It is a crazy experience for me to be able to bike to a forest where absolute silence predominates. Only 30 minutes away and mainly through busy outskirts of Uppsala, but 10 minutes after entering the forest, civilization seems to fade away. It is never silent though, as usual my brain is braining a lot, but even those thoughts are calming to an easy flowing stream instead of a wild river.
My feet and fingers are freezing. I did not put on enough clothes, still having a runners mindset. But biking, the wind hits a lot harder than during running. Gusts of wind feel like little spikes touching my body and my arms stiffen in a 90 degree position. Mental note to self: buy thicker socks, rain jacket to keep in the precious warmth and put on a hat underneath the helmet.
As a little girl, I used to imagine walking or biking somewhere and suddenly entering another world through an invisible portal. That seemed to me the most amazing thing that could ever happen to me. Being away from my boring daily life, going on an adventure and seeing wonderful people and landscapes. Maybe meet a talking lion, something like that. Now I realise of course how unrealistic this whole idea was, but biking into the forest next to Uppsala felt a bit like that. Although I did not meet a talking lion, I did hear pecking of the woodpecker searching for a new home.
Stones covered in moss, flowing over fallen trees like green waves frozen in time. The only human addition is the path on which I am biking and once in a while a little stony field for the horses. It takes me a while to realise what else is not there: humans. Where are the whining children, people walking the dog, loud talking racing cyclists? Maybe they went through the invisible portal.