CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 232 km round trip from Dippoldiswalde - roughly 4 h 19 in the saddle. The stops in between: Dresden Elbe Valley, Freiberg Mining Landscape, Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works and back through Freiberg Mining Landscape. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 25 km this is Saxon Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
In 2008, when parts of the old town of Dippoldiswalde began to subside, engineers investigating the problem found something nobody expected: a network of medieval silver mines running beneath the streets, dating back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The tunnels contained remarkably well preserved wooden ladders, tools and even shoes, offering an unparalleled glimpse of mining at the start of the Ore Mountains' silver boom. These finds are part of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region listed by UNESCO in 2019.
Read the complete Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines is where the day begins. Next is Dresden Elbe Valley.
Dresden's Elbe valley once held a World Heritage listing and then lost it. Inscribed in 2004 for its blend of Baroque city, river meadows, palaces and vineyards, it was removed from the list in 2009 after the city built the Waldschlösschen bridge across the meadows, a decision that sparked fierce debate. The landscape itself, however, remains beautiful: the river curves through wide green meadows, with the domes and spires of the old town on one side and the villas and vineyards of the Loschwitz slopes on the other.
Read the complete Dresden Elbe Valley write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dresden Elbe Valley comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Freiberg Mining Landscape.
Silver was found near Freiberg in 1168, and within a few decades the town had become one of the richest in Saxony. For eight centuries, miners dug ever deeper into the hills, and the wealth they brought up paid for churches, palaces and the splendours of Dresden. Freiberg's Bergakademie, founded in 1765, is the oldest mining university in the world still operating, and its mineral collection is one of the finest anywhere. The town and its mining landscape are part of the Erzgebirge mining region listed by UNESCO, shared between Germany and the Czech Republic.
Read the complete Freiberg Mining Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 83 km into the recorded legs you reach Freiberg Mining Landscape. Next is Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works.
Down in the valley of the Flöha, on the edge of Olbernhau, stands an industrial village that looks almost too neat to be real: slate-roofed workshops, a hammer mill, workers' houses and a stout gatehouse, all enclosed within a wall. This is the Saigerhütte Grünthal, a works that separated silver from copper ore by a technique called liquation, and it is one of the best preserved sites of its kind in Europe. It forms part of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, listed by UNESCO in 2019 for both the German and Czech sides of the range.
Read the complete Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works, about halfway. Next is back through Freiberg Mining Landscape.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Freiberg Mining Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Freiberg Mining Landscape sits at 153 km, about halfway. Next is back through Dresden Elbe Valley.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dresden Elbe Valley write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Dresden Elbe Valley comes up about 207 km into the recorded legs. Next is Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines closes the day.
Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines → Dresden Elbe Valley is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dresden Elbe Valley → Freiberg Mining Landscape is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Freiberg Mining Landscape → Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works → back through Freiberg Mining Landscape is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Freiberg Mining Landscape → back through Dresden Elbe Valley is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Dresden Elbe Valley → Dippoldiswalde Medieval Silver Mines is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.