A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood (Coffeeneuring Waypoint No. 5)

For my fifth coffeeneuring destination, I decided to head into the city of Heinsberg, which is the center of Kreis Heinsberg, or in American terms, Heinsberg County. There are plenty of restaurants and stores there, so I figured I would wander around and find a good place to get some coffee. The weather was especially nice in the afternoon with plenty of sunshine and very little wind.

It isn’t very difficult to get to Heinsberg from anywhere within the vicinity, because its tallest structure is the Gothic church of St. Gangolf (not to be confused with Gandalf who is a fictional wizard) whose green-patina copper steeple looms over the city. Since it is roughly the same color as the Statue of Liberty, the Mrs. and I often refer to it as such.

Coming from the northwest, you enter a roundabout which takes you either around the perimeter or into the heart of the city where many historical structures, including the Torbogenhaus  from the 16th century, reside. The archway in the picture below is two-way for bicycles and surprisingly, a one-way for automobiles, though I would not want to try and squeeze anything bigger than a Smart car through that.

Just before the archway, Cafe Samocca sits on the right. There is indoor seating and a cafe terrace with a nice view of St. Gangolf’s and the fortifications surrounding it. Opting to take in the sunshine (and because this is Europe, cigarette smoke) I sat outside next to a stone wall that served as parking for my bike.

The coffee menu was extensive, offering beans from all over the world and accompanying tasting notes. I went with the Yellow Bourbon which promised to be something along the lines of “bright” and “nutty”. And just in case you forgot what you ordered, atop the saucer is a little card reminding you of what you were drinking.

After enjoying my coffee, I rode around the city for a while getting to know where the different avenues lead and what infrastructure was in place for bicyclists. Like many old cities, there aren’t bike lanes so much as automobile-restricted areas which provide plenty of pedestrian and bicycle zones to get where you’re going without finding yourself in the middle of traffic. On one of the main avenues, lined with small shops and cafes, there was an e-bike charging station which is becoming a pretty common sight around here and in the Netherlands.

Since I started out on my ride in the afternoon, it wasn’t long before the sun began to set, so I decided to head back home before it got too dark. I chose a different route than the way I came, but again, if you know the general direction you need to go, it isn’t very difficult to find your way there… eventually.

It turns out the route I had chosen was a bit lengthier than I anticipated and it actually got pretty dark out before I got very far. Between villages, there are sometimes no streetlights and especially dark are the paths that lead through the woods. Add the seasonal fog to that and your vision is pretty well restricted. Luckily, the lights I had on the bike were bright enough to get me home.

I enjoyed Cafe Samocca (as I have most of the destinations I’ve coffeeneured to this year) and will probably return there with the Mrs. when she gets back. Though with the days getting shorter and the nights getting colder, I will be sure to leave a little bit earlier next time.

- Bicyclist Abroad

 

Coffeeneur Quick Stats:

Location:	Cafe Samocca High Street 19, 52525 Heinsberg, Germany [website]
Drink:	Coffee (Brazilian Yellow Bourbon)
Date:	Saturday, 01 November
Distance:	16.2 km/10 mi.

A Wingless Bird

When you’re faced with writer’s block, your energy levels have declined, and you find yourself making excuses for doing anything, the best cure-all, at least for myself, is to get out on a bike and explore someplace new. Take a new road, head in a different direction, get lost and find your way back. Soon you will be filled to the brim with new thoughts and ideas. The scientific reason for this is that your brain has to process all of this unfamiliar information, so it piles it up all at once, causing the stack of papers that your mental faculties consist of to topple over in an avalanche of cognitive activity.*

So, with this in mind, I set out to the hardware store to find some nuts that Ikea had decided we did not need for our new chair, but I took a roundabout way of getting there. Normally, I stick to paved roads, but I found the Dahon more than capable of tackling the dirt and gravel roads that abound in this region, so I took a few of those.

This lead me to an area that I had noticed before, but never took the time to explore. You see, there are several windmills in this region-- not just the new, gigantic wind turbines, but the original windmills, made out of bricks and wood. One of them in particular was interesting, because it had lost its vanes at some point, which is sort of what makes a windmill a windmill. There it stood amidst all of these new, efficient wind turbines like a bird without wings.

 

I was thinking a lot about this former windmill as I pedaled towards it. Was it enjoying retirement? Was it jealous of the dozens of newer, bigger wind turbines that had been erected around it? Why am I personifying a piece of architecture? Eventually, I got up to it and realized that it was being renovated into someone’s home. Satisfied with that, and heeding the “private property” sign I guess I had missed, I continued on to the hardware store.

Along the way, a sleepy kitty emerged from the cornstalks to investigate my presence.

At the local hardware store, the nuts cost a total of .50 Euro, well worth avoiding the hassle of returning to the colossal blue and yellow furniture store. On my way home, I decided to take yet another route, though this one was a sanctioned bicycle path and paved. I got the chair assembled, but more importantly, I got back to feeling normal again… like a bird that got its wings back.

- Bicyclist Abroad

 

*This is probably not accurate, nor based on any scientific study.