Thursday, July 4th, 2024

Distance ridden 266 Kilometres

I slept like a log and, as ever when that happens, when I woke up I did not really know where I was. Luckily, Lucie was there to appraise me of my location.

We ate an ample, but somewhat forgettable breakfast, which served to remind us of just how well they do breakfast in Austria or even, for that matter, in Jeseníky.

With no great distance to travel, we packed in a slightly leisurely way and set off for the highway. We filled the tank, which served as a reminder, if one was needed, of how relatively expensive petrol is in Germany and joined the A14 in the direction of Leipzig and Halle. The landscape of northern Saxony is drab to say the least and there was little of interest to catch the eye.

It was VERY windy which, coupled with the general flatness of the terrain meant that the Harley, relatively heavy as it is, sometimes struggled to make headway and was frequently blown off track. The scores of wind farms that were visible everywhere (and spinning merrily) gave testament to the fact that these blustery conditions are probably not unusual.

We circled the possible delights of Leipzig and Halle on the motorway and, after a stop for what Lucie declared was a truly excellent coffee for a motorway location at the TotalEnergies Autohof (near Junction 16, in the direction of Junction 15), we quit the highway for a short stretch of country roads and the town of Quedlinburg.

If you consult any list of the most beautiful towns in Germany, Quedlinburg will figure upon it (as will, most likely, Grimma, where we had stayed the previous evening). As soon as you start to follow the signs for the Alt Stadt (Old Town) it becomes obvious just why that is. Considering the events of the 20th century in the area, warfare and uncaring Communism to name but two, Quedlinburg is a jewel. As previously mentioned, small German towns are almost always spick and span to an almost surreal level, but in the biscuit taking department, Quedlinburg must rank right at the very top !

It is a charming and almost unbelievably cute hotchpotch of ancient and fabulously preserved buildings dating back several centuries. The Bear Hotel, in the central square, dates from the early 1700s and is probably one of the most modern to be seen. The entire Old Town is composed of buildings in a variety of “fairy-tale” styles, some tilting at odd angles and everything (and I do mean everything), looks freshly painted and loved.

The streets are predominantly cobbled with large and spaced stones and are often scarily narrow. It is not a place for a Cadillac, or even to ride a Harley-Davidson, that is for sure !

The whole place was cute beyond belief and, at the risk of committing treason, knocks Český Krumlov, the Czech Unesco World Heritage site, into a cocked hat.

We walked around and took way too many photos. At one point we were suddenly accosted by another tourist who, having spotted my HOG jacket, proudly announced that he was a HOG member in his home country of Puerto Rico ! He proudly showed us photos of his two Harleys, a lovely Heritage Softail. with Springer Forks, from 2003, and a rather radical and mean-looking low-rider custom, in a scary shade of vermillion, from 2015, Sadly, he was part of one of the many scampering tours and, after a “HOG handshake”, he wished us well and trotted off to catch up with his group.

It was suddenly lunchtime. We decided to sit under an umbrella in a restaurant in the square for a small lunch. Perhaps the umbrella was an indication of what was to come !

We both had an extremely good goulash soup, accompanied by truly good alcohol-free beers and, of course, some desserts !.

 Whilst we sat there, the skies which had, admittedly, been a steely grey all morning, decided to unleash some fairly heavy rain. It quickly became drenching and persistent. The crowded square emptied in seconds and those lucky enough to be under an umbrella, as we were, stayed tightly put. Out came Lucie’s iPhone for a consultation of the weather radar, which disappointingly indicated that we were going nowhere for about two hours. So we did not. I can reliably tell you that the delights of watching water cascade down the picturesque roof of the Bear Hotel opposite where we were sitting, or a handful of soggy pigeons squabbling over a dropped potato, pall quite quickly.

We sat there for over ninety minutes before it stopped. Of course, I wanted to go back to the Harley and head out, but the radar indicated that a second, shorter, cloudburst was still coming our way. So we walked around to where we were parked just in time for the next bit of rainfall and took refuge in a small bakery/cafe, Torten Lust (Polkenstrasse 1, Quedlinburg) almost opposite the bike. We enjoyed some great coffee and some truly delicious cakes which we could watch being hand mixed and then baked behind a glass screen. We also bought two delicious cookies to eat with our evening coffee …

The rain finally stopped and the radar indicated we were good to go. Whatever happened to the “suck it and see” attitudes of yesteryear ? Our Harley was a bit damp and our (by then, long expired …) parking ticket had miraculously survived its soaking – let us hope the traffic wardens had been sheltering from the deluge ! We saddled up and, after the confused SatNav had caused us to circle the same block three times, Lucie’s Czech map program found us an egress so we could at least go and photograph, albeit from a distance, the impressive citadel that the weather had prevented us walking to.

We left the cute little town behind us bathed in watery sunshine. In an effort to avoid a drone around the motorway, we headed off into the Harz Mountains National Park.

Quite naturally, the SatNav objected to us doing our own thinking and, try as I might, I was unable to make it change its mind. This left us heading into the mountains guided by occasional prompting from Lucie’s map program and by using something old- fashioned called signposts (which actually worked fairly well).

The Harz mountains were once considered to be one of the most witch infested areas in the whole of Europe and this is played upon in a lot of the signage. I once flew over them at night on April 30th which is Walpurgis Nacht (the burning of the witches) and the number of bonfires glowing in the dark was quite astonishing. The mountains are quite remote and are very beautiful.

In all fairness, some of the steep and sharp corners were not really Harley-Davidson territory and I was up and down through the gearbox like a Xylophone. Sadly, we encountered large areas where the Spruce trees were all dead and, because of the vistas, they were truly LARGE areas. It appears that the same beetle which has wreaked havoc in Czech forests is also present there.

What is my least favourite German word ? Anyone who has read my scribblings before will know it is UMLEITUNG (diversion).

In the middle of the mountains we naturally found one. Considering the paucity of roads, this was a bit alarming as it directed us almost directly away from where both we (and our SatNav) wanted to go. We rode for a long, long way in what was patently the wrong direction with the SatNav becoming almost frantic in its attempts to make us at least return to where the diversion had begun. There were no further signs telling us what to do – although in fairness, there was only one road.

In the end it was Lucie’s map program that guided us onto a tiny and twisty road that, finally, the SatNav seemed to agree with and, after another long twisty climb and a brake warming twisty descent we eventually arrived back at civilisation.

We located our chosen town, Bad Grund and after yet another steep climb, found our lodgings for the night, the Pension Talblick (Grune Tanne 26, Bad Grund (Harz)).

How does Lucie find these places ? Well, usually via booking.com, I suppose, but she still must choose the one that she likes. What a location ! Perched on a hillside above the valley in which Bad Grund lies, there were spectacular views just from the car park – and truly stunning ones from the ample terrace of our spacious and well appointed room. Oh yes !

Almost reluctantly, we descended from our eyrie down to the village for something to eat. Considering the starting point, it was not actually that far, although we mistakenly went down on what was essentially a cow path and hence a little precipitous. We did find a few wild strawberries and raspberries though !

We found the Altes Backhaus (Heimkampffstrasse 3, Bad Grund) where we enjoyed a healthy meal of Matjes (raw herring) with dressing and tasty side dishes. Delicious, with a well- deserved capital D !

To get back up the hill, we found the proper track which was far easier. In our room, we used the coffee making facilities to give us something to drink with our wonderful cookies and, unsurprisingly, I did not last long after that !