The small Harz Foothills Tour

Our tour begins at the "Westerntor", at the intersection "Ilsenburger Straße/ J.-Sebastian-Bach-Straße". From here we follow the combined pedestrian and bike path along "Ilsenburger Straße". Before the next intersection, keep left, pass straight through the crossroads, and continue straight on the pedestrian and bike path towards Darlingerode/Ilsenburg. Caution is advised when crossing the L85 behind the Shell gas station and when subsequently crossing the railway tracks. At the "Hasseröder Brewery" the path switches to the northern side of the street and runs alongside the road through the locality of Darlingerode to Drübeck. The construction of the roadside bike path between Darlingerode and Drübeck was completed in 2004. The roadside bike path ends in Drübeck. We keep right (do not continue straight on L85) and follow the "Straße der Romanik" (main street) until we reach the Drübeck monastery after about 500 m, which can also be visited. Behind the monastery complex, we resume riding on L85, on whose right side the pedestrian and bike path leads to Ilsenburg. This path ends at the entrance to Ilsenburg. Here, we continue straight on the street and turn left at the next intersection onto "Schlossstraße". Alternatively, one can use the roadside path to the "Schlossstraße" junction. We ride straight along "Schlossstraße", passing the turnoff to Ilsenburg monastery (from where you can take a detour to the monastery), and after crossing the little Ilse river we turn right onto "R.-Breitscheid-Straße" towards the market square. After a few meters, we arrive at the market square by Forellenteich pond, which invites you to rest.

From the market square, continue right, first along "Harzburger Straße" through "Marienhöfer Straße", which leads past the Ilsenburg Ironworks Museum. After crossing L85/Faktoreistraße, we ride along "Hochofenstraße". Via "Eduard-Schott-Straße" one can make a detour to the Fürst Stolberg furnace.

Our tour continues straight ahead. At the end of "Hochofenstraße" we turn right over a bridge and ride up "Stahlwerkstraße" to the road to Veckenstedt, which we follow left.

We are now on the Ilse bike path. Initially, it runs as a roadside pedestrian and bike path past commercial sites, then bends left and runs along the Ilse river. We follow the Ilse bike path, which passes the Grovesmühle boarding school after about 1.5 km, continuing straight towards Veckenstedt. After another 500 m we reach a massive stone bridge. Here we have the option to take a detour for a fish snack to the "Teichwirtschaft Veckenstedt" at the Veckenstedt ponds. To do so, turn left behind the bridge. For direct continuation to Veckenstedt, keep right after crossing the bridge. After about 200 m, we come to a path intersection. Here we do not follow the "Grovesmühler Weg" but turn left past the transformer station onto a naturally developed path that leads back to the Ilse river.

We follow this path until we reach a street, turn right onto it, and ride to the next intersection (with a traffic island). Here we turn left and immediately right on the next street "Teufelsklippe". We cross a ford and after the following bridge turn right onto "Straße der Technik", which leads directly to the church. In front of the church, turn left and then straight ahead to the next intersection. Here we turn left into "Schäferstraße" (a dead end), which we follow to the end. Shortly before the next ford, we keep left and cross the water via a bridge (alternatively ford crossing) and reach "Lindenstraße", which we follow past the "Bauernstube" inn and a playground until the main street. For a few meters ride left along the main street and then turn immediately right onto "Alten Stadtweg", which later becomes a concrete track road used for agriculture. From this path, we have a beautiful view of the Harz mountains.

After about 3 km, we cross the B6 on a bridge. At the intersection immediately after the bridge over the B6, turn left towards Charlottenlust. After another 300 m, we cross the heavily trafficked "Hasseröder Straße", which serves as a feeder to the B6. Now the route goes uphill to Charlottenlust. After passing the slope, there is an opportunity to take a break at the so-called Charlottenlust in "Biggis Jodlerstübchen". Straight ahead leads to Wernigerode, just before the exit, one can enjoy a beautiful view of the city, the castle, and the Harz massif.

At the end of the descent, before reaching the first houses of the "Charlottenlust" residential area, we come to the "Wegekreuzung Charlottenlust" intersection, where we also meet the "Rund um Wernigerode" route.

Cyclists who want to ride directly back towards Ilsenburg from here are recommended to use the agricultural road (concrete track) towards Darlingerode/Ilsenburg. Toward the city center, follow the current signage from here.

After the descent, continue straight ahead, passing the "Charlottenlust" residential area, a small allotment garden, and the prefabricated housing area "Harzblick" developed in the late 1980s.

The Kurtsteich pond is now visible on the right.

Directly opposite the Kurtsteich, turn left onto the path running along the Schreiberteich pond and south of the "Harzblick" residential area (here we are on the grounds of the Wernigerode State Garden Show 2006).

On this path, after about 600 m, we reach a large parking area with a cluster of markets which we ride through on "Am Schreiberteich" street.

At the traffic light controlled intersection at the gas station, crossing the "Dornbergsweg (L86)" is planned. Then the tour is to lead along a path next to the Seigerhüttenteich pond and a small allotment garden to the Holtemme bike path "Im Stadfelde". We follow the path alongside the Holtemme to the right and at its end turn left onto the pedestrian and bike path, where we cross the green hill (railway crossing). After passing the hill, we are back in the city center of Wernigerode and can get to the old town and via Pfarrstraße - Albert-Bartels-Straße - Ringstraße return to the starting point.