Stadtoldendorf to Herzberg am Harz

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Breakfast was a little lacking in choice compared to recent days but it was quick and easy to make and kept us going until our yoghurt and nut stop. Markus, the apartment owner, came out to see us off.



Another day riding south east in lovely weather and fabulous countryside. Lots of gentle ups and downs today sometimes surrounded by trees and sometimes between huge flat fields of crops. We saw our first storks of this trip this morning.



Passing one house there was a beautiful line of little pink clothes, a big heart and a stork decoration to show they had welcomed a baby girl. We have seen similar in parts of Switzerland but not in Germany before.



Just over half way through the journey we passed through the large town of Northeim but the route stuck to cycle paths and didn't go right through the centre so it was easy going. A little after this we stopped for our picnic lunch in a lovely spot complete with picnic benches.



The closer we got to Herzberg we appeared to entering forests and mountains again so tomorrow may be hillier.



Tonight's hotel is decorated in traditional German style and is very nice. We decided to dine here as it serves traditional German food and there only looked to be pizza places open in town. It was a little pricey but extremely good and a little different. I had the only vegetarian option on the menu. It would be extremely hard to be a vegetarian in Germany. Most dishes are very meat biased.



We had a walk into town afterwards and it wasn't exactly thriving and the only food places we saw were pizza places.



Herzberg is situated on the southwestern rim of the Harz mountain range and the Harz National Park.



The more than 950-year-old Castle Herzberg towers high above the town. With its rare and idiosyncratic half-timbered architecture, it is one of the most important architectural monuments in the Harz region and the largest half-timbered castle in Lower Saxony. We can just see the top of this from our hotel peering out from the trees surrounding it.



Lake Juessee is a sinkhole lake in the centre of the town that was formed between 8,000 and 14,000 years ago.



In Scharzfeld, next to the ruins of Scharzfels Castle towering high above the town on a dolomite rock and the stone church on the slope of the Steinberg, is the Unicorn Cave, one of the largest karst caves in the Harz region.



47 miles today

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