triple tasking on the run

Running over a coal dump with coffee at The Slab

The Slab atop Schurenbachhalde

I have always loved jogging around a new town or a new neighbourhood, even down a new trail or along a new beach. there is no better way to explore new-to-you territory: you can stop whenever you want, you can cover lots of ground, you can plan an out-and-back or a loop, you can change your mind and take a detour through a park, or just sit on a rock and watch the waves.

when i think of my best all time runs, it is always the exploration runs: over the rocks and sand of clam harbour, nova scotia, through the fog of port-aux-basque, up and down and up and down the steps of signal hill in st. john’s, along the seine in paris, into the dunes in holland.

and now, over the schurenbachhalde or coal dump in the north of essen, germany, where ive been working and living on and off for three years.

(of course, on days like today, before i sat down to type this up, my simple morning run was also fantastic: a crazy colourful sunrise mixed with thunder clouds, wild bird song in the woods, reflections and geese on placid river, rain smell on hot pavement, totally soaking downpour – pure straightforward glorious fun)

thats another story: this one is about yesterday’s run, a triple combo of run, explore and geocache.

more fotos from schurenbachhalde on picasa

Das Treppchen - 263 steps of the Schurenbachhalde

essen you have to understand is a former coal-mining area and as such it is literally covered in little artificial mountains – piles of coal tailings, regenerated, renaturated, plastered with gravel paths and muddy trails and monuments to the area’s former industrial glory – there are also playgrounds and lots of unexpected “natural” features – in short, a runner/ explorer’s paradise

of course these former mining sites can be huge and the web of trails confusing – which is where geocaching comes in – i use the coordinates of these silly film canisters, plastic tupperware containers and ammo cans to guide me round through the unfamiliar landscape – so i can be totally lost and still know exactly where the car is

i had been caching here twice before but always on my way home from teaching – in the wrong clothes for really exploring – yesterday was the first morning of a five-day holiday and i wanted to do something special

i woke before my alarm at 4.45, filled a thermos with coffee and headed north through the centre of town and the already heavy morning traffic – i actually got a little lost and ended up in gelsenkirchen but basic knowledge of local geography helped me out – the ruhrgebiet is bordered by three rivers: the ruhr to the south where i live, the emscher marks the northern edge of essen and the lippe is farther north again. so from gelsenkirchen i just followed the emscher back west towards bottrop

happy and filthy under the steps of the schurenbachhalde

I parked at the “main entrance” to the Schurenbachhalde, just below the coal dump’s 263 steps – my first cache was actually hidden under the metal steps – but where? – the first clue was under step #189 – a nice warm up – then crawling and squiriming on my belly in the dirt and dust – then up a few steps, down a few steps and … i found it – a nice big ammo can container

one main reason i came here so early was to do the crawling and squirming before the joggers and dogwalkers showed up  – it is exactly this kind of childish fun that i love about geocaching – be honest, who doesnt just love getting good and dirty?

i actually had a bit of an asthma attack under the steps – the dust and leaf mould is pretty rough -  i jogged up to the top of the halde, chewed some mint gum (always opens my lungs) and sipped coffee from my thermos with my back against Die Bramme

View from Schurenbach: pure Ruhrgebiet, industry mixed with green

the top of this dump (like many here) has been turned into an art installation – a smooth gravelly moonscape stuck with a massive slab of steel – Die Bramme ( German for The Slab) is 14.5 m high, 4.2 m wide, 13.5 cm thick, and weighs 67 tons. it is freaking big. It was erected here in 1998 by American artist Richard Serra at a cost of €1 million.

(there is a cache hanging from the side of the slab – way up near the top – by powerful magnets – a T5 – the highest terrain rating possible – out of my league)

it is fantastic up here at any time of day or night – the 360° view is breathtaking – and pure ruhrgebiet – green expanses of woods and rivers broken by smokestacks, cooling towers and haldes all around.

theres a great view of scholven, about 10k north, one of the largest coal-fired power plants in europe – unmistakeable with its seven cooling towers, two smokestacks over 300m high, and its coal dump topped with windmills – scholven has an installed capacity of 2300 MW and is capable of covering 3% of Germany’s electricity needs (2300 MW also just happens to be Nova Scotia Power’s total electricity-generating capacity)

Sunrise over Gelsenkirchen from Schurenbachhalde

yesterday i watched big clouds of steam billow from the steel plant in bottrop, watched the flare dance above the refinery in gelsenkirchen while ever so slowly the sun peaked up over the horizon to the east

time to get running again. down the steps along the main path to a neighbouring coal dump – eickwinkel – this one with tiny winding trails overgrown with brambles and vines – a jumping ducking twisting run – two quick caches – one down near the stink from the emscher (sewer) canal – then over the main canal and a final cache – watched steam rise from water pumped up from old and slowly flooding mines

i would never have found my way through this labrynth if not for the cache coordinates – this is a part of town i might never have explored if not for geocaching – and running – a great triple combo morning of exercise, exploration and fun

wait a minute – make that quadruple combo -its also a great place to take pictures:

more fotos from schurenbachhalde on picasa