TRAVEL. ADVENTURE. NATURE

Offroading and Climbing Trees With my Inline Skates

When you’re out and about exploring unknown terrain

Birds are chirping and a light breeze is blowing. On the channel we were crossing two swans were swimming in the water. On the other side of the road, a couple of deer are running across the field.

This is what living in nature should feel like. And I’m loving it.

Last evening we got the text work got canceled today. The second day in a row. My husband was surprised because he said the weather predictions for today weren’t that bad.

We’re skydivers. We Jump out of planes for a living. And yes, our job is weather dependant.

And just after that message came in we decided to go on a big trip today instead. We had bought him a bicycle yesterday and were planning on going regularly on trips from now on.

I prefer skating which is why I put my inline skates on this morning and he jumped onto the bike.

The weather really didn’t look that gray. It wasn’t raining but it had rained a bit already. We packed wind- and rain jackets and I had sandwiches prepared for lunch.

I had looked up a route online but wasn’t sure about it yet. It seems like this area isn’t as well prepared in bike trails as my home town Stuttgart. This surprises me, since this is flat country and known for bike trips.

Maybe I just haven’t figured it out yet.

However, as soon as we saw a sign for a bike path, we took it. Since there are no rules for inline skates on the road, I count myself as a biker.

We quickly drove through town before crossing this lovely channel. The route took us on an elevated path between flood plains, I would say. A few raindrops were falling but since we were equipped for all weathers, we didn’t care.

Half an hour into our ride we reached a small town. The bike lane had simply ended and we had no other choice but to ride on the road. For some part of it, I tried the sidewalk as well.

A lovely church took my attention.

I stopped for a moment to take in the beauty of this ancient building.

As we were leaving town we found ourselves on a big country road. I had hoped to find a bike lane on the side of it but nothing. Not even a farm road was to be seen.

We had no other choice but to stay on the road and hope the cars would safely overtake us. It wasn’t fun and I tried my best to skate as fast as possible. We just wanted to get this stretch of road behind us.

Cars are allowed to drive here at 100 kph (62 mph) but I’m sure some of them overtaking us were quite a bit faster than that.

As soon as we got to the next town, I got off the road and continued my drive on the sidewalk. Much more relaxing that way.

The town of Wustrau had many roads made of cobblestones which gave off a nostalgic flair. We passed several smaller parks. The side roads were quiet and no cars were passing us.

And then we made it. To the lake.

Ruppiner See was my announced destination. We changed routes a few times but kept the goal ahead of us. After an hour of cycling/skating, we reached the water and were ready for a break.

Despite it being a Friday afternoon, the small harbor was closed and so was the restaurant. We didn’t mind since we had our own food supplies with us. We sat down on a bench, I took off the skates and we ate our sandwiches while watching two ducks hunting in the lake.

We were sure we did not want to take the same route back and were now studying Google maps for an alternative path on the other side of the river.

While back home (Stuttgart and surroundings) I can take pretty much any farm road with my skates as well, many roads here aren’t tarred or made of rough cobblestones.

We still decided to give it a try since taking the country road back again wasn’t an option for us. The cars overtaking us were too close and too fast to have felt safe.

I much rather follow tiny roads and cross small channels where trees are reflecting in the still waters.

But as soon as we left town on this tiny road, cobblestones were all I saw ahead. The next village was written out 7 kilometers away and I didn’t feel like walking for that long.

Skating on cobblestones is just not an option.

Just a few meters ahead, my husband saw a turnoff. It was a farm road but it was more rideable for me than that cobblestone road. I couldn’t glide much but at least I could make some distance.

I had to take a few breaks because it was getting exhausting for me after a while. And just as I was lifting my eyes off the road I saw them. A herd of deer far across on one of the fields. I did not take my camera with me today because I was very insecure about the weather. I had experienced water damage on my camera once before and do not want to experience it again.

The herd was far from us but we could clearly identify them as deer. I could count 9-10 animals. And this is what I love most about adventures outdoors.

The wildlife.

The road was getting worse and I was holding onto the bike now trying to roll over potholes in the ground and rocks and sticks in my way.

Not just the road conditions, the weather was turning as well. Not that we had blue skies earlier but the horizon got very dark.

And then the real adventure began. At first, it just looked like one tree had fallen onto the road and was blocking our way but as soon as we had walked around it we could see a few more ahead. I don’t know how long they had been lying here but this surely didn’t bother anyone.

We had passed no humans since we turned off the cobblestone road.

It was just us. And a whole lot of fallen trees.

We were climbing over and under. My husband always carrying his bike across. He said I shouldn’t touch any branches because who knows when it would break down even more.

The wind was blowing strong and some of the trees still standing were making awkward sounds.

The narrow part of the road got worse and worse and my husband eventually convinced me it would be easiest if we both were on the bicycle.

Surely I’ve ridden like that as a child but those days are long gone when I sat with another person together on one bicycle.

However, if you’ve followed me for long you know I’m nobody who’s too old for any adventure. If it’s swimming in a mud pool in the desert, building a snowman, or riding on the back of a bicycle, I’m in for all of them.

There are no photographs of this part of the adventure because well, it wasn’t all balanced. I was sitting more on the bicycle basket than on the seat and my husband was doing his best pedaling and keeping the balance on this rather uneven road.

We laughed lots, passed some more deer, a blue heron, and two swans.

And this is another one of those moments where I can say yes, I’ve found my soul mate. I don’t know many people who would have done this trip with me without complaining once about the bad conditions or the struggle of it all.

And guess what? Eventually, we could see a tarred road ahead again and I was able to strap on my inline skates. I was happy to see my favorite sign. I haven’t seen it before moving here. A sign of a person on rollerblades.

Yes, this is my road!

Happy to have good ground underneath my feet I was skating wide and picking up speed that I almost missed those two deer in the field. Yes, we did get to see a bunch of animals today. I agree. I guess in total we saw about 15 deer.

Next time I’ll definitely take my camera again. But today my GoPro was good enough to capture the highlights of this adventure.

After a long detour, we had taken while trying to make our way across these huge fields, we finally got back into a village again. And it seems like they like their cobblestone roads in settlements.

I might need to learn how to glide over them…

Just before returning home, we chose another road that ended in a sandy path. This time I didn’t even try. I took off my skates and walked until we hit a paved road again. And as I was walking in peace, four bunnies were jumping across my path. I should call them hares because they were surely too large to be a rabbit.

And this is how another day out in nature comes to an end. After more than 4 hours we returned back at our trailer.

Exhausted but happy.

“The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.” — Oprah Winfrey

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