The main vacation in summer with Max, Möni and Andreas. This time we go to the Vogtland mountains. We want to have some tranquility, some sightseeing and some swimming. And we want to have some nice roads as well. There was more sightseeing than expected and everything else was there as well. A very nice and pleasant vacation.
1
Holiday appartment
We have a nice appartment close to Reichenbach between Plauen and Zwickau. Big rooms, nice and well equipped kitchen and a pool.
The little one in the pool
2
Sightseeing
Hard to believe how many different sights there are. In particular impressive how close you come to German technology history.
The highlight is Göltzschtalbrücke at Reichenbach. It is the world's largest bridge made of bricks, is a technical monument and still in operation. It is part of the high speed railway track Berlin-Nuremberg. There are more than 300 trains per day on it.
Construction time 1846-1851
largest span of an arch 30.9 Meter
Number of bricks used 26,021,000
Wood for scaffolding and other purposes 23,000 trunks
Cost about 2,200,000 Taler (about 6,600,000 Goldmark)
A gas ballon offers a sightseeing ride to 150 m elevation but the price is quite high
A local explained the way to the panoramic view
The cow tower next to Reichenbach allows for nice views and there is a model railway show
In a distance the Göltzschtalbrücke
The first German in space comes from Vogtland mountains from a village with a name no fairy tale writer could have thought of better: Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz. The village has a memorial...
... and a tiny space exhibition which does not match the historic event
DM-ZZB was the fist Ilyuschin IL 14 built in Eastern Germany and took off for the fist time on 11 October 1955. It sits now on the area of a car dealer close to Reichenbach. The paint is not the origianl one.
Elstertalbrücke - we found it by chance. It reflects war and German separation.
Two bridges on 12 arches. Total length 505 m, width 29.5 m, highest elevation over river Elster 60m. Start of construction 1938. No progress from 1940 to 1990. Completion in cooperation between Bavaria and Saxonia until 6 September 1993
Frohnauer Hammer is a fully functional hammer mill from the 15th century - visited by Max and Möni
Mine Besucherbergwerk Tannenbergsthal
Another touch of history. A tin mine. Not big, no big yield but the area around Aue was very important for the Russians after World War II as it was mining area for Uranium. To access the tin mine a 1 mile tunnel needed to be digged in order to avoid blocks from the Russians
Next to the mine there is a deer park
3
Rides
We had some nice rides. There are a lot of twisty empty roads around Reichenbach. And Fichtelgebirge mountains and Erzgebirge mountains offer riding fun too.
Ride with Möni - break on pass Hefekloß
Lonely roads in the Czech republic - explored with Andreas
View from the edge of Erzgebirge mountains southbound (towards Czech republic) close to Zinnwald
Quite confusing traffic sign in the Czech Repblic. Notice the sign in the background
View to the castle in Wokenstein
4
High ropes course Pöhl
High ropes course Pöhl became unexpectedly the highlight of the holidays.
Four parcours with different levels of difficulty and elevation were available. In the end quite exhausting.
We had a lot of fun. Max did his two loops twice and Andreas and I made all four parcours.
Still close to the ground
Sceptical glances from below
The first Tarzan jump with the rope into the web
with the rope from tree to tree
It gets harder. Elevation and difficulty increase
Another Tarzan jump but much more distance
With a rope from tree to tree
Also hanging and into the web
On a surf board from tree to tree
I don't make the jump at arrival and can save myself seating on the board
... I cheat myself with the help of the rope pulley
In the end a picture of Talsperre Pöhl reservoir
