Cycle Tour Iron Curtain Tour, part 3 Gdynia-Aš

Today I relaxed in the morning and lay for a while on a sunbed and enjoyed the peace and quiet along with the view to the north, where I could see the ridge of Huy with the many childhood memories plus the town of Halberstadt in the distance with its many church towers.

I enjoyed lunch at an Italian restaurant down in Ilsenburg, which is a beautiful little spa town with a lovely park with a fountain cascade, where I sat for a while. After that I was ready to cycle up into the Harz. I doubted that I would cycle all the way up Brocken mountain, for which I had made a route on my GPS. After a steep trip on foot up several perforated concrete slabs, I gave up on that plan completely.

Instead, I took a closer look on foot at the mighty dam of the river Ecker hydropower plant. The dam had been in the middle of the border, as the Ecker constituted the border. It was interesting to walk across the dam, which dams up a fairly large lake, which also provides drinking water to big cities like Braunschweig. Back on the bike at the gravel road junction "Spinne", I cycled and walked a little further up towards Brocken. But my goal was now the cafe at Scharfenstein. I fancied a cup of coffee, but I missed out on it as it had just closed. So I slurped down water and bisquits instead in lonely majesty.

Then I sped down to Ilsenburg at breakneck speed along excellent and wide forest paths. A couple of waterfalls were great. At one of them stood the hotel "Zum Ilsestein", where I had a wonderful beer in the shade on their terrace down to the Ilse river.

Then I did a bit of research about buying a sleeping mat and having my rear wheel replaced at a bicycle smith in Ilsenburg and crossed my fingers that they would be able to help me the next day. I also needed cleaning fluid for my lenses. In the evening I treated myself to the buffet at my mountain hotel and went to bed early.