabbing instead some chocolate-filled scones while waiting for the train. In the end, I think this was what killed me, as all of a sudden,my energy levels just crashed and no protein bar, candy or other snack seemed to help.
I did make it to the other end of the island,but over 1,5 h after the ferry had left. Am now at an overpriced campsite right next to the harbour, but have already had to admit to myself that I will not be making it to Hamburg tomorrow. In the best of circumstances, I might be able to cover the 200+ km there, but with this wind it is not going to happen. Luckily,once I had admitted the situation to myself it stopped irritating me. After all, I am on holiday.
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