Train ride to the Brocken

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17 May 2016

We woke to dull, cool but generally dry weather. Although conditions were not perfect we decided to take the trip from Wernigerode up to the top of the Brocken Mountain anyway. We were glad we did, it proved to be interesting and great fun.

The trains on the narrow gauge railway are pulled by steam engines built by the East Germans in the 1950s. The journey takes 1 hour 45 minutes and although the height gain is about 900 metres it is not rack and pinion anywhere as there are many bends on the track to give a steady gradient and on the upper section it spirals round the mountain.

When we got to the top it was cold, windy and fairly misty but we had a good hour and a half up there having a sausage and bread lunch and wandering around the bleak landscape looking at the observatory buildings. Just as we left the sky cleared and the view became visible. Typical!

We had time in the late afternoon to have quick look around the Wernigerode old town before catching the bus back to our van.

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