Aachen surprise

I climbed out of my tent into a gray blanket of clouds. The wind was already heavy and wet. This was a bleak morning in Belgium, as I remember them. Muttering about the futility of existence, I packed up all alone in this deserted camp village and rode out. Thankful that I had dealt with the flat tire last night. Better in the dark than in the bleak.

I was planning to ride on north, but at the last moment, decided to ride the Vennbahnweg all the way to its end in Aachen. The old city structures were sudden and imposing. To celebrate, I went to get a beer and falafel. Who is also sitting here eating falafel? It's Jan who I worked with back in my early days of Bremen!

We got chatting and turns out he's also in a self-made sabbatical. He suggests I pitch my tent in his garden.

"But I wanted to go over to Vaalserberg today", I offered

"That's actually next to my house. We can walk up there. If you're ready to do it without a bicycle"

So off we went on the walk, and I could complete the mission that I had been riding downhill all day for: to reach the highest point of the Netherlands!

The meeting with Jan was soulful. The deep conversation ran through our tech dev projects, metallurgy, psychedelics, life projects and more till late into the night and the next morning. After marveling at the magic of the road that brought us together at this juncture in life, I eventually rolled out late afternoon to head northwards.Read more