Why this ride
72 km from Olbernhau to Olbernhau, about 1 h 23 of riding. The stops in between: Marienberg Mining Town, Ehrenfriedersdorf Mining Landscape and back through Marienberg Mining Town.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works and Ehrenfriedersdorf Mining Landscape
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 72 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 23
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works is where the day begins. Next is Marienberg Mining Town.
2. Marienberg Mining Town
In 1521 Duke Heinrich of Saxony founded a new town in the Ore Mountains to house miners drawn by recent silver strikes, and he had it laid out on a regular grid around a huge square market place, following Renaissance ideas of the ideal city. Marienberg is the result, and its plan is still clearly visible, with straight streets, the town church, the Zschopau gate and a stretch of town wall. The town is part of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, the cross-border World Heritage Site inscribed in 2019, which recognises eight hundred years of mining in these mountains.
Read the complete Marienberg Mining Town write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Marienberg Mining Town comes up about 18 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ehrenfriedersdorf Mining Landscape.
3. Ehrenfriedersdorf Mining Landscape
Tin, not silver, was the business of Ehrenfriedersdorf. For around eight hundred years miners dug into the Sauberg hill above this small Erzgebirge town for tin ore, and the Ehrenfriedersdorf mining landscape, with its shafts, spoil heaps, ponds and ditches, is one of the components of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region World Heritage Site. The Sauberg visitor mine lets you go underground into galleries worked by generations of miners, and the hard hat, the damp cold and the drip of water make the history very physical.
Read the complete Ehrenfriedersdorf Mining Landscape write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 35 km into the recorded legs you reach Ehrenfriedersdorf Mining Landscape. Next is back through Marienberg Mining Town.
4. back through Marienberg Mining Town
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Marienberg Mining Town write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Marienberg Mining Town, late in the day. Next is Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works.
5. Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works to Marienberg Mining Town
Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works → Marienberg Mining Town is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Marienberg Mining Town to Ehrenfriedersdorf Mining Landscape
Marienberg Mining Town → Ehrenfriedersdorf Mining Landscape is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ehrenfriedersdorf Mining Landscape to back through Marienberg Mining Town
Ehrenfriedersdorf Mining Landscape → back through Marienberg Mining Town is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Marienberg Mining Town to Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works
back through Marienberg Mining Town → Grünthal Silver-Copper Liquation Works is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.