Harz mountains .....

Rasher, as you state opinions are personal and differ. FWIW I have done the route up and back from the Harz area and personally don't think you'll be disappointed. Not boring and the further north the better. Once you reach the Harz - for my money better than Black Forest. Roads are brilliant and much quieter than Black Forest and cops not as much a problem. You need some luck on your side regarding weather of course and if it's dry when you are there you will love the quality of the roads. Fast speeding bends with near perfect road surfaces. Lots of good routes but hard to find if you don't know the area. Suggest you might contact Peter at Hotel Harmonie and even if you're not staying there ask if he would give you a day tour. Fantastically capable biker who knows every road and every bend. Well worth a few quid for a tour around the area. Enjoy your trip.
 
Hi Rasher , yes I went sept last year , it was scorching hot temps 32 each day . The boring part was the ride from the boat to harz base town Goslar. From here each day would ride a different route. Some of the roads were stunning . Had a trip to colditz, ride was good but the town disappointed. . The Harz routes easily covered in three days, but to me it was a short break . I've done ALps , Black Forest , B500 , etc etc . Just wanted to go somewhere different .

What was noticeable was when crossing from old west Germany to east Germany . The difference was incredible . Found some good history points , were the old border ran . Overall enjoyed it ,for the time we spent there .
 
Thanks a lot fella's.

I too fancy going somewhere different, will book with last minute cancellation so if it looks really iffy we can divert to somewhere else.

Did notice a lot to see / do in the area so if the weather turns out a bit crap it looks like a good place to be, will go and poke around the old V2 factory regardless as I can work it into a route....

...talking of routes, most the Main (B) roads look pretty twisty and I have knocked up a couple of routes taking in a mix of them and some back roads, found 3 "Passes" on the Cycling Cols website so they are in my routes along with passing by Goslar and the Castle at Wernigerode.

A grey day could also see us going to Colditz, not in the "plan", but plans are only something to deviate from :D

Thanks for the tip on the old East DC - Must make sure my routes cross over to the "other side".

Your summary of the roads are much appreciated AP11 - sounds like my kind of trip, I am not averse to bumbling across a bit of countryside, as long as it is not really dull or constant towns and villages whch are mistakes (learning experiences) I have made in the past.
 
If you drop further south to the Spessart / Rhön area there are some terrific roads.
If you go to the Kloster Kreuzberg, they make their own GREEN bier. Quite strong:augie

Also in this region are some of the American bases that were there to protect the "Fulda Gap"
No idea which are still active, but I use to visit Wildflecken regularly.
 

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We visited the western central area of Germany in 2015 before going down to the Alps but didn't enter the Harz region, in 2016 we toured around the Baltic coast area of Northern Germany (another one to go back to) and intend visiting the Harz Mountains in early September this year staying in the area for 5 nights .

Going to do it like last year staying out of the comfort zone and not booking anywhere in advance just going as and where the weather/scenery/sights/ food and beer are good.

It has been highly recommended to me by a number of German motorcyclists over the years so lets hope the weather is good
 
Kyffhauser is a great road up to the monument but don't go on a weekend as it's mental.
 
The Harz is an excellent motorcycling area. Is it the same as the Alps? No. Is it different, yes; not least as the Alps are unique as Europe's continuous high mountain range. Different is often good.

There are as many ways of getting to the Harz as you might want there to be, all depending on the time available to get from A to B, where you start from and where you aim to get to. If you are determined to find some roads dull or boring, then indeed they'll always be dull and boring. The only near certainty is that you'll probably need to cross the Rhine, passing through or close to some of Germany's largest industrial towns and cities, where the roads will be congested. Take the motorways.

The sticky on Germany has links to several German forums and websites, many carrying links to routes in the Harz. Lots of them are excellent. Here's the Harz link in KurvenKoenig:

http://kurvenkoenig.de/motorrad/harz.html

12 routes that could be mixed and matched to suit. Simply copy them by hand into BaseCamp / Mapsource or trace them out on a paper map / route list. To obtain the GPS downloads you have to join the forum, which is free. It's all in foreign but easy enough to guess what you need to do to join. After that, download at will.
 
Thanks Wapping, the routes to and from (Calais) are of most interest to me, I have confidence the Harz itself will be good (Just like the Black Forest, Alps, Vosges, Pyrenees)

I will check how close to the Industrial Towns my in / out routes go - these where taken (and slightly modified) from Ride Magazine routes so have at least been checked out by them. I don't mind less than perfect race track back roads through rural areas - but am keen to avoid ones that are extremely congested or just mile after mile of 30 mph zones.
 
Riding inbound to the Harz would be a perfect time to take in the Dam's of WW2 Dambusters fame. It's a fantastic area, offering a lot of what the alps offers but in a more condensed and easily reached area. For a history buff you have medieval towns like Quidlenburg, Goslar, Wernigerode, WW2 Dora Nordhausen, Cold War, multiple border museums and points of interest and some great roads connecting it all together.

Great place to stop on the way into Blankengurg is a little field kitchen, they are dotted all over the place, ex military field kitchens offering soup and a sausage for a couple of euros.
 
Great place to stop on the way into Blankengurg is a little field kitchen, they are dotted all over the place, ex military field kitchens offering soup and a sausage for a couple of euros.

Sounds really handy for a quick lunch stop.

Will see if I can do a drive by of a Dam Buster dam or two - but I think that would be on my 2nd day (or 2nd to last) which are already the longest 2 days of the trip.

Will update if I get there (and back)
 
May be able to get away in the last week of September , what is the weatehjr like in the Harz mountains later in the season ?
 
May be able to get away in the last week of September , what is the weatehjr like in the Harz mountains later in the season ?

"2nd week In sept when we were there last years average temp was 32 degrees !! most shops sold out of ice cream ! Have a great ride , I Loved it
 
Well it really, really pished down today. Quite spoiled my planned ride.
Started with wet roads after overnight rain, but the heavens opened after noon time.
I escaped into an air museum in Wernigerode in the afternoon before trudging back to Goslar hotel to dry out.
It's just yer Donald Duck!

ps - this site is shite as it wouldn't upload pictures from phone that were happily uploaded to another forum. 21st century problem!
 
Did you go?

What was it like?

Had to knock it on the head for September as both my mate and I were working , consoled myself by buying a new bike instead . We intend to head off there in late May next year
 
Just on way back from Harz via Colditz & Czech Republic, had nice steak dinner in Koblenz tonight

About 15-18 degrees, rained for part of yesterday & today

Trip marred by German national pastime of roadworks & mate who came on 1995 Ducati Monster that he bought last week !!!
 


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