I give you here the summary in english (the french one in the topic "français").
Normally, I must leave at 3 o'clock in the morning but due to the fact that I even sleep sometimes, Etienne, I must leave at 4. The motorway through Liege - Köln - Dortmund - Kassel and Göttingen leads me in the Harz massive and after 522km, I reached the touristic village of Braunlage, with a great sun over the head.
1. Sonnenberg
It already climbs in the village with some real difference of level. At the exit of Braunlage, the well surfaced, calm and peaceful road gives a lot of curves and hairpins. Afterwards, we reach the national road going to the north : heavy traffic, large road, high speed of the cars, loss of the slope (it's relatively flat) : bad section. Three kilometers further, a roadsign shows us the name "Sonnenberg". After a small downhill, the last kilometer is steeper and one reaches the Sonnenberg. On my own, it's not a berg but a pass, it's the touristic area of the winter resort with bars, restaurants, roadsigns, chairlifts,... I made some pictures. Turning on the left direction St Andreasberg, one climbs still about 50 meters of difference of level and we reach the real mount, without roadsign, with only two car-parks, one on the left, one on the right. Back to Braunlage.
During the downhill, I heard a "clac" behind me : one "ray" in my backwheel cuts and I must finish my daily work with a backwheel turning not in a circular way, touching sometimes my breaks. Well, that's life !
The old border between the western and the eastern Germany is just between Braunlage and Elend (6km). At this place, two stones crossed like fingers show the reunion of the two old countries. But there are still some troubling facts. Fields and forests arounf are sometimes closed, mines still exist there : it's dangerous. Braunlage is terribly western side with tourism, plenty of banks and shops, highways and fully alive. Elend seems to be of another age. Nobody on the streets, an old station, practical shops with old design.
2. Brocken
The exit from Elend is already steep and afterwards, we reach a great crossroad. There, I made a mistake : in front of me a one-way road seems to climb well, I rode it but it climbed 100m higher and ... go down (after having reached the start of the railway to the top ) near to the start where I chose it. I finally crossed the village of Schierke and followed the roadsigns leading to a toll-road. Narrow roads and some restaurants on the foot. A barrieer with a guard who saluted me and afterwards, I asked myself if I was on the good way. Bad, bad road; hardly surfaced with holes everywhere, some stones on the right side, I must ride on the left side. But plenty of trekkers : it must be there.
When I saw a roadsign showing "700m over the sea", I understood that this gravelled road was the good one but I imagined something other for this great mount visible everywhere in the surroundings with its fine TV-tower on the top. It's the eastern way of life : something good : natural, calm, with some simplicity ; something bad : roads never under work. An hairpin to the right with a beautiful mountain river offers the worst section for the surface but fortunately, just afterwards, the road goes out the forest and suddenly, the road becomes better. Well, some small stones sometimes but nothing to see with the beginning.
But the sunny day invited many families to trekk to the top and I usually made some slalom around them. The section before the hairpin on the left at 900m over the sea is steep, largely over the 10%. Afterwards, it's flat and the last 2 kilometers are very steep. I met horses with tourists, and 2 MTB with women on them. I saluted them but I was astonished to see the astonishment of people seeing a road-bike on this road. It's sometimes difficult but it's rideable without problems with a road-bike and the final section is relatively good, with plenty of sceneries, stones (and snow currently).
The top is alive, offering pubs, museums, the TV-tower and a lot of people. A main BIG in Germany indeed ! I understand why the eastern german army chose this place to overview the surroundings and the people who tried to reach the western part down of them. It's an historical place, great site !
3. Rosstrappe.
I went back to the car with frightenings about my back wheel which went in all directions during the downhill. The travel to Thale was short and pleasant in a green and calm landscape. The roadsigns to the Rosstrappe are very clear in Thale. I parked the car in the straight industrial line of the foot, blocked my ray into two other rays of my wheel, saw the roadsign 14% and attacked the Harz. (Harz attack, lol). It's like Hohe Wurzel (or le trou du Diable in Belgium). Steep, very steep (14% all the time) national road, with curves and long (too long) straight lines. After 3 km of hard effort (I reached 1500 m difference of level in the day), a turn to the left invites the visitor to the wellknown site of Rosstrappe. A flat short section, a last jump of climb and a final short downhill offer me the end of the sport for today. I went to see the backside of the restaurant. The vertical wall of stone is terrific.
A wellknown track for MTB goes down there and the speed of the bikes passing there frightened me. But I drank with some satisfaction the local beer on the top. I imagined the devils in this place. It's a legend but it's the place of "the night of Walpurgis" with demons, and bad people,... At the opposite way, the bar waitress was very kind with me: well, Walpurgis is really just a legend !
Back to the car, back to Belgium, just at midnight. Hard day, but fantastic day. Three BIGs, one beer.
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Subject: Harz in 1 day - le Harz en 1 jour 
Tue Apr 07, 2009 3:45 pm
