While I was just writing about my tent-friendly colleague, I got an invitation to his surrogate stag party. Since he’s a little more outdoor-sy like me and less of the party-going type, we did a little less drinking and a little more hiking up one of the highest mountains of Northern Germany, the Brocken in the Harz mountains(although it only is 1141 metres above sea level).

I have fond memories of the area, because it was customary for schools in my home town to do one or two week-long excursions to the area, but today’s sight is a little different. Less of the lush greenery of my youth and more of the effects of decades of monoculture and beetle infestations, but at least the old steam train is as idyllic as it was back then.