Thüringen

17/8/2020 – When we leave from our hotel Gotisches Haus, we get a bag ‘for the road’, with water and a box of ‘Brockensplitter’, triangular chocolates filled with hazelnut. Delicious. My stomach is still protesting as the night before we had Fleisch vom Scheiterhaufen, a schnitzel with onions, gherkins and potatoes. Tasty but too much. The old waitress did not seem to know what corona was, she served with or without mask, pushing her way between us to the table with her big bosom. It was great fun and we washed down the food with two Hasseröder beers and even had a night cap in the hotel before going to bed. Before we hit the road, we walk around town and find the smallest house of Wernigerode. 

 6/8/2020 – Wernigerode –We sleep in Hotel Gotisches Haus in the centre of the bustling town. A castle dating back to the 12th century towers above the town. Similar to Quedlinburg with old, narrow streets with half-timbered houses.  The area has three narrow-gauge railways from GDR-times. The Brockenbahn brings you to the Brocken, with 1142 m the highest peak in northern Germany. Wherever you walk, Goethe walked before you. In Faust, Goethe calls the Brocken the Blocksberg. It plays an important role in pre-Christian heathen tradition. A lot of places in the area make reference to witches and to the Walpurgisnight, the one night during which exiled witches were allowed to come back to earth. I decide to cycle up the Brocken, from Schierke it is 24 kilometres and 600 altimeters. There is sun but the air is humid and clouds sail in from the West. The area, which was a military area controlled by the GDR until 1990 is misty most of the year, has 176 days of snow and is expo...