CURRENT MISSION

Visit as much of France and Spain as possible by bike and foot

ABOUT ME

I am FrancoGermanophile seeking an answer to the dreaded question: "What is it that you do?"

Calm, a little bit shy, and pretty much unstressable, I don’t like shouting or arguments but am not apathetic – I like to defend my point of view. I suffer fom insatiable curiosity and tend to ask lots of questions. I love long chats, both in person and on the phone, but I don’t like talking for the sake of it.

Most of my life I have had an irrational fear of feet, but have almost overcome this very recently with the help of a Spanish monk.

Like all couchsurfers, I love to travel and, if possible, under my own steam... on foot, by bike, canoe...

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

As a traveller that hates being a tourist and loves discovering new places "from the inside", I don't know how I could have ignored couchsurfing so long.
I love having people to stay that help me to travel, to dream, to see things in a new way... without moving from my sunny rooftop :) The Montpellier couchsurfing community is something special. Hiking, exploring caves, sleeping in caves, hitchhike racing, river floating, assassins, banquets and picnics... and most of all, a fantastically welcoming community where people are eager to look out for one another. I love it!

Interests

I love hills and mountains. They don’t have to be breathtakingly high, boasting snow-capped peaks or deep gorges: the bewitching beauty of the remote Scottish highlands or the bleakness of the Yorkshire Dales charms me just as much as the glacial lakes of the Alps. There’s something intensely satisfying about hiking… watching the countryside change around you and the sense of achievement when you stand on a summit.

If I can’t walk there… I cycle! I love bike rides when I’m not pressed for time and can meander along, enjoying my surroundings and letting my thoughts wander.

Language and language-related things are what I spend quite a lot of my time thinking about. I really like to write, though for the moment this is confined mainly to long letters (composed in the Montpellier sunshine over a cup of tea) and emails – though I occasionally pen brief articles – as I haven’t yet summoned up the courage to expose my work to wider audiences.

I like to try to worm my way inside a culture, to work out what it is that makes a people different from my own and – chameleon-like - to adapt to the things I like.

Ok, the rest, vite fait: athletics, especially the tingling sensation in my stomach at the start of a 100m race, sprinting down the wing on a hockey or football pitch, running in the rain, French cuisine, baking, trying out new sorts of tea, sitting in cafés and people-watching, hill-rolling, Troedelmaerkte, inventing words, piano duets

• culture
• beauty
• dining
• baking
• running
• sprinting
• working out
• traveling
• crochet
• knitting
• piano
• cycling
• hiking
• canoeing
• camping
• soccer
• hockey
• swimming
• beaches
• lakes
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

From cheesy Spanish pop to Gregorian chant with a good dose of jazz and musicals in between.
When in doubt, I come back to Winnie the Pooh, Wind in the Willows and, of course, Alice in Wonderland for their startling insight :)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Cycling 4400km through Norway and Finland summer 2010. So often I was in awe - not just at the valiant efforts of my poor untrained body (!), but gazing at glaciers, gambling reindeer and the open ocean leading to an empty horizon beyond North Cape.Hiking across Iceland this summer: still-steaming lava drifting from beneath my feet on Eyjafjallajoekull; swimming in a hot hidden lagoon between America and Europe; camping on a solitary beach and watching the icebergs float by...

Teach, Learn, Share

Hmmm, I could probably teach you to fix a bike puncture or to put together any number of weird and wonderful hiking food creations involving peanut butter.I would really like to learn to knit better (so far I don't dare venture beyond scarves and wrist warmers) and to crochet. Any keen photographers are also most warmly invited to give me some tips.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Spain, Switzerland

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom

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