Text: Carsten Hark
Globetrotter Heinz Stücke cycled around the world for 51 years. He covered an incredible 648,000 kilometres and saw all 196 countries in the world. The Hamburg journalists Carina Wolfram and Heinz Stücke have written down special experiences and encounters from this incredible journey, organised them into 17 essays and illustrated them with many great photos.
"Nur noch kurz die Welt sehen" (Delius Klasing Verlag, 24.90 euros) is the title of the recently published book about the famous globetrotter. We spoke to the author of the book to find out more about Heinz Stücke as a person and to understand what drove the now 84-year-old for decades to return to his home country after 51 years of non-stop cycling around the world.
Carina Wolfram in an interview
BIKE: Carina, when and where did you first become aware of Heinz Stücke as a person?
Carina Wolfram: That was at the beginning of January 2023. My husband wanted to watch the film "The Man Who Wanted to See It All" on Netflix in December 2022. However, he stopped it after 8 minutes to watch the documentary with me when he realised that the man it was about was from the neighbouring town of my home village. Hövelhof is only 8 kilometres away from Stukenbrock and I'd never heard of Heinz Stücke, even though I'm interested in travel and cycling topics.
So how did the idea of writing a book about Heinz and his incredible cycling trip around the world come about?
Basically, I had the feeling right from the start that this incredible journey and life story had to be told while Heinz was still able to tell it. After all, he is now 84 years old. On the one hand, I am fascinated by the fact that Heinz has always travelled in an analogue way. Without GPS and without a mobile phone or smartphone. That's hard for us to imagine. On the other hand, I was interested in a life in which a person never settled down. Never had their own flat or a permanent job, never had a stable environment.
Carina Wolfram: Countless diaries, 100,000 slides - the mass would probably have crushed me
It seems almost impossible to pack his many experiences and countless encounters during this time between two book covers - how did you manage to do it anyway?
It was never my aim to write a complete biography. In my eyes, that's not what counts either. Apart from the fact that it's simply too much. Countless diaries, 100,000 slides - the mass would probably have overwhelmed me. I then dealt with various aspects of Heinz's life and described a part of his biography in each chapter. I tried to integrate every continent and every decade of this long journey into the book. The chapter on health, for example, deals with the topic in general and also recounts an episode in which things got dicey for Heinz. The same goes for the topics of money, dangers, stupidity and so on.
What impressed you about Heinz and his life?
I find his gift of taking time for everyone impressive. People were always the most important thing to him on his journey and they still are. If someone comes to visit, whether announced or not, Heinz leaves his work behind and has time for a chat. On his journey, he simply postponed his onward journey when he met someone nice.
Are there things in your everyday life that you see differently today after working on the book and the intensive discussions with Heinz?
I think that's exactly the aspect that I take more to heart. People come first.
Perhaps homesickness fades as the journey gets longer and longer
Can you understand why someone would leave home at a young age and only come back after 51 years?
Yes and no. I've travelled a lot myself and know the addiction to more that develops. And almost every traveller you meet has a tip. A place that you should definitely see and an adventure that you absolutely cannot miss out on. This quickly leads to the desire to take that with you. And then the next one and the next one. Nevertheless, after a while I found myself longing for the people back home and even for everyday life. But perhaps this feeling fades for some people as the journey gets longer and longer and home gets further and further away.
I find his gift of taking time for everyone impressive. People were always the most important thing to him on his journey and they still are.
What drove him to keep travelling and postpone his return year after year?
In the beginning, it was probably the fear of a dull everyday life in Hövelhof. Heinz was supposed to do an apprenticeship at the age of 14 and became a toolmaker. A job he didn't love. After his apprenticeship, he went on his first really big cycle tour. When he was travelling, people were constantly rolling out the red carpet for him. What a difference! Later, it was certainly also a bit of a habit. He didn't know any other lifestyle in his adult life.
What role did the bicycle play for globetrotter Heinz Stücke? It was much more than just a means of transport for him, wasn't it?
The Tripad, the bike he started out on in 1962 and which is still in his house today, was the biggest constant in Heinz's life. After all, he travelled with this bike for over 40 years. All replaceable parts were renewed again and again and he had even the nastiest breaks in the frame welded. He also neatly wrote the names of places he had visited on the frame and mudguards. The double handlebars, the boxes on the pannier rack and an elaborately painted metal sign - the bike stood out and often caused a stir. It opened many doors for Heinz in his life when he used it to strike up conversations with people, receive invitations and make new friends. And even though he emphasises that he has no emotional connection to his bike, he always took care of it first thing in the evening. Just like a cowboy takes care of his horse.
The book about Heinz Stücke and his extraordinary trip around the world by bike "Nur noch kurz die Welt sehen" is now available in our shop - Order now!
Marc Strucken
Editor
