About the urban wanderer

My name is Holger, many call me "Ozzy" also. I live in the town of Erlangen, Germany, and I am hiking 12km on average daily. With that I connect my every-day routines with hiking. In my day-to-day routine, I travel between Erlangen and Nuremberg. In an effort to not lose so much time, I replace my daily routes with small hikes, where ever possible. In my freetime I of course take trips outside of the usual routes, do events like "Megamarsch" (50km), or go to longer trips lasting a few days.

How do I came that far?

One day it was clear to me that I need to do something about my healthiness. Overweight, general lazyness, it was pretty clear I had to change something.

My tarp

I don't like sports so much. For about a year I was trying a fitness-app, and did the daily exercises there. Actually it helped a little, but I was unable to move on with it. At one day, you only do the excersizes only for itself, there was a motiation hole, even if the app takes only 10 minutes into account. Something longlasting, deeply motivating was missing, something that is above just loosing weight. Something that works with your mind also.

First, I tried jogging. But quickly I developed problems with my knees. When the doctor made it clear that this will come again and again by jogging, I stopped doing this.





Cycling? Mountain Bike? Also a possibility. Well, it already goes on my nerves to care for the childrens bikes, every now and then there's a flat tire and what not. I didn't want dependence from too much technics in order to move myself around.

Dinner w/ Bushbox XL

Of course I thought about going to the gym. But I don't like the thought to pay for making me moving my body around. I find that absurd, and there have to be different, more logical and individual solutions.

Finally end of March 2019 I thought, "what about walking  some distance every day", a distance that I would otherwise travel via bus, train or car. That's where it all began with just walking. It was tough in the beginning I have to say.

But I stayed with that, till today, and quickly I figured out my general healthiness has increased. All in all I feel so good with it that I will not stop and it keeps me motivated every single day.

Read about my  notable inspirations!

View of Ebermannstadt

With time, one does get better and fitter automatically. It was time for me to take the next steps. And in the vacation season 2019 I took my first longer multi-day trips, longer distances up to 37km. By that time I also began Nordic Walking, invested in better walking sticks and gear. I began to track my effort ia an App.

View on the Regnitz River in Erlangen Bruck

I later took first real challenges,  such as the Megamarsch Event 50/12 in Nuremberg, succesfully. By the end of the year, I developed a completely different view at my own, body and mind.

This blog is to share these experiences, I'd like to motivate others in getting "simply outdoors", because I think it is the key to resolve so many problems. On this blog I'd like to talk about routes, gear, and hiking in general.