Our trip to the Harz Mountains began with a flight from Birmingham to Dusseldorf on Thursday evening with Flybe that was followed by a quick trip by train into the Hauptbahnhof. Our bed for the night, at an IbIs Hotel, was located right on the railway station so this meant we were in our room around 45 minutes after touching down in Germany. Given the reasonable arrival time into Dusseldorf there was a chance for a quick nightcap or two with friends who had arrived into Germany ahead of us.

On Friday morning our trip by train across Germany with Chris, Gail, Simon, Linda, John and Rita started with a journey on ICE547, the 08.52 departure to Hannover. At Hannover we had a 20 minute connection for the 11.48 train to Goslar where another change of train was required to get us to Wernigerode arriving at 13.41. This final part of the journey saw us cross the old west/east German border that is still highlighted by symbolic markers that were visible from the train.

We were staying at the Altora Hotel that faced the steam locomotive depot of the Harz Railway in Wernigerode and was less than a ten minute walk from the railway station. The hotel was typically Germanic and provided a great base for visiting the fabulous railway system as well as the stunning picture perfect town of Wernigerode.

Our first afternoon in Wernigerode was spent wandering the streets of the wooden facaded town, enjoying coffee and cake before having an evening meal at the Lowenbrau restaurant. This was a somewhat strange place with slightly bizarre service, but very tasty food. I think we all left the place a little bit confused . . . so much so we decided a cocktail was required before retiring for the night.

The breakfast at the Altora Hotel afforded a decent range of food as well as the ability to watch the team at the Harz Railway getting ready for the day ahead. We left the hotel to catch the 08.55 departure to The Brocken, a climb of around 800m to reach the summit at 1,142m above sea level.

The railway is fantastic and the trip to the top of The Brocken is probably the most popular trip on offer, but the rest of the network is well worth spending time visiting. If you get the chance to visit the Harz Mountains area you really should do so.

The weather at the top of The Brocken was a little bit cold, misty and there was a decent covering of snow on the ground. We were however lucky and just before we headed back down the mountain the weather cleared and we got some great views across Germany.

Once back in the town we headed for a light lunch (Germanic style) before walking it off by visiting the castle that overlooks Wernigerode. It was a steep walk up the hill, but we'll worth it. We had been to the castle on a previous trip to Wernigerode but could not really remember it until we got inside and had a look around. It's strange how these things come flooding back to you!

Our final evening in Wernigerode saw us visit a Schnitzel House to enjoy some, err, schnitzel strangely enough. The service at the Alte Brennerei was a step change compared to the previous evening and the food was very good, as was the beer!

On the Sunday morning we departed Wernigerode on the 09.42 train to Magdeburg, where we then caught the 11.08 departure to Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Hbf) arriving shortly before 13.00. The rest of the group were staying in Berlin at the InterCity Hotel close to the Hbf for a few days before heading back to the UK, but sadly Heather and I had to travel back on the Sunday evening to Birmingham as work beckoned the following day.

The arrival of Storm Dennis in the UK thankfully did not seem to have affected our flight home so there was time for a walk through the streets of Berlin taking in some of the major sights including The Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Dom (Cathedral) and Alexanderplatz and of course the chance to enjoy some coffee and cake before travelling back to the Hbf.

It was then just a matter of catching the TXL bus to Tegel Airport and await our flight back to Birmingham International Airport. Even though the weather had not affected the flight a technical fault of the aircraft resulted in a 90 minute delay on the inbound flight and given Terminal 5 at Tegel is a bit like a shed it seemed a long, long wait until flight BE1858 started its journey back to the UK.