Author Topic: Holidays - Show us what you did  (Read 18495 times)

bw

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Re: Holidays - Show us what you did
« Reply #15 on: August 16, 2016, 11:59:07 am »
Back to the thread, here is a recent hike at Injasuthi

Patrick

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Re: Holidays - Show us what you did
« Reply #16 on: August 16, 2016, 12:22:01 pm »
Cool pics, what are the details? How long, how far, highlights etc?

I have the same stove, took it on my trip. I find it worked better when I mixed in some water with the meths. 25% to simmer, 10% other times.

Orca

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Re: Holidays - Show us what you did
« Reply #17 on: August 16, 2016, 07:04:14 pm »
I am a cheap skate so I thought I would buy a telephoto lens for my phone for my UK trip. Also, we all have our phones with us and never a camera handy when we need it.
It is a 18x zoom and I have included 2 pics. One without the lens of trees in the distance and one with the lens of the same trees. That pink haze is from the fires.
Please note that I have a China no name brand phone with a 3 MP camera so don't laugh. I will use my wife's phone that has a 6 MP camera.
I would have rather bought a 8 x zoom.
« Last Edit: August 16, 2016, 07:06:04 pm by Orca »
I started here with nothing and still have most of it left.

Mr_Dividend

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Re: Holidays - Show us what you did
« Reply #18 on: August 16, 2016, 09:01:00 pm »
really nice pic's patrick.

BTW - if you going to be doing a lot of camping it might be worth ditching the closed cell mattress and picking up a self inflating mattress from thermarest. Depending on model, slightly heavier but packs small and 50 x more comfortable. I slept for a few months on a concrete floor with my 25mm thermarest and was happy as Larry. Way more comfortable than any inflatable mattress ether - you need to try one.

https://www.mountainmailorder.co.za/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=39


Patrick

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Re: Holidays - Show us what you did
« Reply #19 on: August 17, 2016, 11:40:47 am »
That's some serious zoom Orca! Such a pity about the fires :(

really nice pic's patrick.

BTW - if you going to be doing a lot of camping it might be worth ditching the closed cell mattress and picking up a self inflating mattress from thermarest. Depending on model, slightly heavier but packs small and 50 x more comfortable. I slept for a few months on a concrete floor with my 25mm thermarest and was happy as Larry. Way more comfortable than any inflatable mattress ether - you need to try one.

https://www.mountainmailorder.co.za/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=39
Thanks, yes I have a self inflating pillow that I prefer to a real pillow even, but the closed cell mattresses are multi purpose, we can sleep on them, put them down on a rough surface for a picnic, and most importantly, they protect the bikes during flights. If we do longer camping trips I might carry both.

And if anyone wants to see more pictures, keep reading.

French fries were invented in... Belgium, so we had to have some as a snack. The standard accompaniment is Mayonnaise here. This picture was taken after 9pm, I really love the late hours of sunlight!


Here's our last view of Germany before crossing into Austria


The blue Danube was quite green. As was everything else. Clearly they're not suffering from the severe drought El Nino is causing in this region


It was really beautiful


Fairytale castles can be seen all over


And the sunflowers were in full bloom, glowing yellow and following the sun as they tend to do.


Some days we'd stop for lunch in public parks


For dinner we'd either eat out, or find a store and a spot for a picnic. The cheese was cheaper than back home, but what you can't see under the slice at the bottom is a 500 gram tub of blueberries which were even cheaper. We ate some nearly every day.


Enns was one of the first places in Austria to be officially called a town


Along the route you could often buy a few things, without a shopkeeper. In SA this wouldn't work. The money would just be stolen. And the wine and jam. And the table.


And if you weren't wise enough to pack some tools, some of the lunch spots had tools available for the bikes, along with charging points for electric bikes


We made it to Vienna! 10 points if you can guess what that colourful building in the background is for.


Vienna has a claim to the worlds oldest ferris wheel. Amazingly it was so well engineered that even though it took a near direct hit by a bomb in WW2, it was still able to be used with just minor repairs.


They also have a great big palace, where we went to see an orchestra one night.


When were were heading to the train station to go to Budapest, we ran into a family touring on the same bikes as ours. They'd were heading back to Germany.


Budapest is actually two cities, Buda on the one side, and Pest on the other. I can't remember which was which.
« Last Edit: August 17, 2016, 11:49:54 am by Patrick »

BussoV6

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Re: Holidays - Show us what you did
« Reply #20 on: August 18, 2016, 03:03:33 pm »
Cool bikes. Did you guys buy them over there or here in RSA and then transport as check in baggage? If flying with those, I'd be quite scared the airline would lose them and ruin my holiday plans.

The bags attached look good too.

Orca

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Re: Holidays - Show us what you did
« Reply #21 on: August 18, 2016, 03:25:53 pm »
That mysterious building looks like an Indian creche.
I started here with nothing and still have most of it left.

Patrick

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Re: Holidays - Show us what you did
« Reply #22 on: August 22, 2016, 02:24:41 pm »
Cool bikes. Did you guys buy them over there or here in RSA and then transport as check in baggage? If flying with those, I'd be quite scared the airline would lose them and ruin my holiday plans.

The bags attached look good too.
We bought them in London. They're made there so that's where they are cheapest. We are supposed to get our VAT back too. If that happens it will have been a good deal. The front bag is made for the bike, the backpack on the back is a Osprey porter 46. I love that backpack. It's also the largest cabin baggage acceptable bag. We did fly with the bikes, and yes I was scared and paranoid a lot!

That mysterious building looks like an Indian creche.
Believe it or not, it's a waste incinerator that also creates electricity: https://www.wien.info/en/sightseeing/green-vienna/vienna-power-plants

Vienna is the closest any city in the world has gotten to a sustainable waste management system.

Moneypenny

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Re: Holidays - Show us what you did
« Reply #23 on: October 09, 2016, 07:20:37 pm »

Patrick

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Re: Holidays - Show us what you did
« Reply #24 on: October 10, 2016, 09:13:51 am »

I found the perfect spot for our Annual Shareforum Get-together.  :-*


http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/studio-roosegaarde-illuminated-bicycle-path#.V_pzUKvQ1cs.mailto
That's awesome, like cycling in the forest in avatar.

Moneypenny

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Re: Holidays - Show us what you did
« Reply #25 on: October 10, 2016, 10:43:41 am »
Was thinking the same.  Somebody send this pic to me last night, how's that for synchronicity?

Patrick

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Re: Holidays - Show us what you did
« Reply #26 on: November 21, 2016, 06:49:32 pm »
Time for another trip. This time I was off to Namibia again, where I usually spend time walking around the city, but this time I decided my Brompton folding bike had to come along.

So now I had an issue. I want to be able to cycle from the airport, so I don't need expensive taxis, but I also wanted my bicycle to be safe in the hands of the luggage tossers. A strong cardboard box would work, but I wouldn't be able to cycle with a box that size, and it would likely get tossed or taken if I tried to leave it near the airport.

So having built a battery box for my electric bike before out of ABS plastic, I decided this would do the job again. Here's the box:


Yes the bicycle fits into that. With far too much space to spare actually as I made it too high. It does leave a lot of space for packing other things into the box, but with the 30 liter front bag I didn't need more space, so I just used thick protective foam. I also had a company stitch up a thick nylon cover for it so it looked more like luggage, I'll take a picture later.

So the box is held closed by three screws on each side. Not being able to carry a screwdriver on board meant I'd have no way to unscrew it, but fortunately I found a large washer that fit the screws perfectly, and I could carry it in my wallet, just like a coin! When the screws are removed, the box collapses in on itself and I can carry it on the back of my bike with just two luggage straps and one piece of foam, as you can see here at the Windhoek airport:


And off I went, Windhoek is to the right:


I'm used to seeing signs warning about potential buck in the road, but this one was new to me:


I didn't see Pumba sadly, pity too, I made friends with them a while back in the Pilansberg. You probably shouldn't try this at home, I was also the only person to try this at the campsite, couldn't help myself, they are so cute:


Ok back to the bike trip. The roads were in good condition, with no potholes, and quite smooth tarmac, but the lack of an emergency lane was terrible. I had to leave the road twice because of trucks coming too close:


It was really hot too as you would expect in the desert. Sadly the whole region is struggling with a drought thanks to El Nino. I never saw a drop of water in any river:


Halfway through my journey I found the first piece of usable shade, the police checkpoint. They were also kind enough to offer their firehose for refilling the bottles, but the bees are also obviously struggling in the drought so they weren't leaving the nozzle edge. Instead I used a small bottle in the bathroom which I'd pour into my larger one, I also poured a little into a hollow on the floor for the bees, they flew straight to it! During the ride I'd drank about 1.5 out of the 3 liters I was carrying in the 22km of the trip so far:


Another dry riverbed, it's a miracle these trees are green:


Another few kilometers further on I found some more shade on a piece of old unused road. I took the opportunity to adjust my gears as the job I did the night before seemed to cause more clicking:


Fortunately I found ways to mount all my tools inside the frame of this amazingly versatile little bike:


The railway criss-crosses the road, sometimes by going underneath it:


And other times by going above it:


After what seemed like an endless uphill, I finally started finding a few downhills:


After 4 and a half hours I finally made it to my airBNB for the night. The heat was too much, so it was a cold shower for me followed by me lying on the bed covered in a wet shirt. Bike, box and gear all happily inside with me:

gcr

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Re: Holidays - Show us what you did
« Reply #27 on: November 22, 2016, 09:31:14 am »
When up in Namibia I frequently travelled the road between Windhoek, Swakopmund and Walvis Bay and without exception on all of the trips to Swakopmund and back you often had to slow down whilst the "hogs" crossed the national road with their tails erect as they ran across the road with the "tribe". Fascinating to see them in the open habitat
Not everything that counts, can be counted, and, not everything that can be counted counts - Albert Einstein

Patrick

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Re: Holidays - Show us what you did
« Reply #28 on: December 12, 2016, 09:16:57 am »
After Namibia I boxed my bike for the flight back home:


Spent just a couple of weeks back home before it was time to hit the road again, destination Malawi.


Packing the box onto the bike at the airport, ready to get pedaling.


The airport road is pretty lousy as are most airport roads, so I decided to rather take the dirt side paths.


If you insist...


Yes, this tiny bike carrying all that stuff can handle a singletrack with ease.


And the odd ploughed field.


After seeing this guy, I didn't feel nearly as bad about the weight I was carrying.


When you work in the field you often have to have meetings in the villages. The usual spot is under the big tree.


Made it to my BNB :)


Malawi is actually quite bike friendly. It's the way the locals travel. I get a lot of friendly calls on my little brompton. There are also good cycle lanes and paths on most of the city roads.


Bridge over the river Five? Just like Namibia they've been suffering a terrible drought, but recently the rain has arrived.


It's really a beautiful area to cycle through. Hopefully I can make it to the lake next weekend.