chriswoody
Legendary Member
- Location
- Northern Germany
Part One
Since I've turned my hand to gravel biking with my old Galaxy, I've had in mind to take it to it's logical conclusion and go Bike-packing as well. To the south of me are the Harz mountains, a region of heavily forested hills and valleys, with the highest peak at 1141m high. Interestingly as well, the old East/West German border ran through the middle of the park. The highest peak, The Brocken, was in the old east and it's summit contained a listening post. The summit of the Brocken was a tempting target to aim for, so I sat down and started to plan.
It might seem a little perverse to take an old Super Galaxy and ditch the racks and panniers, before strapping all manner of bags on, but it made for a super lightweight touring rig and as I found out at the end of day one, it was a hell of a lot more wind resistant.
So using open street maps, I plotted a route south through a mix of forests and quite country roads. For a 100km, I hardly saw a soul or any traffic as the sun shone down and the bike sailed along.
Everywhere I rode on this first day, there were fields of Rape seed in full bloom and against the spring sun it was a really beautiful sight.
I also crossed the famous Mittleland canal, that is one of the main transportation arteries in this corner of Germany.
After 100km, I hit the outskirts of Hildeshiem where I joined onto the Innerste radweg, a long distance cycle track from Hannover to the edge of the Harz mountains. This was where I discovered that despite what I thought was meticulous planning, I'd failed to actually put this part of the route into my Garmin. No worries thought I, this is a recognised cycleway, surely it will be meticulously signposted. Sadly not, and for the next 60km I was left cursing every wrong turn and switchback. I also spent far to much time cycling on the roads, which was not at all pleasant. Coupled with a really strong headwind, these 60km were some of the most unpleasant I've done. Finally after 160km, as the light was failing, I reached the campsite at the edge of the Harz mountains.
The next morning started bright and early as I prepared for summit day. The first 15km were on excellent off-road gravel tracks, before an unpleasant 15km grind on the road as we headed uphill onto the main plateau.
At 560km high, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, with the largest wooden church in Germany, completed in the 1600's was an ideal second breakfast stop.
From there, it was back onto the forest tracks as we wound our way ever higher and on to Torfhaus, the start of the track to the Brocken.
At Torfhaus, you can normally look across and see the summit of the Brocken, but sadly not today as a big cloud was sat on the top. It was also bitterly cold after the last days of sunshine and heat.
Since I've turned my hand to gravel biking with my old Galaxy, I've had in mind to take it to it's logical conclusion and go Bike-packing as well. To the south of me are the Harz mountains, a region of heavily forested hills and valleys, with the highest peak at 1141m high. Interestingly as well, the old East/West German border ran through the middle of the park. The highest peak, The Brocken, was in the old east and it's summit contained a listening post. The summit of the Brocken was a tempting target to aim for, so I sat down and started to plan.
It might seem a little perverse to take an old Super Galaxy and ditch the racks and panniers, before strapping all manner of bags on, but it made for a super lightweight touring rig and as I found out at the end of day one, it was a hell of a lot more wind resistant.
So using open street maps, I plotted a route south through a mix of forests and quite country roads. For a 100km, I hardly saw a soul or any traffic as the sun shone down and the bike sailed along.
Everywhere I rode on this first day, there were fields of Rape seed in full bloom and against the spring sun it was a really beautiful sight.
I also crossed the famous Mittleland canal, that is one of the main transportation arteries in this corner of Germany.
After 100km, I hit the outskirts of Hildeshiem where I joined onto the Innerste radweg, a long distance cycle track from Hannover to the edge of the Harz mountains. This was where I discovered that despite what I thought was meticulous planning, I'd failed to actually put this part of the route into my Garmin. No worries thought I, this is a recognised cycleway, surely it will be meticulously signposted. Sadly not, and for the next 60km I was left cursing every wrong turn and switchback. I also spent far to much time cycling on the roads, which was not at all pleasant. Coupled with a really strong headwind, these 60km were some of the most unpleasant I've done. Finally after 160km, as the light was failing, I reached the campsite at the edge of the Harz mountains.
The next morning started bright and early as I prepared for summit day. The first 15km were on excellent off-road gravel tracks, before an unpleasant 15km grind on the road as we headed uphill onto the main plateau.
At 560km high, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, with the largest wooden church in Germany, completed in the 1600's was an ideal second breakfast stop.
From there, it was back onto the forest tracks as we wound our way ever higher and on to Torfhaus, the start of the track to the Brocken.
At Torfhaus, you can normally look across and see the summit of the Brocken, but sadly not today as a big cloud was sat on the top. It was also bitterly cold after the last days of sunshine and heat.
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