Why this ride
369 km from Goslar to Goslar, about 5 h 19 of riding. The stops in between: Church of St. Wiperti, Naumburg Cathedral and back through Church of St. Wiperti. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Mines of Rammelsberg and Historic Town of and Naumburg Cathedral
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 369 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 19
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
German Timber Frame Road Central Section
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 65 km this is German Timber Frame Road Central Section, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 65 km
- Named road
- German Timber Frame Road Central Section
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Mines of Rammelsberg and Historic Town of
Goslar is a small city at the northern edge of the Harz, and it is hard to overstate how much money and power sat here in the Middle Ages. The Rammelsberg hill, just south of the town, held a vast body of silver, lead, copper and zinc ore, and mining went on for about a thousand years, until the mine closed in 1988. The Ottonian and Salian emperors built their palace in Goslar because the silver paid for it. The imperial palace, the Kaiserpfalz, still stands in a big, over-restored form on the edge of the old town. UNESCO listed the mine and the old town together in 1992, and in 2010 the Upper Harz water system was added to the same site.
Read the complete Mines of Rammelsberg and Historic Town of write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mines of Rammelsberg and Historic Town of is where the day begins. Next is Church of St. Wiperti, 91 km on.
2. Church of St. Wiperti
Quedlinburg is a town that survived by being overlooked. It escaped the worst of the wars and the building booms, and so it has more than thirteen hundred half-timbered houses, from the late Middle Ages to the nineteenth century, packed into a tangle of cobbled lanes at the foot of the Harz mountains. UNESCO listed the town in 1994, and walking through it, you feel as though you have fallen into a picture book of a German town, with leaning facades, carved beams and window boxes.
Read the complete Church of St. Wiperti write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Church of St. Wiperti comes up about 65 km into the recorded legs. Next is Naumburg Cathedral.
3. Naumburg Cathedral
The twelve figures in the west choir of Naumburg Cathedral are among the most famous sculptures of the Middle Ages, and once you have seen them, you understand why. Carved around the middle of the thirteenth century by an unknown artist known as the Naumburg Master, they represent the founders and benefactors of the cathedral, noblemen and noblewomen who had died two centuries earlier, but they look like real people, with individual faces, expressions and gestures. The most famous is Uta, the wife of Margrave Ekkehard, standing with her cloak drawn up to her face, cool and enigmatic, who has become an icon of German art. The cathedral, with its Romanesque and Gothic architecture and its rich sculpture, was listed by UNESCO in 2018.
Read the complete Naumburg Cathedral write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 186 km into the recorded legs you reach Naumburg Cathedral. Next is back through Church of St. Wiperti, 90 km on.
4. back through Church of St. Wiperti
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of St. Wiperti write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Church of St. Wiperti, late in the day. Next is Mines of Rammelsberg and Historic Town of.
5. Mines of Rammelsberg and Historic Town of
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mines of Rammelsberg and Historic Town of write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Mines of Rammelsberg and Historic Town of. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Mines of Rammelsberg and Historic Town of to Church of St. Wiperti
Mines of Rammelsberg and Historic Town of → Church of St. Wiperti is 65 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Church of St. Wiperti to Naumburg Cathedral
Church of St. Wiperti → Naumburg Cathedral is 121 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Naumburg Cathedral to back through Church of St. Wiperti
Naumburg Cathedral → back through Church of St. Wiperti is 117 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Church of St. Wiperti to Mines of Rammelsberg and Historic Town of
back through Church of St. Wiperti → Mines of Rammelsberg and Historic Town of is 66 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.