HARZ, GERMANY
July 10th, 2023 - July 29th, 2023
July 10th:
The plan was to go on a second road trip, this time to England, Wales and Scotland, which we wanted to do last year ... but, due to very unfavorable weather conditions, we thought it best to postpone the United Kingdom again, and to return to Germany instead.
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During the last road trip, a month ago, we were impressed with how stunning the Harz National Park was, so we decided to go back there.
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A few stops along the way and we finally arrived in Göttlingen, where we had a nice Indian dinner. And then we found a spot to sleep.
July 11th:
We found out that the Harz National Park has a collection of over 200 stamp stations. These stamp stations are scattered all over the Park. For a mere four Euro, we bought a booklet with lots of information on the Park and with ample space to collect each unique stamp.
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Collecting the stamps will earn you badges, which are nice souvenirs.
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There aren't any real routes to the stamp stations, so you'd have to do a lot of planning yourself. The plus side of that is that you can customize every hike.
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The staff at the Sankt Andreasberg information point was incredibly friendly, and the lady there gave us our first "Sonderstempel", a unique special stamp that doesn't count towards the badge requirements.
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We then went on our way to collect our first official stamp, which for us was number 154, located at the Dreibrodestein, a large boulder. But first, we had some lunch at the parking lot.
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After this first stamp, we figured out a hike that took us along three stamps, taking a mere eight kilometers. The parking lot that we found was near a sort of highway, though there was hardly any traffic. There was a fence, however, that we couldn't climb, so we had to hug the fence and eventually found a gate in the fence that led us into the nature reserve.
A few kilometers down the road we found stamp station 75 at Hahnekleeklippen, but ... the inkpad was gone! Foul play or negligence? No idea, but it sucks because now we couldn't get the stamp in our booklet. So we either had to write down the unique number of the stamp station (which is obviously not the same as the number of the stamp), or return another time.
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Disappointed by the events at stamp station 75, the second disappointment of the hike didn't take long to appear. It turned out that Google Maps and Wikiloc kept sending us on routes and paths that didn't exist. And while it is theoretically possible to cut through a woodland area, there were also parts with steep cliffs (going down was possible, though not free from harm, but going up was not possible). It turned out that getting to this second station would be a huge detour, so we postposned this to another day.
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With one more stamp station planned on this hike, we were weary and cautious. Would this also turn out to be a disappointment?
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After a few more kilometers, we got to lake Silberteich. We rested on a bench overlooking the lake and saw several hikers and cyclists stopping to go for an impromptu swim. It was incredibly warm that day, so that was understandable.
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Right next to the lake we found stamp station 148, which also was the start of the Naturmytenpfad, or the Nature Myth Path, a trail with interesting and fun texts (albeit in German) and an outdoor game for kids.
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After some grocery shopping and dinner, we called it a night, but not before I contacted the stamp station organisation to tell them about the missing ink pad at number 75.
July 12th:
The mandatory coffee mornings were still a thing, followed by a stop at the local bakery in Sankt Andreasberg. Konditorie Kunze had the most amazing mehrkorn brötchen (multigrain buns) we had in a long time.
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We then set off to stamp station 157 at Kapellenfleck.
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After lunch at the parking lot where we slept, we started the train towards stamp station 206, at Hahnestein. The path to the stamp station brought us along lots of beautiful cows.
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With number 206 collected in our booklet, we rested on the bench and contemplated where to go to next. We saw that there was another stamping station within a reasonable hiking distance, so we agreed to go there.
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Several kilometers and many liters of sweat later, we arrived at stamp station 45, Dicke Tannen, near a gentle stream.
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As we continued along the path, we came across a restaurant that served tofu skewers with peanut sauce, which made me immediately realise that at least one of the owners was from The Netherlands. We had a nice conversation with the Dutch owner and talked about having dinner there, but as we had food in our (poor) fridge, we had to eat that first. But we promised the lady we'd come back.
July 13th:
We woke up, had some coffee, bought some multigrain rolls, the same old routine, and then we went to the first stamp station of the day, number 162 at Kreuztalklippe.
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The viewpoint offered us a wonderful sight over the village and the surrounding mountains and forests.
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We had lunch and planned some more and then we set off on a hike that would take us to five stamping stations includign two "Sonderstempel" stations.
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After walking for an hour in the forest, following the former border between the DDR and BRD (East- and West Germany respectively), we arrived and Sonderstempel Zweiländereighe, which translates to Two Country Oak. At this site is a tree that is split near the bottom, resulting in two trunks and one set of roots. This - to me - was a beautiful representation of the divided Germany before the fall of the Wall in 1989.
There were several other border stones there as well, from the Prussian Empire, for example.
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Not long afther the border stamp station, we came to the Stiefmutter Hütte (the step-mom hut), which carried stamp number 164, closely followed by number 165, the Wendeleiche. This was named after a large oak tree, which now lay down, broken and dead. The tree still had remnants of the circular stairs going around its trunk, and which gave the tree its name from when it served as a viewpoint.
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We hiked down the Staufenberg mountain and arrived at stamp station Roter Schuß, number 90.
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The weather turned, dark clouds formed overhead and we were getting pretty tired. We decided to head back to the car. After some grocery shopping, I made a curry, and then we drove to the Sonderstempel Steinkreuz, before returning to the parking lot to sleep.
July 14th:
Today was a day for errands, we didn't do much else and had no walks planned.
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We did have a nice dinner at the restaurant near stamp station 45, at Dicke Tannen.
July 15th:
After some dodgy and shady driving on a mountain top, we finally got to the Sonderstempel Dreiländerstein.
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We then continued to stamp station 46, at a former border station separating the two Germanies. Big fences with barbed wire, water tunnels with anti-escape measures, ... what horrible times it must have been. Germany went from one extreme filled with hate and rolled right into a divided country with a newfound hate.
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The last stamp station for the day was number 44 at the viewpoint on Kapitelsberg. Meh, not a spectacular viewpoint per se.
July 16th:
Our first walk today was near the village of Ellrich, where - to our surprise - was a memorial for a former concentration camp (a satellite camp belonging to the greater camp Dora). I keep on forgetting that the entire country was littered with concentration camps and internment camps.
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Though small, this camp still has an abundance of horrible stories. And while the stories and documentation is horrible to read and imagine, I still feel that it's important to keep visiting such sites.
And it keeps baffling me exactly how horrible the conditions were in these camps. I've seen movies and documentaries, but seeing the remnants of the camps, reading the diaries of the survivors ... unimaginable. And so way more horrific than what any work of fiction could produce.
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After the camp we continued through the forest towards stamp station 167, the Hexentanzplatz, or the Witches' Dancing Place. A welcome distraction from the camp.
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I feel I also must mention that, if it weren't for this fun stamp collecting thing, I would never have discovered the Ellrich Konzentrationslager. Everyone knows the famous ones, Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor, ... but so many souls have also suffered and been lost at the smaller ones, the sites filled with memories of tremendous amounts of grief and pain.
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We had lunch in a small village and then continued to Neuhof where we first got to stamp station 192, a plaster burning oven. A bit further in a small forest, we found the Priest Rock Cave, and nearby was a lake with beautiful swans and some fishermen.
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Through the village, we entered another forest where we encountered a large quarry. The nearby sign warned of explosions that were used to clear the rocks in the quarry. One long warning sound would alarm nearby hikers and workers to find cover and shelter, while two short sounds meant an explosion was about to happen. Three short sounds meant that all was back to normal.
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Luckily, it was a Sunday, so no blasting or exploding happened. The quarry also looked like it had been abandoned for a while.
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At the Sachsensteinhütte on the Sachstensteinklippe we found stamp station 166. Looking at the cliffs from the village was way nicer than looking from the cliffs to the surrounding landscape.
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A short walk down the cliffside and hill brought us back to our car.
July 17th:
We decided to do a few shorter walks today. The first one was to stamp station 99, where a life-size wooden train (well, just the engine and one wagon) stood on a hill overlooking the village, with a vieuw of the castle ruins on the hill across the village.
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The next stamp station was number 198, the Glockensteine, a stone cross with a ceremonial rock tablet on the left and right side.
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After lunch we drove to Kelle, one of the many Sonderstempels. An information sign (in German) talked about the Kelle, a cave nearby. We took the stairs and path down towards the cave. Again, it was a very warm day. But with every step closer to the cave, the temperature dropped, reaching a rather chilly temperature when we reached the cave. It was a welcome feeling!
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The Kelle cave is not big, but it has amazing turquoise water. It was not possible to enter the cave though.
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As we returned to the information sign, we decided to just continue on the Kelle Rundweg, which resulted in a five kilometer hike.
July 18th:
July 19th:
Today was a day for resting.
Near the town of Goslar, in Hahneklee, is a large park dedicated to love. There's a love bench-trail of around 7 kilometers that started at one of the three car parks.
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We parked on the one near the church.
At the tourist office we got a flyer with a small stamp card. Harz sure likes its stamps, and this part is no different. In this park, along the love trail, are three red stamp stations for this Love Trail (with one also acting as a stamp station for the booklet we had).
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Collecting the three Liebesbank stamps (coloured red, for love), you can get a certificate of completion and love at the tourist office.
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While the trail sounded promising (dedicated to love, through a park with lakes), it was quite the let-down.
The path took us along several objects dedicated to love, with benches shaped into hearts and turtle doves.
But much of the trail also went past cut-down trees and slimy murky-green streams (in the designated protected drinking water area), making the views far less enjoyable than hoped.
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We did get the three Liebesbank-stamps and the stamp from number 112 (called Liebesbank). This huge bench is designed for lovers to sit on and enjoy the sights of faraway hills and mounts and forests and areas of land that once were forests but now resemble the head of a balding man who hasn't really accepted that he's balding.
The fences adjacent to the bench are filled with locks in all kinds of colours, with the names and dates of marriages and couples and such.
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At the end of the trail we got to the stave church. I had no idea I'd see a stave church here in Hermany. The church had been built in the early 1900's in honor of the Swedish king Gustav II Adolf, and is a copy of the Norwegian stave church in Borgund.
July 20th:
It rained a lot before lunch, so we were confined to the car.
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After lunch and better weather we drove back to the Baumann Cave (from our visit a month ago, with the cave bear skeleton) to get a new version of the souvenir coin since our current one got a bit damaged from sun exposure.
The machine, however, was broken.
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On the parking lot we received a parking stub from a Danish couple that was just leaving. A kind gesture that produced smiles on our faces.
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We found out that there were two stamp stations nearby, so the trip was not wasted.
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Stamp station 88 at the Hoher Kleef pavillion overlooked the village street from one side, while stamp station 89 on the Schornsteinberg provided a look at the village street from the opposite side.
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We then drove back to the viewpoint overlooking the Rappbode river, where we found stamp station 54, Rotestein.
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The next stamp station, number 60 at the Köhlerei, was a bit further down the street. Given the distance we decided to go on foot, but that turned out to be less interesting and safe than we had assumed. We had to walk along a busy road with no foot paths.
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The Köhlerei was full of beautiful wooden statues. We assumed it was a workshop there.
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For dinner we returned for some tofu skewers with peanut sauce. Delicious!
July 21st:
We drove back to the Wasserkunst parking lot near Wernigerode. We were there last month, during the previous road trip, and it was there that we first discovered the Harzer Wandernadel, the stamp collecting initiave in the Harz region.
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The parking lot suddenly had a parking meter, requiring a euro per hour. That's annoying because you don't know how much time a hike would take, meaning that you either pay too much or risk a fine. And this meter - like so many meters in Germany - are old school and not connected to an app. On the parking apps (I currently have five different ones installed on my phone, all from different regions and countries) you can set a time and pay for it. But you get a partial refund if you leave sooner.
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However, we decided to pay three euros for three hours, feeling like a safe bet, both with regard to hiking time and ease of mind knowing that we wouldn't have to stress over a possible fine upon returning to the car.
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After collecting stamp 85 at the Wasserkunst and a lunch near the water mill, we crossed the busy street and hiked up the Steinbergkopf, to continue to the Elversstein viewpoint. From this viewpoint we had a wonderful view of the railroad track and the tunnel where the Harzer Schmalspurbahen (HSB) rode past. We waited for a while, but the iconic red steam train didn't come. We got stamp number 29 from the very same spot and then hiked back to the car.
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With this stamp now collected, we had gathered 24 stamps. We qualified for a golden badge.
We drove to the center of Wernigerode and went to the tourist office to collect out badges. Since we also qualified for bronze (eight stamps) and silver (sixteen stamps), we got those as well. The man at the tourist office told us that we also qualified for the Prince and Princess badge (eleven stamps), since it was not limited to children anymore.
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Each badge / pin requres a certain amount of stamps, and costs a fee to collect. But when you keep in mind that this fee not only covers the production of the badges and pins, but also the upkeep of the 222 Wandernadel stamp stations and the countless Sonderstempel stations, it is well worth the money.
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With the badges and pins in hand, we drove to Quedlinburg where we had booked an apartment for the weekend.
July 22nd:
The plan for today was to take it easy, rest a little and regain our strength.
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We went into the town of Quedlingburg, what a beauty! Colmar gets a lot of praise for being a beautiful city with medieval-like houses, but Quedlinburg sure can compete with Colmar.
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The town itself is not that big. The old center was full of tourists and we gladly joined the gang.
Beautiful buildings, fun little stores, a cafe where we enjoyed a lavender ice latte with oat milk, ...
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Near the monastery we found a sonderstempel belonging to the Klosterwanderweg.
July 23rd:
Last night I discovered that we could collect additional stamps with additional booklets, so we went back into town to buy the extra booklets, along with a universal blank Harz stamp (which is to be used whenever a stamp is missing from a station) and a mini ink pad (for when the ink pad had run out).
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We arrived at the city of Blankenburg in the Harz region. There were several stamps to be collected there, so we were excited to vist.
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Right at the parking lot we found the Little Castle where we immediately found one Sonderstempel and one Castle stamp. Later I learned that there was another Sonderstempel in the castle, that we had missed.
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As we came to the Devil's Wall, also known as the Grandfather Rock, we saw many other hikers and visitors. Getting stamp 76 was easy, but we also wanted to climb the rock. It was busy and there was a queue, but it was worth going up the rock and enjoying the view.
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It was said that people used to worship Wodan (Óðinn) here, which I found particularly interesting.
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Back to the city center, we were hungry so we made some lunch. For dessert we found an ice cream cafe where they served hazelnut ice cream and ... basil ice cream. The latter was surprisingly good.
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The Sankt Bartholomäus church gave us a Kloster stamp and afterwards we went up the hill to the Main Castle. The view over Blankenburg was nice and we found two additional stamps, one Castle stamp and one stamp we had no idea how to categorize, so we made it into a Sonderstempel.
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At the Luisenberg Ruine we got stamp number 77 and as we went back towards the car we came across stamp number 78, the Obere Mühle.
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Looking at the map we saw two numbered stamps that were too far to reach on foot, and they had no other stamps nearby so turning them into a looped hike was also impossible. We decided to drive to a nearby location to collect the stamps.
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The first one of these was stamp number 79 at the Otto-Ebertt-Brücke, a pedestrian bridge high up over train tracks. The wind blew strong and the views were nice.
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The second stamp that stood on its own was number 74, the Hamburger Wappen and lies on the same rock formation as the Grandfather Rock, with a trail on the rock formation's ridged back of around ten kilometers connecting the two, but that didn't fit into our stamp collecting plans.
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There were many tourists at the Hamburger Wappen and the winds still blew hard. There was a natural, albeit short, tunnel, which was cool.
All the surrounding rocks near and on top of the natural tunnel were covered in carved names from visitors.
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Not wanting to go back to the car the same way we came, we decided to go down through the forest to make a small looped hike. We came across a beautiful plant- and tree-covered railroad track.
July 24th:
As we opened the roof window for some fresh air, a bumble bee entered the car. I let the cute, fuzzy insect crawl onto my hand so I could help him get out, but he chose to remain on my hand. Fast forward at lease one hour, a bit of lemon water, a small piece of a grape and some freshly picked flowers, the bumble bee finally took off. It took a long time, but I enjoyed the company.
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As the entire morning was dedicated to the bumble bee, we followed it up with lunch.
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In the town of Zorge, we went up the hill and got to a very steep part where we eventually reached a pavillion and stamp number 58, the Pferdchen (the horse). We rested for a while and enjoyed the view before we proceeded further up the hill.
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Little over a kilometer of slowly going uphill, we came across a small hut, nothing really worthwhile, except for stamp station 160, the Heleneruh.
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The road then led us close to two kilometers further to a bench with a great view of valleys and hills and mountains and forests. This was stamp station 163, the Gipfelblick am Kaiserweg.
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What followed was us walking five kilometers towards the car, with no stamps nearby.
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We did plan to go to two other stamp stations, but a rain storm disrupted those plans. So we went to the store and made dinner.
July 25th:
It was a rainy day, so we decided to just do some stamp-hopping, driving from one stamp location to the other, walking short distances. We justified this by looking at the map and choosing stamp stations that were too far apart to link together, and the bad weather that wouldn't make a hike fun.
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The first stamp station of the day was number ten of the Luther walk in Unterrißdorf, near Eisleben, where Martin Luther (not King) was born.
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We also had our lunch there, during a short rainless period.
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The Moltkewarte, stamp station 209, is a large building towering out over the surrounding forest.
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Stamp station 222 (the last one of the official booklet) is also part of the Karstwanderweg and the Steiger mining path. This mine site offered lots of information in quite a small area. It was possible to enter just the entrance of the third shaft, and we immediately had an idea of the horrible working conditions there.
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The ruins of Castle Grillenberg provided stamp station 208. Well, I say ruins, but it's little more than a small collection of low walls overgrown with bushes and trees.
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What's really impressive was someone's front garden, near the parking lot of the ruins. In the garden, they had built a miniature (bigature?) of the castle, where the real bushes served as trees for the bigature. The plaque in front of the model had faded. It was built in either 1939, 1989, or 1999. Either way, it was an impressive thing to see.
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Another stamp station of the Karst path was the Barbaraschacht bei Pölsberg. There was nothing to see there, except for an information plaque telling us that there used to be a copper mine there.
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The next three stamp stations were from the Luther path, being nature experience stations at Brandberg, Braunrode, and Kleebeck.
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It was hard to tell what kind of nature there was to experience. The information signs were all in German (as is everything else, by the way, including the stamp collecting booklets, which is not so tourist-friendly), and the surrounding landscape offered little extra, apart from some trees, fields and hunting towers. The latter, of course, don't really scream "nature experience", but rather "fuck nature".
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Which reminds me ... on so many occassions, flyers, booklets, pamphlets, and whathaveyou, tell people visiting the Harz National Park that "we are mere guests in this part of nature" and that "the park really belongs to nature and the animals". This is why - and I shit you not - you cannot find any garbage bins in the National Park.
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That obviously does not mean that there's no garbage to be found, I mean ... people's gonna people yo, and a lot of people don't plan to take their trash with them. There's a plethora of banks and benches and tables to be found throughout the vast Harz region, which invites people to eat there, to drink there, and with no garbage bins ... people will litter. And they do. It's sad really.
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Also, if "we are all guests", then I don't want "those people" over for dinner or whatever, since - apart from the littering - they are also cutting down huge areas or forest (which - as a guest - I can only interpret as vandalism and a lack of respect for the host) and the countless hunting towers numbering far over the hundreds (which - again, as a guest - also screams a lack of respect for the host, since they are literally killing part of the host).
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/end rant.
July 26th:
The first stop of the day was a cave that belonged to the Karst route, but also had number 214, the Reesbergdolene.
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After that we drove to the Episodischer See in the Breitunger valley. There we made a beautiful walk through the forest around a seasonal marshland where we also found stamp station 213, the Bauerngraben, which was also part of the Karst route.
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Stamp station 193, the Stahlquelle, was a mine site, but now sits abandoned, nothing really special. The stamp also doubled for the Steiger route.
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We then hiked up a small mountain, through a cleared forest area, and arrived at the Josephshöhe. The big metal tower resembled a Christian cross and served as a viewpoint, but it was closed. We did get a stamp out of it, number 215.
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For the last stamp of the day, we drove into the quaint little town of Stolberg. What a beautiful town with a medieval atmosphere. Buildings from 1500, old watchtowers and city gates, a huge château, ... this town has it all, and stamp station 216, the Lutherbuche to boot!
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From the Lutherbuche we got a nice view over the town. Both numbers 215 and 216 also belonged to the Luther route.
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We ended the day by discovering another stave church by accident. Interesting!
July 27th:
Near the town of Falkenstein we found stamp station 201, Konradsburg, which also belonged to the Castle route.
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Along the railroad tracks of the red steam engine we found a place to park the car where we could hike up the hill towards the Köthener Hütte, stamp station 195, which also belonged to the Selketal route (as we were in the Selke valley). The small chapel (the Hütte) offered a nice viewpoint.
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Following the road, by car I must add, we then hiked up another hill towards the Verlobungsurne, the rocks near the urn overlooked the valley and gave us a nice view. We found stamp station 177 there.
July 28th:
We were nearing the end of the trip. We felt that. Tired, losing motivation, losing the energy to do elaborate planning, ...
But we were close to having collected fifty stamps, and fifty stamps made us King and Queen.
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The stops today showed another source of income for the Wandernadel project. The first stamp station was number 97, in Sophienhof. The Ziegenalm is a goat farm where you can buy goat dairy. It is fair to assume that the farm paid good money for the stamp station to be there, so people would be tempted to buy something.
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The next stop was the one that we wanted to do from the beginning, but we never got around to it. Stamp station 123 was found at the Gaststätte Rinderstall, a guesthouse and restaurant a couple of kilometers in the woods. The stamp also counted towards the Hex path.
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For the last stamp of the day, we parked on the same parking lot as where we were for our first stamp of the trip. Only this time, we crossed the street and walked through the woods towards the Rehberger Grabenhaus, another restaurant. This stamp station had number 155, but also served as part of the Hex route and the Steiger path.
July 29th:
The plan was to drive to Belgium tomorrow, but ... so tired from the traveling (first world problems, amirite?) and sleeping in the car. We just figured to get a few more stamps, so we would have our 50 and thus the King and Queen badge, and then continue to Belgium that very same day.
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The weather had a mind of its own today, very heavy rainfall moments were followed by dry spells, only to transform into small rainstorms in the blink of an eye.
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Stamp station 40 at the Königshütte Wasserfall (also from the Hex route) was a nice waterfall, but the heavy rain made the rocky path very slippery.
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The Tagebau Felswerke (part of the Steiger route) had stamp station 39. It felt like weren't supposed to be there, a large quarry, but the stamp station was there, so ...
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We remained at Elbingerode where we found Sonderstempel Schausägewerk Ehrt, a historical saw mill.
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A bit further we found stamp station 38, at the Galgenberg. Many of the stamp stations were on interesting locations with a cultural, religious or historical significance, or a money-grabbing tourism establishment. But some also seemed to just be there randomly, like this one. Sure, the view over the surrounding fields in nice, but ... is it special, or other than so many other views at other stamp stations? Nah.
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The last stamp, the fiftieth in our booklet, but stamp number 37 in the Wandernadel list, was at the Büchenberg. The old mine site was a museum, but unfortunately our time was running out, as was our energy. With this last stamp (also from the Steiger path), we now had enough to qualify for the King and Queen badges / pins.
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We drove to Wernigerode to get our badge. This one also looked similar to the bronze-silver-gold badges, but it was a bit bigger and had a unique gem stone attached to it.
