Rothaarrunde Archives

Hochsauerland 2022 – Stage 5

November 18, 2022April 29, 2022

Today would bring us the best weather of the week, so I took a shot at a long stage.

Not long enough to push my luck, though, and I had a plan B, cutting off the far end of the loop.

This stage was the Rothaarrunde I did back in 2014, but in reverse direction.

With the little detour I knew I’d have to make approaching Medebach, this would be around 115 kilometers.

I didn’t want to make yesterday’s detour, as that lead me over a goat trail, which was bad enough going up, but best avoided going down…

Hochsauerland 2022 – Stage 4

November 18, 2022April 27, 2022

I was looking for a route of about 80 kms max and picked the “Kleine Rothaarrunde” which is just under that.

Just 3 kms in, I ran into a closed road (Orkestrasse towards Medelon), so I improvised a detour.

That, plus some minor “Off course” warnings later, brought the total to 84.48 kms.

Which, by accident, gave me a perfect palindrome, but Americans just don’t see it.

That’s totally on them, though 😂😂😂

Hochsauerland 2014

November 17, 2022March 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).

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…