Münster Trilogy

[Skybird]

Completed!

This is, after some problems, the third and last Münster movie (not counting the night camera test I also posted).



After the river Werse in the East and the Aasee in the South-West, its now the arc from West to North. We again travel into the Kreuzviertel and then see the city castle, which is home to parts of the university, and the castle garden; next through one of the university districts, before we leave the centre city behind and enter the green belt surroundign the city and separating it from several satellite settlements that form a ring around Münster. Parks and garden landscape this belt often is, at least in the West. These are of younger age and slowly growing, over the coming decades they probably will connect to and melt into the city of Münster at their centre. Here we travel through the nice area of very green Gievenbeck, then come close to and almost to Roxel (where my parents live), turning north then and pass through Nienberge, and then in the final stage touch Kinderhaus and Coerde, the latter of which borders the area where I live, the Rumphorst quartier. My own quartier is right on the North-Eastern rim of the main town, which is ideal: I am quickly out of the city and in the green, if I want, but also quickly in the old town and city centre, can be there within 5 minutes (shortest track to the centre place is less than 2 km, usually I take one of several possible greener tracks, making it 4km). Infratdurtcure and variosu shopping opporutnties and supply optiisn are ideal. I live in my place since 21 years, and I think I scored it very well and luckily. Thats why I bought it after the first four years. I wanted it, the former owner was willign to sell, and we made the deal, fast and uncomplicated as I like it.

There is, with the exception of the castle garden, little touristic attraction to be seen, but while the first videos had that, and the romantic idyll of the river Werse, this video shows pretty much the real and typical face of the surrounding Münsterland region, which in the endn was and is a farming ground in the main. Its mostly flat and can be a bit boring, dull. I prefer the region south of Osnabrück, the Teutoburger forest and Wiehengebirge, therefore, which is more hilly, but way more idyllic. The first film with the Werse is beautiful, yes, but it is not typical for the Münsterland, really it is not. Typical is what you see in this film. What I jkiss here, is a bigger forest area. I am a forest man. Others love beaches and the sea, others prefer the mountains. I need a forest. Preferrably with no humans in it. Well, not in or around Münster, that is the only real setback here.

Still you can live well and quite green here, the charm of the city is that it is not only offering nice infrastructure for bicycles in a pragmatic meaning (good surface quality of tarmac, and plenty of bicycle tracks and roads), but that the city also is offering many, many parks and green corridors, if you know these well you can get around almost everywhere without needing to travel grey and boring main traffic streets, but can bike along trees and meadows, almost everywhere. Its a very green city. I almost exclusively use these "green tracks", it is good for the eye and good for the soul and I have no timetables to meet, so i can afford easily to take some minutes longer to get from A to B.

Münster has 1.6x as many bicycles than inhabitans (500,000 bikes for 310,000 people. Even Dutch tourists not knowing it and being here for the first time are stunned by how many bicycles we have here, the density is very high, leaving even the Dutch metropoles behind, and that means something (for foreigners: the Dutch have the reputation of being Europe'S most fanatical bicycle users ). Its the most used means of transportation, before cars and busses. Over 40% of traffic here is done by bicycles. Münster was seen as and maybe still is Germany's bicycle capital.

I have two heavy locks with me when biking. Thats the dark side of things. When I use the ebike, I always take battery, saddle and spring mount for the saddle with me. I also have a good, versatile flat-bed trailer. But I have no car. You don't need one here. You need good bicycles, and cloathing for every weather. I have a normal bike for city distances and short trips, and an ebike for long tours and heavy shopping duty. I never use busses. I HATE bus driving, and I hate it with a passion. For some reason, however, i liked the subway in Berlin. But you will never see me in a bus, no matter what. I find it absolutely disgusting. Yes, thats a bit queer maybe, but thats how I tick. Push me towards a bus, and I have my fangs at your throat immediately.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this last film, the tour has 32 km, making it the longest of the three. Maybe its the most sober of the three, but then: it is what it is and it shows how it looks here, without faking reality. It was early morning.

This map provides a quick overview.



For the sake of having it all completely in one place, I link the other two videos here again, too.


https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/sho...d.php?t=250596



https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/sho...d.php?t=250748

[Reece]

Hi Sky, been so busy for the last few days, quite tired (weary), have only been able to watch to the 19mn mark so far.
Started off not looking as good as the other 2 tracks, graffiti and all but soon came into some very nice areas, parks etc.
If I ever got over there I would have to contact you, maybe you could take the wife and I on a bus tour!!
Will continue with the video tour when I get the chance, but very nice so far, thanks.

[Skybird]

Glad you enjoy it!

[Onkel Neal]

Wow, great video. That is a lovely town, so many green spaces and really nice bike trails and roads. I would definitely bike everywhere if we had a town infrastructure like that, Sky.

I'm wondering, if I replay the video on Youtube and change the replay speed to .75, will that slow it down to closer to normal speed?

Great job!

[Skybird]

Glad you like it. Two of the three video are shot in constant 2x Timewarp, one video uses both 2x and 5x, because in the pedestrian zone I did not drive but walked and pushed the bike: slower speed, but 5x acceleration. Thats why you almost do not relaise the differnce between driving and walking: 2x 15km/h= 30 km/h virtual speed, 5x 5.5 km/h= 27.5 km/h virtual speed.

Yes, you can deccelerate the videos via Google, and 0.75 still works fine, the frames will become a bit unsmooth, but not enough to be seriously cruel to the eye. However, the music will distort accordingly.



Technically, Timewarp is GoPro's name for a special mode of their cameras that works extremely well and is a bit different from normal Timelap. It does not film in nomal speed and then accelerate the recorded file like timelap would do, but it films, accelerates and stabilises the image - and just then saves it to the SD card (thats also the reason why you have no soudn recording in this mode, it makes no sense). That does not sound like a big difference, but two years ago I filmed with normal modes and then accelearted it in postprocessing 2x, and also filmed in Timelap mode - and the quality is really inferior, there is more nervousness and instability in the images, and it becomes more stressing for the eye. The selling argument for GoPro cameras for me is their superior Timewarp mode, and their as good image stabiliser. I use nothing else but this Timewarp mode.


"Essen holen" is the most idyllic place to the East, along the river Werse. i think that video is the most pleasant of the three, and I had a lucky hand with the music choice.

"Aasee" is about a central city district of beauty and wealth, the green ring named Promendae aroudn the town, the central city lake, and the shopping centre, pedestrian zones and many churches.

"Herbstfahrt" shows the castle garden and how the landscape looks if you leave the city westwards. Its less urban and more landscape focussed.

Yes, many gardens, parks, and "green bicycle corridors". Münster is famous for that.

No, you do not need a car here, you really just do not need it, it only costs you money. You need one or two good bicycles, and good clothing for every weather, maybe a good trailer, it certainly helps. Public transportation/bus grid is said to be good. I do not need nor use it. You have good train connections, too.

Check the map above. Enjoy!

[Reece]

Just finished the tour Sky, very nice, the parks and the trails are amazing, looks like you'd never run out of areas to ride in, though you did seem to know every turn off by heart.

Many thanks.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Reece

Just finished the tour Sky, very nice, the parks and the trails are amazing, looks like you'd never run out of areas to ride in, though you did seem to know every turn off by heart.

Well, I live here since 21 years...

I know the long hauls from Münster to Osnabrück very well, too. Thats where i lived before, 50km northeast of münster. I do tours of 120-150 km length back and forth, through the most beautiful Teutoburger Forest region. Getting an ebike in 2017 opened up these distances for me, despite age and health limitations. I did many videos on those tours. My longest day tour was on the Emsradweg, I logged 185km on that day.

Many thanks.

youre welcome.

[Reece]

My longest day tour was on the Emsradweg, I logged 185km on that day.

New electric motor needed soon!!

[Skybird]

Actually I had to replace it early this year, at 12,000 km driven.



It is not talked about much, but ebikes are not cheap to run, and friction on chain and gear is monumental, as hardware-killing as pro racing bikes. If I would go by the book, I would need to replace the chain every 1200 km, several times a year, that is.

[Skybird]

Return to the Werse river. Last Sunday came with a wonderful weather, and autumn showed itself from its best side. Golden light everywhere, the tree's coloured leafs drunk of sunlight.



The driving direction is reversed to the first Werse video, and the track in parts is a different one. You may recognize some thigs, but most should look new. And now off and away, dance with the colours and the beams of sunlight! The woods are beautiful at this time of the year.

[Jimbuna]

I enjoyed that but I must ask, are you wearing an overcoat or a Batman-like cape when cycling?

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

I enjoyed that but I must ask, are you wearing an overcoat or a Batman-like cape when cycling?

Eh - what you mean?

The movies here are filmed at 2x speed, if speed is what you ask about.

The Timewarp, Timelap and Hyperlaps explained:


Timewarp was introduced in the Hero 7, which was my first actioncam in 2019. The potential was obvious, but they had limited the picture quality to preset schemes with too high contrast, too oversatured colours and thus the mode was more or less useless. In the Hero 8 they made Timewarp mode open to all the usual ways to alter quality of the images, like saturation contrast, exposure, colour temperature and so forth. Since then it is THE killer feature of GoPro cameras, and it is the reason why just one year after the Hero 7 I also bought a Hero 8. The 8 also had better battery life, lower working temperature, and an even improved digital image stabilisation - you do not need gimbles with these cameras, you just do not need them. Since then, I exclusively film in Timewarp 2x and 5x. It gives, with bicycle speeds around 20-25km/h, virtual speeds in the film of either 40-50 km/h, or 100-120 km/h. In other words: it looks as if being filmed from a car.

Meanwhile there are the Hero 9 and 10, but I am not interested. They use new battery, are bigger, and in the main just add a front colour monitor for selfies and youtube streamers, which i have n o use for, and even further imroved Timewarp and image staiblisaiton, now even neutralising dipping horizons". I do not need that either, and the asking price imo is way to high now, 500-600 coins. Thats much money. I strongly recommend to get an 8 for reduced price now.

The Hero 8 battery lasts for me around 80 minutes, and a 64 GB SD card records two hours of timewarped film material, that is either 4 or 10 hours of real tour time. I can use batterieds form the 7 in it, too, with just 10-15 minutes less lasting time.

Its some fantastic piece of hardware kit. Very, very good. And so small.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Eh - what you mean?

Your shadow gives me the impression you were wearing an overcoat or a Batman-like cape

[Skybird]

Öh - nahooo... Actually I am bald, but have a huge head (to store the football offside and handplay rules), though without horns.

[Reece]

Once again very picturesque though I had to put the volume right down, there is some sort of clicking sound in the background that is quite off putting!