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 267 km round trip from Altenberg - roughly 4 h 30 in the saddle. On the way it passes Dresden Elbe Valley, Freiberg Mining Landscape, Lauta Mining Landscape 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 39 km this is Saxon Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Lauenstein stands on a rock above the Müglitz valley in the eastern Erzgebirge, where the mountains tilt down toward Saxony and the Czech border is only a few kilometres off. The castle, a medieval stronghold that grew into a Renaissance residence, was long the seat of the Bünau family, a powerful Saxon dynasty, and its administrative centre controlled the surrounding district, with its farms, forests and mines. The little town gathered at its feet, with narrow lanes and old houses. Today the castle is a museum, with a dramatic position above the valley.
Read the complete Lauenstein Administrative Centre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lauenstein Administrative Centre 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 39 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 97 km into the recorded legs you reach Freiberg Mining Landscape. Next is Lauta Mining Landscape.
Marienberg was laid out in 1521 as a planned silver town, with a vast square market place and streets set in a grid, an idea of urban order that was new in this part of Europe. Lauta, today a district of Marienberg, lies among the old mine workings, spoil heaps and shafts that fed that wealth, and it is one of the components of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, the cross-border World Heritage Site shared by Saxony and the Czech Republic and inscribed in 2019.
Read the complete Lauta Mining Landscape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lauta Mining Landscape, 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 173 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 228 km into the recorded legs. Next is Lauenstein Administrative Centre.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Lauenstein Administrative Centre write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lauenstein Administrative Centre closes the day.
Lauenstein Administrative Centre → Dresden Elbe Valley is 39 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 → Lauta Mining Landscape is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lauta Mining Landscape → back through Freiberg Mining Landscape is 40 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 → Lauenstein Administrative Centre is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.