Its been a while but I have been busy. Today seemed like an appropriate day to make a fresh series of entries to the blog as it is exactly two years since I woke up in our holiday apartment after moving to Berlin from the UK. We had to rent a FeWo whilst we were looking for a permanent flat but it was 102 steps to the top floor so we needed an alternative!
One of the first things I did was get on my bike and cycle the city, something I have been doing ever since. A lot has changed in that time not only in world terms but for me personally. After a year I had my Felt bicycle stolen from outside the Berliner Mauer Visitor Centre whilst I was doing a guided walking tour and this year I have no cycle tours at all but am riding around Ruppiner See in Brandenburg whilst staying in and renovating a DDR bungalow and garden.
It has kept me sane, being in touch with nature, maintaining social distance (easy in the countryside) and waiting for the summer to arrive. The cycling out here in the Mark can sometimes be affected by strong crosswinds as it is very flat fenland but the isolation is rewarding and there are a lot of forests to offer protection from the elements should you require.
I am still looking forward to taking tourists around Berlin by bike again as I love it and more people are discovering the multi-beneficial aspects of two wheels. It would have been the ideal time for large groups of cyclists to take tours with less traffic and less pollution and I hope that people will be encouraged by the recent momentum developing around urban cycling for everyone.
I have really got used to the benefits of the cycle compartment on the Regio trains. Eastern Germany is the best served rail network in the country. Many regular users have been commenting on social media that they have found more space as people eschew the public transport. I have seen more space on the S Bahn cycle carriage too whilst travelling about to do my social distance tours. All recorded on http://www.komoot.com as Pablos.
radicity 