Harz weekend

So this weekend I opted to visit the local 'mountain'.. Brocken.. home of the Brocken Spectre and at 1142m high is one of the highest mountains in Germany outside Bavaria..

The Harz national park used to divide East and west germany so the old border is marked.

Anyway this morning was a 16.5 mile run up to Brocken summit, nice runnable trails, but due to snow coverage going was slow...

This afternoon/evening was another 7.5 miles of langlauf... XC skiing, superb trails, finished in the dark with my head torch.

Grim day, cloud to the valley, drizzle but close to zero temps so black ice everywhere... The pic below of the tower block in the mist is the summit hotel on Brocken.. from old military installations to hotels to a train station.. think Wyddfa x 10...

Main find was my hotel, pension Parblick, 18 euros a night, for an ensuite B&B.. basic but cosy and very homely..