Schneeberg Mining Landscape and Jáchymov Mining Landscape
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
176 km
Riding-time estimate
3 h 39
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.
176 km from Schneeberg to Schneeberg, about 3 h 39 of riding. The stops in between: Rother Berg Mining Landscape, Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, Mědník Hill Mining Landscape and Jáchymov Mining Landscape. It crosses from Germany into Czechia - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Schneeberg Mining Landscape
Schneeberg is a mining town high in the Erzgebirge, the Ore Mountains, which divide Saxony from Bohemia, and its history is written in silver, cobalt and uranium. A silver rush in the late fifteenth century made the town rich, and the church of St. Wolfgang, a huge Gothic hall church with a Cranach altarpiece, was the proud result. Later the miners found cobalt, which was used to colour glass and porcelain a deep blue, and Saxony became the world's main supplier of that pigment. In the twentieth century came the Wismut company, a Soviet-German enterprise that mined uranium on a massive scale in the nearby valleys, leaving scars and also the radon spa at Bad Schlema. UNESCO listed the Erzgebirge mining region, including Schneeberg, in 2019.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Schneeberg Mining Landscape is where the day begins. Next is Rother Berg Mining Landscape.
2. Rother Berg Mining Landscape
Schwarzenberg, in the western Erzgebirge, is a town of steep streets, slate roofs and a castle and church perched on a rock above the Schwarzwasser river, and the hills around it are riddled with old mine workings. The Rother Berg, the red mountain, takes its name from the iron ore that colours its soil, and it is one of the components of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, the cross-border UNESCO site listed in 2019. For eight centuries, miners in these mountains dug for silver, tin, iron, cobalt and later uranium, and their work shaped not only the landscape but the culture of the whole region.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Rother Berg Mining Landscape comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region.
3. Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region
The word dollar comes from these hills. In the early sixteenth century, a silver rush at Joachimsthal, today's Jáchymov, made the town one of the largest in Bohemia, and the coins minted there, the Joachimsthaler, shortened to thaler, gave their name to currencies around the world. The Erzgebirge, or Krušné hory, the Ore Mountains on the Czech-German border, were mined for silver, tin, cobalt, iron and finally uranium for eight centuries, and the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2019.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 41 km into the recorded legs you reach Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region. Next is Mědník Hill Mining Landscape.
4. Mědník Hill Mining Landscape
Mědník is a small, steep hill on the Czech side of the Ore Mountains, or Krušné hory, the range that forms the border between Bohemia and Saxony. It rises above the village of Měděnec, whose name, like the hill's, comes from the Czech word for copper. For centuries, miners tunnelled into the hill for copper and iron ore, and the hill is now part of the Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region, inscribed by UNESCO in 2019 as a cross-border site.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mědník Hill Mining Landscape, about halfway. Next is Jáchymov Mining Landscape.
5. Jáchymov Mining Landscape
The word dollar comes from this small town in the Ore Mountains. In the early sixteenth century, the silver mines of Jáchymov, then called Joachimsthal, were among the richest in Europe, and the coins minted here were called Joachimsthaler, shortened to thaler, which became daler and eventually dollar. The town grew rapidly, with thousands of miners, and it is now one component of the World Heritage inscription for the Erzgebirge mining region, shared between the Czech Republic and Germany. Its later history is darker and stranger.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 176 km.
Leg by leg
Schneeberg Mining Landscape to Rother Berg Mining Landscape
Schneeberg Mining Landscape → Rother Berg Mining Landscape is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rother Berg Mining Landscape to Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region
Rother Berg Mining Landscape → Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region to Mědník Hill Mining Landscape
Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region → Mědník Hill Mining Landscape is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mědník Hill Mining Landscape to Jáchymov Mining Landscape
Mědník Hill Mining Landscape → Jáchymov Mining Landscape is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jáchymov Mining Landscape to back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape
Jáchymov Mining Landscape → back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape to back through Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region
back through Mědník Hill Mining Landscape → back through Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region to back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape
back through Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region → back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape to Schneeberg Mining Landscape
back through Rother Berg Mining Landscape → Schneeberg Mining Landscape is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.