Hochsauerland Archives

Holiday Plans 2022

March 2, 2024February 28, 2022

Hoping for the best with regards to the pandemic and – perhaps even scarier – provided that the mad dog in the Kremlin doesn’t destroy the planet, we have booked two holidays for this year.

One will be a week in Hochsauerland (Germany) where we have rented an apartment as the base camp for another cycling week.

But the other one is two weeks of sun fun.

For Paula.

On Tenerife…

Frequent visitors of this blog will already know what’s coming next 😂

But if you’re a first time visitor, I refer to the reports on two previous such vacations on Mallorca and Gran Canaria.

Hochsauerland 2016

October 23, 2024September 28, 2016

Medebach Hochsauerland

After our previous trip to the Hochsauerland area in 2014, I promised to come back for more cycling and last week we made good on that promise.

Like last time, we rented a cottage in Medebach, which is in ‘High Sauerland District’, the area where the highest hills are located.

And while these will not make it onto my ‘been there, done that‘ list, they offer enough altimeter gains to help you finish a Strava climbing challenge in no time…

Up Next: Hochsauerland

October 23, 2024September 15, 2016

Now that September seems to be done throwing record-breaking temperatures at us, it’s time for our next trip to the ‘hilly’ area of Hochsauerland, Germany.

If the trip to the Vosges was any indication of my abilities to handle that sort of terrain, I’d do well to plan my cycling adventures a little less enthusiastic, lest I’ll end up in the back of the van again.

As it seems these ‘climbing abilities’ – pitiful at best anyway – have diminished further, even the hills in the Vosges proved enough to finish me. In my defense, I’d like to point out that the average grades on the ‘friendly rolling’ hills there are often close to 10%.

However, the hills in Hochsauerland are not as high as in the Vosges and the climbs are – in general – a lot shorter…

Planning Short Trips

January 26, 2024March 31, 2016

Although I stopped meticulously planning my season after everything got messed up in 2012 and 2013, due to unplanned short holidays in the hospital, I still do plan short cycling outings abroad.

These are typically aimed at humiliating myself in ‘mountainous areas’, or at least anything that involves something more challenging than what the south of my country has to offer.

For this year, I have not planned anything as spectacular as a ‘Tour de France’ or ‘Giro d’Italia’, but both the Vosges and Hochsauerland offer (more than) enough challenges…

Hochsauerland 2014

January 7, 2025March 29, 2014

Late last year, we booked a ‘mid week’ in a Center Parcs bungalow in Medebach, a town in the Hochsauerland district (or Kreis in German, HSK license plate).

Thanks to grocery store Albert Heijn, we had a nice discount on the (usually steep) price, but with a catch: we had to book for a week no later than the last week of March.

The district covers the largest part of the Sauerland mountains, with elevations up to just over 800 meters, which is why I thought it to be a nice (first) training stage for the expedition to the French Alps later this year.

However, as the area is better known for the ski resort Winterberg, I expected temperatures well below comfortable this time of year – I was not disappointed…