My motorbike broke down! I have to buy a new one and for that, I try to save a bit of money by not using public transport more than necessary. So that means that my hikes this month will be starting and or finishing at my home. As I know this area already quite well, I expect it not to be too exciting. But this weekend’s hike was far from boring.
It was already after 15km that I was under heavy attack! I was just about to have my pee break when a swarm of aggressive, hungry and ugly bloodsuckers attacked me. They were everywhere and while I tried to run away with my pants still on my ankles I was bitten even more. When I finally pulled up my pants I ran away and did not even bother to look back whether anyone saw me. I was bitten 19 times, of which 5 times at the butt.. First I thought it were mosquitoes but later I realized it must have been horse flies as they were way too big to be mosquitoes. Thankfully the bites did not hurt me, nor got itchy like I remember those horse fly bites.
After surviving this, I had another issue. I ran out of water! With a little over 10km to go I drank all my water, definitely a first timer. I decided to see how my body would react, I did not feel so hot anyway and I did not wanted to add more kilometers to my already long day. That was just a plain stupid decision. When entering my home town I decided I did needed some water and went into a supermarket for a sport drink before hiking further home. I was just about to pay when I felt I started to faint! I just grabbed the register and paid, stumbled outside to get my head in between my knees and drink that sport drink. Soon it got better and I just rested for a bit to be sure I would not faint again and I took the bus home. It was probably much warmer than I actually noticed, the cooler temperature in the supermarket may have been too different from the outside and my overheated or dehydrated body reacted to that.
After all, it was not a boring hike, maybe not so fun either though. But I learned about not getting without water and, new in this challenge, to learn to listen to my body in the heat. My feet did asked for more breaks which might have been a sign. In the Netherlands there just may be a shortage of hot days for me to listen to my body when it complains about heat? And also, first check for horse flies before doing my business in the forest.
Hike on!
41/812/1500 (this hikes distance/total distance/goal to reach)
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