Motorcycle tour Germany Rhön: with GPX data for download

From the Wasserkuppe, the highest mountain in the Rhön at 950 meters, we curve through Abtsroda and Tränkhof down to Poppenhausen, where we got an exclusive appointment with Alexander Schleicher, the world-famous glider manufacturer (see page 94). Then it’s time to start the first lap through the ex-zone fringe area in the border triangle of Hesse, Thuringia and Bavaria, still somewhat remote and sparsely populated. All tour dates and folding maps can be downloaded here.

In wide arcs to Friesenhausen

The Rhön sheep with their characteristic black heads are an integral part of the local population. We meet at least two relatives in Dietershausen, in a friendly company with a goat, cow and calf, not to forget a thirsty farmer – all artfully made of sandstone at the village fountain. Continue smoothly in wide arcs to Friesenhausen, then in a slight “climb” with the motorbikes to Finkenhain and on a narrow road to Wolferts, to the flyover near Icarus, who stretches his wings towards the sky at a courtyard entrance – weighted down by chains, with it the statue stays on the ground.

Fantasy and imagination also at the next stop: the Kleinsassen painter’s village with a sculpture garden and the art station and café. Mmm, homemade cakes and pies! Unfortunately closed. As a consolation, the delicious L 3379 up to Danzwiesen, the venue for the Rhön mountain race between 1963 and 1983, and now a welcome opportunity to switch to dynamic mode.

To the pit stop in the nearby Milseburgstube. But oh, rest days. Well, the area is so beautiful, but the gastronomic business is so difficult. But then: From the striking Milseburg, by the way not an old wall, but a weathered phonolite body, loose and fluffy via Steens to Dipperz to Linda: cream cherry, dark chocolate, green apple etc. pp., in a cup or a cone – ice cream-loving heart, what Do you want more! And if you can’t decide between the large selection, you can order ten scoops at once at a bargain price.

From the Hessian to the Thuringian Rhön

From Linda’s ice cream parlor kugeln, sorry, we turn via Hofbieber to Morles and Hünfeld, the adopted home of Konrad Zuse, who built the world’s first functional computer in 1941 with the Z3, a fully automatic, program-controlled and freely programmable computer that works in binary floating point calculation. Mano man. Whatever else the human brain is capable of, Point Alpha is 15 kilometers away. “Nobody has the intention of building a wall.” These and other quotes from former GDR celebrities “adorn” the memorial on the German Unity Square in Geisa, reminding us of the Cold War and the confrontation between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. A lap of honor with the F 800 GS around the barrier with a red and white prohibition sign that reads “стой”, Russian for “stop” (please don’t follow suit and flatten the sheep’s food, at best roll a few meters on the paved path along the former border ), and then from the Hessian to the Thuringian Rhön.

“You have to go over seven bridges” – Karat will certainly play their legendary hit, especially at the next concert in Vacha. The town’s flagship is the medieval stone arch bridge over the Werra, once the border with Philippsthal in western Germany, today the freshly paved “Bridge of Unity”. Whether there were tunnels crossing the border due to local potash mining? While the Merkers adventure mine should clarify these and other questions, the Schlemmerecke experience not far from the winding tower is enough for us. “’A sausage always works’,” says Manfred; Plus Thuringian Brause, green with woodruff flavor, red with raspberry flavor. Joining us at the wooden snack hut is René, who, in addition to an MZ team, also owns a Hayabusa and has gathered icons from the eastern and western biker cosmos in his garage.

Rollercoaster of bends and serpentines

At the end of the Second World War, a valuable asset of a completely different caliber was stored in the shafts of the Werra-Fulda potash district: the Merkers Reichsbank gold treasure deposited by the Nazis. After what was once the “richest place in Germany”, now just a good portion of country road fun, on the generous rollercoaster with bends and serpentines via Stadtlengsfeld and Oechsen to Dermbach. We skip the Thuringian Rhön Museum there, sorry, head off to Tann. Before the fall of communism in 1989, the climatic health resort with the mighty city gate was located in an exposed corner of Hesse, which was surrounded by enemy territory like a certain Gallic village. Today, what belongs together comes together on the terrace of the ice cream parlor Lucia. By now it was getting late, so the detour to the Dietgeshof biker meeting point was canceled. Since the sky is threatening to rain as we swerve over Neuswarts and Apfelbach, we prefer to arrive back at our “Peterchens Mondfahrt” quarters on the Wasserkuppe for a precise landing.

Trip to the German Gliding Museum

One night, as quiet as space, is followed by thick fog. The only thing left in the fog is probably instrument flight. Alternatively, you can go to the German Gliding Museum with a model flight. How is it there? Mega! From the reconstruction of a biplane made of bamboo poles, with which the Darmstadt high school student Hans Gutermuth (nomen est omen) managed to glide 840 meters on the Wasserkuppe in 110 seconds in 1912, to – it’s best to check out all the others for yourself and marvel at the Blue Mouse, Grunau Baby II, LO Little Heron, Olympia Meise, RRG Duck and Glass Wing BS 1, as they stand on green carpeting or hang high up under the wooden hall ceilings.

And they somehow ground us when we think of a good 100 years of technical development, from the pioneer days when your life depended on holding a screw because otherwise you would have fallen out of the sky, to today, when we get annoyed when Trip 1 dies If you die, it’s almost impossible to reset. A problem that, viewed this way, seems insignificant and small. When it is finally clear, we start the two-cylinder with the blue and white propeller on the tank and, after the lap through the northern part, pilot it through the southern part of the Rhön.

Hidden mountain race route to Kreuzberg Monastery

To warm up, a few easy turns along the green slopes near Maiersbach-Wachtküppel, Rodenbach and Mosbach before heading onto a hidden mountain race route up to Kreuzberg Monastery. Where all hell breaks loose just before heaven. Below the sacred walls there is a large paid parking lot, above there is a risk of parking tickets at the beer garden – unless you are a potential overnight guest in the monastery. So quickly downhill again and in the old town of Bischofsheim with two inviting locations next to each other. Spoiled for choice: on the left the Adriana ice cream parlor, on the right the traditional Café Voll, where master baker Fritz has his own ice cream recipes up his sleeve.

Chocolate factory with factory outlet

You probably won’t be able to resist the sweet temptation anymore in Sandberg: the chocolate factory with factory outlet seems to be permanently closed. Here in the Bavarian Rhön, the typical crags and knolls, the small and larger mountains, have suddenly “melted away” like ice cream sundaes in the sun. Instead of more deep forest, for example from gradient to Oberbach. “Caution, wolf territory,” a sign asks people to keep dogs on a leash and supervise children. Also follow the next two signs: In Bad Brückenau they point the way to the great German Bicycle Museum with an attached Art Nouveau café, in Bad Bocklet they temporarily bar motorcycles from passing through. At least there is no ban on flying over Aschach Castle on the Franconian Saale, a motif for the calendar page. The empty country roads were made for motorcycles.

Between Steinach and Schmalwasser, the gray band, sometimes scarred, sometimes ironed smooth, meanders through the valley lined with sparse forest, where twins and woodpeckers compete. Windshausen and Wegfurt, Oberelsbach and Rother Kuppe are the next stops in the flow; but in between there is also the opportunity to cool down in Café Valentina and the Burgwallbacher bathing lake near Schönau an der Brand. It’s particularly hot every year at the spectacular Hauenstein mountain race, on the route from Hausen up to the Black Moor. Instead of smoking rubber, now just thick fog.

But instead of gray soup several meters below in the pretty half-timbered town of Fladenen, there is a nostalgically colorful shop window – with a red and white soapbox and Peggy March, advertising for the Fladen Classics, which increases every two years; next date is March 5th – 6th July 2025, the whole place will look like it did in the 60s and 70s, as if time had flown backwards. On the Hochrhönstrasse again, past the Holzberg hunting lodge, where there is unfortunately no table available in the local restaurant, to Bischofsheim and via Gersfeld back to the Wasserkuppe. Somewhere along the way, a red kite circles high above us, reminding us of the role model function of our feathered colleagues many, many years ago. Because as the saying goes when it comes to gliding: In the beginning there was the bird.

Information about the Rhön motorcycle tour

Tour duration:

• Day 1: approx. 4.5 hours (travel time only), plus breaks (Wasserkuppe flight operations, cafes and former zone border)
• Day 2: approx. 4.5 hours (travel time alone), significantly longer thanks to visits to the German Gliding Museum, the Bicycle Museum and a stop at Kreuzberg Monastery

Distance traveled:

• Day 1: 220km
• Day 2: 240 km

Road book day 1

1. From the Wasserkuppe, the central location of this tour, sweeping northwards down to Abtsroda and then via Poppenhausen and Weyhers to Dietershausen.
2. Turn right at the village fountain and follow a pretty rural route via Friesenhausen and Wolferts to Kleinsassen. Past the Milseburg and via Elters and Langenbieber to Dipperz.
3. After a rather small-scale start, things are now continuing in larger steps. Via Hünfeld to the former border, to the Point Alpha memorial in Geisa and the “Bridge of Unity” in Vacha.
4. The Merkers adventure mine shows the world underground, then you go over the tops of the Thuringian Rhön in brisk turns via Stadtlengsfeld and Dermbach to Tann; via Gotthards and Hilders then back to Wasserkuppe.

Roadbook day 2

1. From the Wasserkuppe back to Poppenhausen, then on small streets via Maiersbach-Wachtküppel, Gersfeld and Mosbach to Bischofsheim, from where a top route climbs up to the popular excursion destination Kloster Kreuzberg.
2. Back to Bischofsheim and in the old town follow the turnoff to Sandberg. Continue to the slope, then turn right and through dense forest to Oberbach. Turn left via Riedenberg to Bad Brückenau to the interesting pit stop at the bicycle museum.
3. The next prominent stop is Bad Bocklet and the photogenic Aschach Castle. Then full concentration on exciting curves, such as those between Steinach and Schmalwasser and those of the Hauenstein mountain race from Hausen to the Black Moor.
4. Down to the fine half-timbered town of Fladungen, then another pure landscape on the Hochrhönstrasse through the “land of open distances” and finally from Bischofsheim via Gersfeld back to the precise landing on the Wasserkuppe.