It isn’t that often that you come across a location so welcoming to bikers that they publish a brochure containing a week’s worth of tours, complete with maps and turn-by-turn instructions.
Welcome to the Sauerland in Germany and the collective of Biker-friendly hotels BikerHotels-Sauerland.de
The name Sauerland dates back to the Middle Ages and roughly translates to “Southern Land.” By today’s geography, that puts it in the southeastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, east of Cologne and north of Frankfurt.
But the best bit is that carving their way through the forests, leading you to spectacular views, are some utterly stunning biking roads.
Which is why the collective BikerHotels-Sauerland decided a couple of years ago to lean into providing bikers with welcoming places to stay, dedicated motorcycle parking and a guide to the best roads and the all-important cafés along the way.
Why visit Sauerland?
Scotland is superb. Wales is wonderful. Spain requires a minimum of two days on a ferry each way. I’ve never really found the French roads that compelling, and the Netherlands is beautiful, but without any elevation changes, the roads tend toward efficiency rather than being compelling to ride.
But if I combine …
- Great Tarmac
- Twisting Roads
- Get There In A Day
- Very Little Traffic
- Lowest Speeding Fines (allegedly)
- Delicious Beer
- An Obsession with BBQs
- Caloriffic Cakes & Good Coffee
… then I always end up heading towards the Black Forest, Harz Mountains or Sauerland.
Getting There
For those of us coming from the UK, the first decision is how to cross the Channel, a choice that typically is based entirely on where you live. For me, it was an evening ride to Hull after work and then spending the night sleeping my way to Rotterdam. For others, the Chunnel or the Harwich ferry may be the answer.
The route below starts in the Netherlands and is a mix of efficient motorways – very much the only way to get out of Rotterdam – then switching to the “N” roads to break up the monotony of watching the kilometres count down.
Leaving the high-efficiency autobahn network does come at the cost of having to navigate a few towns. The roads in between the towns are compelling, but drudging through the traffic, if you arrive at the wrong time of day, can be a chore.
However you decide to do it, once past the industrial sprawl comprising Dortmund, Düsseldorf and Cologne, you have arrived in the Sauerland, and the curving roads make it all worth it.
Speed Limit Changes
The Germans appear to have a thing about changing speed limits. One minute, the curves and the countryside are banishing any thoughts of towns and traffic from my mind as I focus on the next series of apexes, and then a 70 KPH sign randomly appears.
The signs indicate an upcoming junction, and once through it, the speed limit goes back to whatever it was – typically 100KPH. They aren’t at every junction, but they seem popular when the road you’re on is fast-flowing.
Another local custom is to knock the speed down to 50KPH – 30 KPH in some places – when passing a town’s name sign. You won’t always see a speed limit sign, as the town sign doubles up. When you see the same town sign with red lines through it, it is once again … game on.
Pleasingly, there are few speed cameras in the region that I spotted anyway. They are tall, round tubes – totem poles – painted either black or blue.
The totem pole in the photo is a toll camera for trucks. The green band at the bottom is how you can identify them. It is a speed camera if that band is black. Alternatively, if the pole had been grey with a black band, then it would definitely be a speed camera.
Where to Stay
There are four hotels in the Biker Hotels Sauerland collective, and they are popular. When the Editor sent me, it was with only a few days’ notice, and even in September, three of them were fully booked.
When importing GPX files, your GPS or Phone navigation app will recalulate the route based on your navigation preferences. We add waypoints to hopefully minimise any differences, but it is always worth double-checking.
If you have a route that you would like to share, get in touch and with the Editor, and we will do our best to include it. Download, ride and enjoy. What could possibly go wrong? All the motorcycle touring routes are GPX 1.1 version files.
All of the motorcycle touring routes are provided “as is” without guarantee, liability or any assurances. The lawyers said we had to include that sentence. All we can tell you is that we had an excellent time planning and riding them.
The Routes
The routes between Rotterdam and Medebach work well for any of the hotels. I stayed at the Zum Burghof, which is about 6 km from Medebach.
If you choose this hotel, then bring your appetite. The schnitzel covered most of the dinner plate, and then there was the bacon, the egg, the green crunchy stuff and chips (fries) on the side … but I digress.
All of the loop routes use the petrol stations in Medebach as the start and endpoint.
If your GPS offers you the option of “Nearest Entry Point” as a start location for the route, don’t take this option. On my Garmin XT, all this does is lead me to the finish waypoint, which is a few meters from where the route starts.
The return route to Rotterdam is the reverse of the outbound route. Download, ride and enjoy.
Rotterdam to Sauerland
Sauerland Curves 1
Sauerland Curves 2
Sauerland Curves 3
Sauerland to Rotterdam
Dunlop Mutant
