Out and about for you: ... in the Harz Mountains

You want to go to the Harz Mountains? To the Harz Mountains of all places? That was my children's answer when I told them that I wanted a few days off from everyday life.

And if you ask around, the image of the Harz Mountains is not the best everywhere. Old-fashioned, dusty, mountain villages... And I don't only have positive memories of the turn of the millennium, which I celebrated with friends in the small Harz town of "Elend" (meaning literally "misery in German) of all places.

New Year's Eve 1999 was a long time ago and I wanted to find out whether I could revise the above-mentioned thoughts. So I went to the Harz Mountains with a friend to look for answers along the Harz Monastery Hiking Trail and the Harz Witches' Trail.

First stop: Wernigerode. The well-known holiday destination with its many half-timbered houses, cute alleyways, the castle towering over the town and home to the Harz narrow-gauge railway is a student town. At the Harz University of Applied Sciences, you can study automation, computer science and administrative sciences as well as international tourism management. You can see young people everywhere in the town and this definitely has a positive influence on the culinary world. Many cafés and wine taverns as well as traditional inns welcome you to stop and linger.

The previously mentioned Harz narrow-gauge railway takes us from Wernigerode via Drei Annen Hohne to the Brocken. No other region in Germany has such an extensive railway network, which is operated daily by steam trains. 25 steam locomotives, 140 km of track, 40 stations...

Since May 2023, the journeys have even been included in the Deutschlandticket. There is only a surcharge for the steep section between Drei Annen Hohne and the mountain station.

Let's get back to the Brocken. Northern Germany's highest mountain attracts thousands of visitors every day. While the mountain was a restricted military area until December 1989, it has now been transformed into a major attraction. Visitors come to the Brocken by train, e-bike or on foot on one of the many hiking trails. You can learn a lot about the flora and fauna in the National Park House. We had fabulous weather and a fantastic view over the countryside.

From the Brocken we continued on foot. We spent 5 days testing out sections along the Harz Witches' Trail and the Harz Monastery Hiking Trail. The paths are well signposted, but at one point or another we are glad to have the appropriate maps from our travel documents (analogue and digital) with us. And we enjoy our light luggage, because of course we also test our AugustusTours luggage transport. It was just nice to arrive at the next accommodation and find my suitcase or my friend's large backpack in our room. The accommodation itself varied a lot - from the owner-run guesthouse, where we were lovingly asked for our pillow requests, to the largest house on the square. We nevertheless had the sauna, whirlpool and fitness room to ourselves.

The monastery hiking trail leads from Goslar along the northern edge of the Harz Mountains via Ilsenburg, Wernigerode, Blankenburg and Thale to Quedlinburg. It is mostly flat here, with lots of forest alternating with pretty villages and small towns and, of course, sacred buildings. They are places to linger and pause for a moment. They give us strength and remind us of centuries of history. Drübeck Monastery with its Protestant centre and wonderful monastery garden, the remains of Himmelpforten Monastery and the collegiate church in Gernrode are particularly memorable. The short detour along the "Teufelsmauer" ("Devil's Wall"), which appeared in front of us surrounded by red poppy fields, was worth every step of the extra kilometre.

Witches are present everywhere in the Harz Mountains - not just on the Harz Witches' Trail, which leads from Osterrode over the Brocken to Thale. You can see them as dolls, as sculptures, in witches' houses, on liqueur bottles and chocolate, as jewellery and as souvenirs...

It was the legendary world around the Hexentanzplatz that inspired Goethe and which he brought to life in "Faust". The witches gave the hiking trail, which has existed since 2003, its name. We follow the signposts uphill and downhill for 3 days. We pass the Königshütte waterfall, pass numerous reservoirs, listen to frog concerts, let our gaze wander and enjoy the peace and quiet in the shaded valleys. In Rübeland, we visit the Baumann Cave, one of two imposing stalactite caves in the neighbouring area, and once again hear about Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who studied mining in the Harz Mountains in his role as Minister of Mining at the court in Weimar and visited the caves when people still explored them by miner's lamp and sometimes by crawling. On the next section to Altenbrak, we take a detour and use the HATIX ticket, which is included in the local tourist tax and allows all guests free bus travel throughout the Harz Mountains. In 2017, the "Harzdrenalin" was opened at the dam wall of the already impressive Rappbode Reservoir - an attraction for young and old with zipline, gigawing and ultrashot and much more. We opt for the more leisurely attractions and climb the 39-metre-high observation tower and cross Germany's longest suspension bridge. The views of the enormous dam wall, the reservoir and the Harz Mountains are breathtaking. We say goodbye to the Brocken, which looms in the distance. Besides, you can also use the HATIX ticket from many places if the section is too long or the wheather gods are not on your side.

After that, the River Bode becomes omnipresent again, as does the trout farming that goes with it. We had already heard a lot about the last stage of the Harzer-Hexen-Stieg. The Bode Valley between Treseburg and Thale is beautiful - the river has carved a deep gorge into the mountain here. Steep rock formations to the left and right of the bank remind us of a gorge and of past hikes in the Alps. If you still feel energetic, the Harzer-Hexen-Stieg trail takes you up to the already mentioned Hexentanzplatz or the Rosstrappe, which towers high above Thale. We have enough steps on the watch today and follow the river to the start and finish of the hiking trail in Thale. We have to come back here and take advantage of the many attractions: Mountain railways, summer toboggan run...

Doesn't hiking also make hungry? Yes, it does. And so we always have a picnic, muesli bars, fruit and of course plenty of water with us in between snacks. For a small fee, you can usually get a packed lunch in the hotels or pick something from the breakfast buffet yourself. Cosy restaurants or small self-service inns invite you to stop off along the way and so we treat ourselves to a snack, a cool Hasseröder or a latte with a filled profiterole. Delicious. And in the evening, it's time to feast. We let ourselves drift and be inspired by the restaurant menus or follow the recommendations in our travel documents. Of course, we also ate the famous Bode trout. Simply delicious. And we even had a local Pinot Blanc to go with it. The fact that wine has been grown and cultivated in Westernhausen, not far from Thale, since 1988 was a very positive surprise for us as Saxon hobby winegrowers.

And there is another topic: forest transformation. For a long time, spruce was considered a robust tree species that could be cultivated and spread naturally in the harsh Harz Mountains. Since the 1990s, it has been fighting against the bark beetle and drought - and losing. Indeed, there are huge areas that are affected and it is interesting to see how people are dealing with this. In places where nature is allowed to work for itself - e.g. in the national park - there is a lot of greenery next to dead wood, as the lower sections of trees are sprouting again. Elsewhere, trees have been "harvested" and small beech, maple and ash trees are growing here too.