Here and there, I've posted some thought and files on my favorite places to go for a Mini drive in Germany.

At the top of my list is the Odenwald II run I did on 19 March. Here's a KMZ / Google Earth file, if you're interested. Here's a utility to convert it for use with Tom Tom systems.

The drive went from Heidelberg out to Miltenberg where, the day prior, the Mini2.info guys had started the 5th annual Odenwald run (also very good).

Over this past weekend, I put together a plan for a Black Forest run, for 14 July (NAM discussion - KMZ file). While I have not driven it (yet), I plan to do so in the coming weeks.

After looking at the southern Black Forest in Google Earth, I've gotta admit -- I'm anxious to go down there for some driving days. The roads look very twistie!

This afternoon, I made the drive out to the village of Frankenstein, to link up with 07PepperS and make what I've been calling the Poppa Bear Point Run. It's out west of Mannheim, up in the hills east of Landstuhl. The weather was awesome, the cyclists and motorcyclists and old Mercedes convertibles were all out, and the drive was great.

Here's the KMZ / Google Earth file of the actual run.



To be honest, it would have been better if we'd started at Checkpoint (CP) 6. It's a nice drive from CP 6 to CP 9, but our plans to zip on up to CP 10, on what looked to be the best road of the forest, were foiled when we ran into the "bicycles only" road block. It worked out OK -- we just went up to CP 2 and on over from there.

The drive back down the mountain made a turn for the better when I missed the turn at CP 13 and winged it from there. What I got was a nice long drive down to what I am now calling CP 13B -- all of it on what should have been a single lane road through the woods, but what in fact was open for 2 way traffic -- the same as from CP 9 to CP 2, and some other smaller stretches of road.



If anyone is interested, I'm probably going to do this one again on 21 April, in conjunction with the Mini Challenge (NAM discussion) at the Hockenheimring.

So, where are your favorite drives in Germany?

 

Rocking.. the Blackforest area is TWISTY !! We did it last year in my friends... ah, car thingy!! LOL. would have be better in the MINI !! We stayed offf the Autobahn.. took secondary roads, went all thru the Blackforest.. Bavaira.. made the castles.. the small villiages.. Cucko clocks.. the huge water fall... made the usual tourist stops.. and the only thing missing was our MINI... wish we were there now... having a few MINI's on back roads is always fun.. yes??
Have fun...

Just me...............................

Thumper

 

I can't imagine doing all this in anything else!

 

Agreed... maybe the next time we are over.. YOU can take us!! LOL We used my wifes sisters car... the rental places were all small cars.... but no MINI!! LOL we did a three day road tip to Italy, and on the way back we ran the autobahn... 3 days to 8 hrs!! LOL but agreed.. that is is Number ONE on places to go and see!!
Have fun over there... IF you get back to the ConUS , there is always the Dragon!! I think that is the Best we have to offer here.. along with just being in AMERICA..

Just me...............................

Thumper
(PS all our runs were out of Reine Main..)

 

abuzavi, that .kmz has only one point on it... I was >really< looking forward to "seeing" the run... BTW, what was the total run time? Remember, I've gotta add 2-3 hours just to get there!!

Did ya'll send an Odenwald report to MC2?

Cheers!

 

PB, which one? The actual run? It has the start / stop points, but other than that, it's just the run -- no other points along the way. Open it in GE along with the proposed route, and you'll see all of the CP's.

And I'm tryin gout TTSM for this run as well. It shopws maps / imagery, plus I can overlay the photos we took. The actual run is here.

Tot. km: 290.82 Km
Tot. time: 4:28:16

 

Poppa Bear,

I went back in and added some more notes and new waypoints / check points in Google Earth -- here's a more detailed kmz file of the actual run. Should address your waypoints issue.

Also, over at TTSM, I finished uploading the Poppa Bear Point Run data, and adding the photos to it. Neat, neat technology on that (Dutch!) website -- they match the time stamp from the photo with the times along the drive, and plot the photos based upon the times. Pretty neat. I added seven or eight photos, just for kicks. It's a neat way to present a run, and very simple since the site accepts .tcx / Garmin file formats (and others) and raw photos that the site resizes as necessary.

 

abuzavi, you're KILLIN me!!!

Talk about crisis of conscience... To drive around a German Wald with a bunch of other miniacs or work in the garden with mi esposa, ensuring marital bliss...

Now I've got route envy!! With the weather getting better this is only gonna get worse, too!! 3 frickin hour drive to go play with the other kids...

Cheers!

 

So, I take it, then, that the new file has the stuff needed for your TomTom. Good to know.

And this is a discussion? Whether to drive three hours to then have a great drive?

I could see debating whether to do it after work tomorrow. But on a planned date, in the future, that's also on a weekend? Oh, come on! Garden during the week, drive it like it's stolen on the weekend.

Mini psychosis knows no bounds.

 

They have support groups for people like you...

 

This, from one of my enablers.....

Kind of the anti-sponsor, right? What's the opposite of 12 steps? 6 gears, maybe?

 

Here's the KMZ for Humpback, a drive I do every couple of weeks.

It starts out in the middle of nowhere, but after a nice twisty ride up and through the hills, you drop out in downdown Heidelberg.

There's a variant to this -- turn right at CP 2 -- that will drop you off right at the backside of the castle in Heidelberg. I included a checkpoint for *a* parkhaus in the area, near the base of the path up to the castle. Yes, there are many others. If you're coming to the area to make this drive, bring walking shoes, park the car, and walk up to the castle and have an ice cream or something.

And Poppa Bear, I included CP's as well as actual paths this time. I have no idea how paths look in your Tom Tom --there are three paths / segments in the file (Start to CP1, CP1 to CP 2, CP2 to end), so if they don't work, well, there are still the plain old check points. Let me know, will ya?

I love this run for a couple of reasons. The lanes of the road are not insanely small, as they were, say, last weekend. Yet there are some stretches that really are only one car wide, even if it is to way traffic.

When the weather is nice, you'll get a lot of sun on this route -- idea for a sunroof-open-windows-down kind of day.

Not too many cyclists to deal with. More parked cars and folks off wandering in the woods than anything else.

And, on a nice day, I can grab the kids and stop off for lunch downtown. Or maybe pack a picnic and eat along the way.

Oh, and yeah, it's pretty local for me. Like any good junkie, this is the quick fix I keep around, you know, just in case.

But I could quit any time. Really. I could....

 

Who me?

1/2 12 steps is 6 gears, but you won't use them all....

 

The kids and I went and drove the Humpback run last night.

Why, you ask? To stash water for my run this morning of the Humpback.

Yep, I ran the Humpback this morning. And by "ran", I mean I ran it, on foot. Left around 0500, in total darkness, and made by way over to where it starts (and where I'd stashed one liter). Getting there meant getting up and over an 800 foot ridge (330 feet to 1100 or so feel elevation).



And then it was up the Humpback. To the peak, it's just over 6 miles of nothing but up. It goes from about 300 feet elevation, to 1875 feet elevation. Yes, I had stashed more water at the top, too.



And here's the KMZ for it, and if Google Earth scares you, you can also see it in your browser here.

Having gotten a bit more intimate with it today (I don't plan to do this with other great routes in Germany), I gotta say -- it's a nice drive, for as close as it is to where I live, but it'll get better when they repave the first part. The latter part was repaved not too long ago -- smooth and great driving -- but the first part is rougher than I'd like.

So there you have it -- the (literal) ground truth on the Humpback.

 

Gotta do the Totenkophstrasse just North of St Martin/Maikhammer (on the Deustche weinstrasse); just W. of Mannheim.

I'll try to find it on Google... I love to hit it when I need a break; usually wind up having a phenomenal lunch and pick up a case of wine at my favorite weinstube there in Maikhammer.