It had been hot, over 40 at times and nor did the heat relent that much in the evenings. For a cool ride it was best to get up early and I mean early and too early for me, and head for the forests.
Prudence said in my ear not to ride too much, so I didn’t as I always listen to ‘dear prudence’.
On Sunday the temperatures dropped into the high twenties and there were forecasts of rain. This sounded great but what we found was that although it did spit a wee speck of rain it was a very muggy day, the sort of day that sucks the oxygen out of your lungs.
We had taken to the roads for a change and we hit the area where the Neuen-Gleichen and Alten-Gleichen mountains can be found on a great road from Bremke, with a Sunflower flanked climb through Appenrode and a 60kph descent into Gelliehausen. Both mountains once had a castle atop of them but now all that is left are ruins.
We exchanged waves with a number of riders out on these cool roads which seem amazingly quiet.
I have been told that there is a trend for Germans to choose to live in the villages and forsake the big towns, and although living in a village seems a bit scary to me I can see the appeal. Unlike British villages which are akin to a setting for an Agatha Christie murder mystery (with a sense of added menace), German villages’ look and feel more workmanlike. Maybe this is because farmer’s houses and barns etc. are based within the villages unlike in the UK where so many farms are isolated on some windswept spot on the landscape. (I have seen enough James Herriot episodes to back this up!).
Not picture postcard you might say of the area around the Gleichen but thankfully the locals are not necessarily knocking down their old village houses so readily in contrast to some German areas, and instead are rebuilding them. My goodness, parts of the Harz feature some appallingly ugly new builds or makeovers of older buildings.
We had ice cream chocolate cake which was fantastic.
On route and near the house in a state of rebuilding was an old Bollerwagen, a wooden handcart that symbolised the post World War Two migration of people when long lines of the displaced carried all they owned upon these little carts.
The Ride: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3891469291 (the GPS was off for some parts)
Cycle Fahrrad Goettingen home page
Velo Klubhaus 