2024 Sweet & Sauerland
Sometime during our 2024 cycle trip from Lisbon back home, we were requested by Natural Born Explorers if they could follow us a few days on one of our next cycle trips for one of their productions.
We said yes and decided on the Sweet and Sauerland bikepacking tour from the bikepacking.com website.
An amazing experience.
The track on the bikepacking.com website starts in Meinerzhagen and is a clockwise loop of 228km with a rating "Moderate" over 3 days. The production company NBX had selected a part of the track for their shoot starting in Winterberg, following the track anti-clockwise during 2 days of around 30km a day.
As a result, we cycled the entire track anti-clockwise and adjusted the starting and end point likewise.
On the above photo, the red line is the original track which you can download from the bikepacking.com website
Video on DILISTUFF YouTube channel
Day 1 - Herscheid to Kirchhundem
The first and last night of this trip, we stayed at Jagdhaus Weber in Herscheid where we could leave our car on their private parking during our entire trip.
In the restaurant, it's immediately clear why the name of the hotel is Jagdhaus or Hunting Lodge.
In the morning, a quick check on the tire pressure and we're on the way.
We're joining the track about 3 km uphill from the hotel. That's good news as it means that we will end with 3 km downhill.
We start immediately on gravel and are cycling towards Meinerzhagen to buy some food for the day. Looking at the gps track, it just seems that the track is mostly avoiding populated areas and as it is also a sunday, we better make sure we have something to eat or snack if we do not find a place for lunch.
Around lunchtime, we're passing a kiosk with the typical German fast food items, bratwurst, currywurst, kartoffelsalad mit speck. For Linda, the only vegetarian option on the menu is fries. We better get used to this.
With all this free roaming in Europe within your standard internet package, keeping contact with family and friends is so easy. Such a difference with only some years ago when this would cost so much money.
Roselien, Linda's daughter is on the way back home after a 4 month bicycle trip via the European divide to Portugal and return via Corsica, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.
Around 5PM, we start looking for a hotel or guesthouse and we deviate a little from the route to pass by some villages. Unfortunately, nothing seems to be open and around 6.30pm, we see an events hall with an outdoor area with some people eating takeaway pizza's. We're asking if we can camp here for the night and after some hesitation, we're getting a yes. They just want a picture of our ID cards.
Our first night of semi-wild camping since we cycled around Belgium during Covid.
On the menu: Minute soup, some rolls with cheese which we bought this morning and a coffee.
Day 2 - Kirchhundem to Hallenberg
Before we left on this trip, we decided to change our front fork cages with the new FixPlus cages as they are slimmer and look nicer on the bikes when empty.
Yesterday, they performed well and the drybags did not get loose.
Today, we expect a more bumpy road and we are curious if they will survive the test with our 8L drybags.
FIrst a little detour to the village where we expect to find a bakery. Most bakeries serve coffee and have facilities to eat in.
The track was plotted in 2018 and some of the forrest paths have disappeared due to bad weather or deforestation.
It's easy to find alternative routes via the app on the phone and it certainly helps when you also see the altitude lines.
On the map, the blue lines are the deviations we did from the original track, only some of them because of a blocked tracks. Unfortunately, our day 5 track was erroneously deleted.
Bikepacking.com categorises this track as a99% rideable.
We suppose this was more or less correct at the time the track was made.
Now, we would say it's more 95%, if you have decent adventure bikes with proper tires.
We were lucky that it had been dry for the last couple of weeks and did not have any muddy parts.
Arriving at the Ziegenhelleturm, an altitude of 815 meters and also the highest point of today.
From here, it's all downhill to Hallenberg where we will for sure find some hotels.
The last hour before sunset provides the perfect light to capture photos, the sunlight is becoming softer and warmer. It's also getting cooler and we still have another 10 km to cycle, so we better go.
Arriving in Hallenberg, we tried our luck by ringing the doorbell at Hof Hallenberg and yes, they have a room available. For dinner, we went to Pizzeria Lo Stivalle , unfortunatelly closed for dine-in but making us the best pizza ever. We could eat at the little table in front of the restaurant. Oh yes, they're Italian.
Day 3 - Hallenberg to Altastenberg
We have an appointment tomorrow morning with the crew of NBX in Altastenberg.
That's just 30 km, including the detour via Winterberg for buying the groceries for dinner and breakfast during the shoot.
A few km after leaving Hallenberg, you can already see the 8 meter high Sauerland Stabil Panoramachair. The enormous chair is made in cooperation with Kusch+Co, a local furniture company, as per the model of the first chair they made in 1947.
Today, we're climbing slowly from 400 meter to 800 meter altitude. A piece of cake.
We're enjoying a picnic in the sun with a nice view over Hesborn. Just need to leave some space for an "apfelstrudle mit eis" in Winterberg.
Day 4 & 5 - Altastenberg to Herscheid
The next morning, after the traditional morning photo, we head to the meeting point where the team of NBX is already waiting for us.
Oscar, the videographer, and Lukas, the photographer, will follow us with electric bikes. We should just do whatever we normally do.
Sarah, the producer, has our track and will meet us today a couple of times along the way whenever our track crosses a road where she can get to with the truck.
And what a luxury, lunch will be provided.
Since we started cycling, nearly all of our trips were just the 2 of us. That means we're in charge of everything, also where and when we take a photo or shoot a video. Does it look OK, is Linda's posture OK, is Dirk's belly not too prominent, etc...
This time, it's a different ball game.
We're still in charge of the journey but none of the camera work. Lukas and Oscar are continuously shooting content and we have absolutely no idea what the result is going to be.
It feels sometimes that we are in a Hollywood production.
We did not know the Sauerland before and the region has really stolen our heart.
The rolling hills, dense forests and scenic landscapes are just magnificent.
We did this trip in the opposite direction and except for one group of cyclists, we were the only ones on this track.
NBX had booked a camping spot for them and us at Haus am Einberg, a very small camping with beautiful views over the valley and the Sauerland hills.
After the morning photo, this time with Sarah, Lukas and Oscar of the NBX team, we continued our trip for the remaining 50 km, direction our startpoint where we parked our car 5 days ago.
Oscar and Lukas followed us again for the first 20 km and then we were again on our own.
We will only see the final result in 2025 as our contribution is just a tiny part of a production which includes other outdoor activities
We are curious.
Bikepacking.com indicates that this 229km trip can be done in 3 days. Our recommendation would be to do it in 4.
Day 6 - Herscheid
The next morning, the weather has completely changed. During our cycletrip, we had sunny days from morning till the evening. Today, there's a light drizzle and a lot of fog. How lucky have we been.
Still, this area is far to nice and we decide to do a short hike in the neighbourhood before we head back home.
We picked a short hike in the Naturschutzgebiet Wolfsbruch, just a few km from our hotel and we parked our car at the Parkplatz Nordhelle.
A big thank you for Natural Born Explorers, who made us feel 2 days like moviestars.
