The quest to see the Milky Way

I still haven't succeeded in it, but although the Terschelling plan has been abandoned since the climate has taken a turn for the worse here in Europe (and the northern islands are generally even colder than here at home), there is new hope. I found a new dark sky map with previously unseen resolution, and thereby found that not too far from home there's a spot in the woods which, albeit not ideal, is considerably more favorable to stargazing than the closer vicinity.

So I rode there yesterday - twice; first by day to explore and then in the evening to wait for nightfall.
I was thwarted by cloudy skies. But I hadn't been in the woods by night in a long time and it was good to be back once more, sitting on a bench in the darkness, listening to the nocturnal insects and having a large moth buzz around my hair.
I soon decided to venture back homeward though since the cloud cover only kept increasing. When reaching an unlit, open field, I saw pools of intense light pollution reflected off the distant clouds to the north, presumably from downtown Bonn and possibly Cologne.
But back in the woods I also saw some glowworms, I had one crawl over my fingernail.
I had a flashlight in my backpack but I didn't use it a single time, I had no trouble finding my way through the nocturnal woods. Only on the most difficult parts of the trail (more potholes and gullies than trail) I rather pushed my bike as riding was too tricky in the dark. I was back home around midnight.

According to the map, even further south from here there are places just as dark as on Terschelling. For the most part they seem to be in the Eifel mountain region and possibly inaccessible, but another one southwest of Rheinbach would be a close second. I have to keep an eye on the phases and rise & set of the moon as well, but I'll keep trying. Clear nights are rare though, and sadly they're usually even colder than under overcast skies.

As usual, I meant to post again much sooner and more frequently but as usual I've been busy...
For at least a month I meant to write a blog post about being asexual, because that's what I am (and so yes,it exists) and it's so difficult for me to imagine how difficult most people find this to imagine - apparently.
More about this next time though.