Day 14 & 15: Through the Harz Mountains to Goslar

On day 14, a Sunday, the tour from Fuhrbach to Wildemann was on the agenda. So we went straight into the Harz Mountains. Shortly after our departure from the Kronprinzen-Hotel, we climbed a hill and there the Harz Mountains came into view :-) [seen as 'many trees on a distant hill']. We continued on a northwestern route towards the Harz, passing along the Rhume River on an old railway path, until we made a stop in Osterode am Harz. We sat in the outdoor area of the 'Ratskeller' and treated ourselves to a small lunch. Otherwise, not much was going on at the moment, it was Sunday... We also visited the Eseltreiber monument and the stamping point of the Harzer Wandernadel for the Harzer Hexen-Stieg hikers. Osterode was also the gateway to the mountainous Harz region: it was practically all uphill from there. That's probably why the weather was so nice!

Initially, we rode slightly uphill through a long valley, through a village full of old houses with information boards (known as mining or Dennert fir trees) about their history, and past a chicken cinema. Through a curved glass pane, you could look into a chicken enclosure through a fence - and with a little luck, a chicken would look back at you. The chickens even had their own Facebook page (at least back then): https://m.facebook.com/Neues-aus-Hühnerhausen-113588893844345/ :-D Along the way, we passed a man pushing his bike. However, we were not much faster with our luggage and our intermittent 'looking around', so we were able to overtake him again ;-) After this part through the village, we turned onto a larger country road into the forest. There we took a short break by the roadside and found a memorial stone for a death march - it is always important to remember the injustice that happened then! Two e-bikes overtook us and asked us about the next stamping point. Unfortunately, we could not help them. After the next curve, we discovered a beautiful lookout point, 'Klara's Höhe', from which we had a great view of the valley. We had already gained quite a bit of altitude! A few more curves, overtaken by a few cars, and suddenly we were 'up' on a multi-lane country road. We had to travel on it for about 200m and cross it after a curve, which wasn't pleasant - but the e-bike riders were there again, and we were therefore hard to miss. Jörg even hit the roadside barrier with his front wheel and almost crashed. Lucky us! From here on, we went downhill through beautiful forest - at least what was left of it. We saw mainly many felled trees, which had been attacked by the bark beetle. These were mostly spruce forests that had been attacked by drought caused by the climate crisis. Here you can find interesting information about it: https://sachsen-anhalt.nabu.de/natur-und-landschaft/wald/info.html, among other things, that such a massive bark beetle infestation has also occurred in the past. In the Harz National Park, there are of course also nature reserves where 'the forest can be a forest' and the trees are not felled. However, these were to be found further east, covering about 40% of the Harz area.

So we reached Wildemann in the Upper Harz, which was located along the Innerste River. The place is named after the old legend of the 'Wild Man' who drove a lime tree into the ground there. Left and right of the road, we could discover many Harz witches, along with all sorts of half-timbered houses and other mining relics. Our accommodation 'Hafermarkt 2.0' was located in the Spiegeltal, where the Grumbach flows into the Innerste together with the Spiegelbach. The Grumbach is part of the Oberharzer Gräben (height contour parallel artificial channels that were built to supply water to the silver mines) and thus part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is quite amazing how people redirected entire streams hundreds of years ago. We had dinner at the Hotel Rathaus Wildemann, which treated us to very good food (once again, very good!) and very interesting ice cream flavors. Who said it was a strenuous bike tour - we were on a gourmet tour!

For our second day (day 15: Wildemann to Goslar) through the Harz Mountains, only a short distance of just under 20km was planned. This was convenient because the good weather was unfortunately already over. We had planned a stop in the town of Hahnenklee on the way. So we initially went uphill again through the Harz forest. Alongside many more felled trees, we spotted lots of flowers and insects, and there was also a small repair to be done: Jörg had apparently forgotten to tighten the bolts on the front wheel properly during the last pit stop, so it was loose and wobbling. Fortunately, he noticed this in time before not only the front wheel but also Jörg and his bike started to wobble :-) Upon arrival in Hahnenklee, there were plenty of recreational activities: the Liebesbankweg (Love Bench Trail), a Norwegian stave church made of wood, bob sledding, mini golf, cable car rides, mountain biking, and much more. We had already inquired in advance and were looking forward to a round of adventure mini golf - they had really nice courses there! Unfortunately, we only played one round of mini golf because we had to continue in order not to get caught in the next rain shower. From here on, it was mostly downhill - Jörg's brake was squeaking with joy! Unfortunately, some sections were so steep that we decided to push our bikes at times. However, we must also mention that we switched from naviki to komoot for this section... We had chosen the shorter route on komoot in order to reach Goslar in time before the rain. A mistake that we only noticed afterwards! On the last super steep section, we had to push our bikes uphill (on this hiking trail). After we reached the 'summit', it wasn't far to Goslar anymore and we finally arrived at our accommodation in a light drizzle.

Since we had arrived earlier than planned, we couldn't check in yet and took a walk to look for something to eat. However, despite the large umbrella we borrowed from the hotel, we got very wet on the way back - the rain had intensified and the wind had picked up as well. So we spent the rest of the day comfortably in our hotel room and had dinner delivered in the evening. Just relax and put our feet up - also nice :-)

Here, finally, are a few thoughts and impressions from Jörg:

Intermediate conclusion on the way to Wildemann: During a bike tour like this, we pass many fields and meadows, houses and gardens, industrial buildings and supermarkets, sights and restaurants. Our eyes are not only focused on the road or path, but our gaze glides past all the things on the roadside. We notice decorations on houses, sometimes there are also information signs about the respective building. Often, it's animals, such as cows, sheep, and horses, who look at us with curiosity when we pass by. It's also people with whom we share a brief moment, sometimes accompanied by a brief greeting or a smile. Often, the people by the roadside don't even notice us, and so we catch a brief moment of their life/routine: Some painting their front yard fences, others unloading their groceries from the car, still others testing their car stereo with brass music. These are different brief episodes that we perceive while riding by on our bikes.

Data for Stage 13:

Distance: 49.5 km
Time: 4:03h
Average Speed: 12.2 km/h
Max Speed: 36.0 km/h
Elevation: 593 m

Data for Stage 14:

Distance: 17.2 km
Time: 1:48h
Average Speed: 9.5 km/h
Max Speed: 30.5 km/h
Elevation: 345 m