Blog Day 6

Our final day and we did something we had been saving up since Friday when 99 6001 returned to as this visit works best from on a weekday rather than with the weekend bus timetable.

Side street outside our hotel, Wernigerode

Our hotel Alt Brennerei - the old distillery

Bus to to ride Quedlinburg- , Alexisbad - Gernrode by train, bus back to Quedlinburg for lunch, then Quedlinburg - Hasselfelde with steam and the last leg from Hasselfelde - Wernigerode by bus. The majority of the train riding was with one-off 2-6-2T 99 6001 with just the afternoon Quedlinburg- Gernrode leg by railbus. We passed the Harz Kamel passenger train at Magdesprung where the cafe is open for business despite looking abandoned!

The free bus travel which comes with the tourist tax is a real bonus and this along with two €44 Harz 3-day ‘kurzurlaubticket’ which excludes the Brocken covered all our travels from Wernigerode.

The weather started fair with a cool wind by clouded over by early afternoon with rain from around 14:00.

Quedlinburg Is a UNESCO World Heritage city and has some wonderful old buildings although Wernigerode and other towns in the area are also good to look at. The town has half-timbered building from the 14th century as well as some Art Nouveau buildings (called Jugendstil) from the late 19th and early 20th century. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quedlinburg and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugendstilhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugendsti l 99 6001 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NWE_No._21 In 2016 it visited France for the metre-gauge Baie de Somme Fete a Vapeur where I photographed it.

at Quedlinburg today at St Valery 2016 99 6001 taking water at Alexisbad today

Selketalbahn See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selke_Valley_Railway This line has a complicated history of openings, closures, re-openings and extension. In 1984 it was reconnected to the other parts of the Harz system and in 2006 it was extended along a disused standard gauge line to Quedlinburg. This extension has not been a success as although it links Quedlinburg with the Brocken, the journey takes too long for a sensible return day trip and there are really no other destinations part way to encourage tourists from Quedlinburg to go for a ride. Alexisbad or badly need major investment to make them attractions and destinations in themselves. The route is pretty enough as it follows the Selketal valley uphill to Hasselfelde with a summit between Gernrode and Magdesprung but there are plenty of signs of dereliction and decay along the way. 99 6001 at Hasselfelde taking water prior to running round

Time and timetables didn’t allow us to ride Eisfelder Talmühle to Nordhausen or Alexisbad to Harzgerode on this trip and pricing and weather didn’t allow for a trip from Stiege up the Brocken. The Brocken remained closed today presumably while they clear trees from the line caused by the high winds over the last 2 weekends.

Magdesprung - the Harz Kamel waiting for us to pass Lunch at Quedlinburg - a classic East German sausage kiosk still in action

And here is your German Quiz for today:

Your question - which buses will run on 'lawful vacation days' if they occur on a Monday to Friday?! And do you know the English equivalents of Heiligabend and Silvester?

I'll probably do a final wrap-up on the tour when I get home. I already have some note for this.

John Raby 24 February 2020