We start our today's stage from the market square of Harzgerode with its impressive half-timbered town hall. Passing the art pond, we continue cycling on the Silberhüttenweg, which takes us to the village of Silberhütte. Here we cross the railway line of the Selke valley railway, follow it westwards for a short distance and then turn left again over tracks and Selke into the Hüttengrund. The road follows the course of the Selke and brings us to Straßberg. We pass through the town and follow the Mühlweg directly along the mill channel. To our right flows the Selke as a meandering river, forming a unique landscape and emphasizing the wild romance of the Selke valley. The hiking trail Güntersberge-KIEZ-Straßberg takes us through mixed forest and over fields and meadows to Güntersberge. There we ride through the town and head towards Burgweg, which leads into the Umbachtal circular trail directly on the Umbach. From there we shortly turn back onto the hiking trail Güntersberge, which leads us through the forest to the Harzhochstraße, which we follow about 300 meters to the right in the direction of Stiege, then turn right again into the forest path. Over meadow paths with distant views, we cycle on relaxed. We cross the Domäne Stiege and continue over idyllic spring and mountain meadows across a plateau to the town of Hasselfelde. Numerous restaurants and snack bars invite for a lunch break. We ride past the market square through the town and turn from Nordhäuser Straße into Harzweg, which leads us out of town over mountain meadows. In Trautenstein we turn into Hasselfelder Straße, follow it for a bit and at the bus station take Tanner Straße, which leads us through some houses back into nature. The mountain meadows turn into mixed forest. In the middle, we cross the country road between Tanne and Trautenstein. At the third fork, our route continues south. We follow the path 'Die Lange'. At the second crossroads, we turn right to the north and cycle through the Harzer Bachtäler nature reserve, which covers more than 1300 hectares and in the west transitions into the 'Bachtäler im Oberharz um Braunlage' nature reserve. We enjoy the varied landscape, pass the outskirts of Tanne and the Warme Bode and turn left onto Bodetalstraße. A narrow trail leads us parallel to the federal highway and to the Warme Bode past the village of Sorge. Shortly after we cross the Warme Bode again on our trail, we have to turn right and follow the Warme Bode upstream. Again and again, we get beautiful views of the water and even to the Wurmberg. We are now in the High Harz and imperceptibly cross the former inner-German border. Shortly afterwards, we roll right over the Weiße Brücke and cross the river again. Afterwards, we stay on the right side of the Warme Bode until we finally reach Braunlage. At the spa park, we come very close to the Bode once more and finally end the stage at this point.
