Low mountain range my arse: at least the Aschberg high above Klingenthal can easily pass for pre-alpine. A narrow, Alpine-style serpentine road leads jaggedly uphill along it. The mountain drops steeply below the dark-stained wooden chalets that hug the slope. We also imagine that the thermometer reads a few degrees lower than in the valley. In any case, the apple trees are still in bloom up here - down in the town, they switched from spring blossom white to summer green two weeks ago. Other alpine references: the clear air, the sweeping view as far as the Vogtland Arena, which hosted the big ski circus in November with the opening of the Ski Jumping World Cup season.
At the Aschberg youth hostel, the altimeter reads an impressive 936 metres. The ridge trail leads past the forest, which is also suitable for mountain biking and is particularly colourful in autumn - as the landlord of the "Schöne Aussicht" inn assures us. "It's like Canada in Indian summer," he enthuses. Canada, the Alps, skiing, mountain biking - that's all very nice too, but we test the Vogtland for its suitability for road bikes. A challenging, mountainous, never boring region.
These tours and the GPS data can be downloaded below:
- Tour 1: Pack your swimming trunks! (95 kilometres, 1,200 metres in altitude, max. 11 % gradient)
- Tour 2: Up the Auersberg (90 kilometres, 1,300 metres in altitude, max. 15 % gradient)
