Bad Harzburg is where the Harz begins. The town sits at the northern edge of the mountains, where the flat land of the North German plain gives way to a steep wooded wall, and it has been a spa since the nineteenth century, with a brine bath, a park and a casino. A cable car climbs the Burgberg above the town, where the ruins of an eleventh-century imperial castle stand, built by Henry IV and destroyed by the Saxons not long after.
The road that climbs from here is the real attraction. The old Harz High Road, which runs south and east through the heart of the mountains, rises through spruce forest in a series of fast, flowing bends, passing the little waterfall of the Radau and the rocky outcrop of the Rabenklippe, where you can look out over the plain. At the top, near Torfhaus, the road reaches about 800 metres, with open moorland, bare spruce trees killed by bark beetles, and the dome of the Brocken, the highest peak in northern Germany, in view.
The Brocken has a long place in German legend, as the mountain where witches meet on Walpurgis Night, 30 April, and Goethe set a scene of Faust here. Tourists come in large numbers on that night, and the villages put on festivals. The weather on the Brocken is notoriously bad, with fog on most days, and the high road can be icy from October to April.
Bad Harzburg has about twenty-three thousand people and has fuel, supermarkets, cafes and a number of hotels. It is the best place to fill up before the climb. Traffic can be heavy at weekends, with riders, cars and tourists on the narrow roads, so aim for a weekday. Take warm clothing, since the temperature can drop by ten degrees from the valley to the top.