Two gorges and a strawberry line

I spent today back in my old hunting grounds, Bristol and Somerset. I arrived at Bristol Temple Meads at 9 o'clock and walked to the cycle shop on Oxford Street. The first thing I noticed on the way was that the cycle bridge across the canal, which had just opened when I left Bristol at the end of 2011, had gained a black non-slip coating to make it less dangerous in wet weather.

Another change was that there are now little shops and cafés under the railway arches on Oxford St while this area had been derelict before. One of the shops was cycle shack where I hired my bike.

10 minutes later I had hired a bike and was on my way to paintworks where I had hoped to have breakfast. Boca café didn't open until 10, but they suggested I try the American Diner that had recently opened at paintworks. The diner consists of two American silver coaches. One serves as a kitchen, the other provides typical diner style seating.

I was very pleased both with their interior design and the contents of the menu and ordered an Americano (obviously!) and breakfast bap. Both took a fairly long time to prepare, but was nice when it eventually arrived.

40 minutes later I was on my way up Bath Road towards Stockwood where I used to live. To my horror I made two minor mistakes in what used to be my ride home from the station and city when I accidentally went across the Tesco car park instead of going straight and under the roundabout, and by missing the turn-off to Lyons Ct Rd and going up Ilsyn Grove instead.

When I arrived at Whittock Square I immediately noticed the ripe blackberries lining the side of the road that I used to collect for jellies and pies. This time I just had a handful to taste before riding on to Whitchurch and out of Bristol.

I cycled through Stanton Drew past my favourite roundabout property.

By 11 o'clock I arrived at the café at Chew Valley Lake.

Crossing the dam and turning left in Chew Stoke I followed the B road down along Chew Valley Lake where lots of bird-watchers were active as usual.

I shortly arrived at Compton Martin, at an altitude of 100m the base for my climb into the Mendips. At the top (250m) I turned south towards Priddy where I had planned to have lunch at the Hunter's Lodge. The Mendip hills are dotted with cosy little pubs, the Hunter's Lodge provides particularly great value.

I ordered bread and cheese with pickled onion which as expected proved to be an excellent choice this close to Cheddar.

Half an hour later I was on my way again toward Cheddar Gorge, crossing the beautiful high plateau of the Mendips.

In my opinion, Cheddar Gorge provides the most scenic downhill ride in the area.

From Cheddar I went on to Axbridge after having a afternoon snack next to Cheddar Reservoir.

Axbridge is a picturesque village and I can also recommend The Lamb public house.

From here, I followed Strawberry Line cycle path through Winscombe and Congresbury towards Yatton. On the way the path crosses an apple orchard which was currently being harvested and smelled beautifully of fresh apples.

This was especially pleasant as it made me anticipate my planned visit to the Pie & Cider place at Bristol's harbour later that day.

I had originally intended to catch the train back to Bristol from Yatton, but as it was only quarter to three and I still had plenty of time to return my hire bike I decided to go back via Pill and the Avon Gorge instead.

Going past Clevedon I initially took the wrong road to Portishead by mistake which is horrible to ride on because of very heavy traffic and particularly inconsiderate drivers. I eventually found the right turn-off into Gordano Vale which provides a pleasant low-traffic route back to Pill in the shadow of the motorway. From here, the traffic-free path along Avon Gorge leads all the way back to Bristol's harbour and below Clifton suspension bridge.

I made it back a few minutes before 5, just in time to return my bike. Then I finished the day with a cider tasting board and pies at the Stable by the harbourside.

More »leben« country and a Bauhaus university

This was my final day and I decided to cycle to Aschersleben and catch a train back to Berlin from there.

I left Halberstadt through some industrial estate, but found a traffic-free route to Wegeleben and Adersleben. Back on the road I reached Aschersleben after passing Hedersleben and Schadeleben.

Aschersleben boasted a very similar water tower to Halberstadt's.

There is also an odd monument of someone walking along a section of the old city wall.

I had breakfast in a nearby bakery and caught the train to Dessau where I had to change for Berlin.

Half of Dessau to one side of the station is an ordinary medium-size town with stark reminders of its Communist past.

The other side to the north-west of the station is an entirely different matter. Looking around I was very impressed by the traffic-free road crossing the university campus.

The road is surrounded by Bauhaus architecture and filled with cyclists and strolling pedestrians – a calm glimpse of what cities could feel like if our society could muster the collective will to ban cars and win back the space which is currently sacrificed to individual traffic.

Halberstadt

I spent the morning looking around Halberstadt and probing various cafés for breakfast. The main pedestrian mall is next to the town hall and cathedral.

Halberstadt's old town is picturesque in places and can have a village-like atmosphere.

Some buildings exhibit the strict lines of Prussian architecture.

The historic centre of Halberstadt is nicely renovated, but turning some corners still exposes the charms of 40 years of Communism during the past century.

Mount Brocken and »rode« country

In the morning, I left my hotel without breakfast on my way to the summit of Mount Brocken. The route out of Halberstadt was again dangerous and unpleasant, leading along the already familiar B81, however this time without any footpath or cycleway.

The radio station at the top of the mountain was visible immediately upon leaving Halberstadt.

After about 5km at Langenstein I was able to turn off the B81 onto a slightly less scary road. There were some pretty towns like Silstedt along this road.

After some cycling I started feeling like breakfast and found a Steinecke bakery inside a shopping mall on the outskirts of Wernigerode.

With new strength, I found a traffic-free cycle route towards Altenrode and Darlingerode.

Back on the road after 3km, I continued until the bottom of Ilse valley which was going to lead me up to Mount Brocken. The little cyclist on my sat-nav had quite a hill ahead of him.

The town of Ilsenburg, situated at an altitude of 250m at the bottom of the climb, was very pretty.

The traffic-free hiking path leading up Ilse valley was paved with compacted gravel and made for very pleasant cycling. It leads up the hillside through beautiful forest, following the course of the Ilse river which frequently appears next to the path.

Occasionally the stream is occluded by boulders and only the gushing sound of water can be heard, as explained by this sign.

From about halfway up I could frequently hear the sound of the Brocken steam railway as it was working hard to pull coaches full of visitors uphill.

Just below the summit I crossed the railway line just in time to catch a glimpse of 997247-2.

After 2h of climbing I reached the top of Mount Brocken at 1141m. The engine was being shunted to the back of the train at the station.

There's really not very much around for miles and miles…

The former radio station at the top has been converted into a museum.

I replenished with some bratwurst and fassbrause, a kind of brewed lemonade not unlike ginger beer, but without ginger. For the way down I decided to stay on the main road.

Somewhere along the way I passed a group of Segway-users going uphill. It was an odd sight and my best explanation is that it might have been some sort of publicity stunt, trying to prove a point about being able to reach the highest peak around by means of battery power or some such…

I passed through some villages in the typical architectural style of the Harz region, recognisable mainly by the ornamental wood-panelling.

The route was quiet and traffic-free up to the town of Schierke where it joined onto a much busier road again. This region could really use a more interconnected network of cyclable roads and paths in my opinion. I was glad when I had the opportunity to turn off onto a slightly quieter road to Elbingerode at Drei Annen Hohne.

Rather than attempting to ride back into Halberstadt on what were more likely than not going to be horrible roads again, I decided to catch a train from Blankenburg and get off at the pretty little Spiegelsberge stop right next to my hotel. When I arrived at Blankenburg, it was immediately obvious that it had none of the touristic charms of its predecessors on my way down the mountain. It was dotted with derelict buildings, I didn't find a nice restaurant or café near the station where I could pass the hour's wait for my train and I felt that the people acted more suspiciously towards me.