Wasserkuppe

Episode 3 of our European Overlandtrip 2020

A flying walhalla for all kinds of airsports

On the way from Altes Lager we passed Ferropolis, “the city of iron”. This is an open air museum of huge old industrial machines in Gräfenhainichen, a city between Wittenberg and Dessau, Germany. We visited on a cloudy day which gave more atmosphere to the place. The machines from the mid-twentieth century can measure up to 30 meters high and 120 meters long, and weigh up to 1,980 tons. They were used for opencast mining and left big holes in the earth, now filled with water.

There is an open air cinema, a museum and concerts, from opera to techno, are held in the arena which can hold upto 25.000 visitors. Really impressive are also the portraits of the man who operated the machines. Worth a visit and if you like to photograph, don’t forget to bring your camera! You can stay the night for free in the parkinglot; we had a nice a quiet night there.

Then we drove on to Wasserkuppe, an old vulcano mountain for all kinds of air sports such as sailplanes, hanggliders, paragliders and model airplanes. If you want to fly here, be sure to register at the hanggliding and paragliding center. You can launch in almost any direction but you need to walk a bit, especially with hanggliders. For the rest of the family there are shops, restaurants, rodelbahn, an adventure park and when it snows you can ski. Nice hiking and bikingpaths as well and lot’s of other flying sites in the area.

We had fun groundhandling with our new paragliders, but unfortunately I (Daphne) misinterpreted the conditions and found myself at my third attempt to take off with a dislocated shoulder. Again! What a setback. Now I have to recover for some weeks before I can go in the air again. It’s an old and nasty habit of my right shoulder and now I’m considering taking care of it for good, probably somewhere this winter. Koos had a nice flight and after he landed we moved on to Bösingen for an aerotowing week. 

For more information on this flying paradise go to https://www.wasserkuppe.com/ or visit the information center where you can also register for the day.

Comments

  1. Marion

    Lieve allebei, alweer een tijdje opweg met vele avonturen denk ik!
    Daphne wat n pech heb je ……..geniet je wel van het zien vliegen? Eindelijk tijd om te lezen? Beterschap gewenst vanuit te warm la france! Liefs van ons Marion.

    1. D. Schelkers

      Hi Marion, dank je wel voor je bericht. Ja hoor. we genieten volop van ons nieuwe leven. Nu weer in Tsjechië. Liefs terug, ook van Koos.

  2. […] not the best, but we take our chances. The first flight Koos goes alone. I haven’t flown since my shoulder accident in Wasserkuppe and I want to check out the launch and landing area before flying again. So I take […]

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