The huge network of hiking trails in the Harz has shrunk after years of work - but that's not a disadvantage for the tourists, those responsible say. You are convinced otherwise.
Goslar (dpa) - The optimization of the network of hiking trails in the Lower Harz in Lower Saxony has been completed three years after the start of work.
According to the Goslar district, hikers and tourists now have signposted routes with a total length of around 3,000 kilometers. At the same time, numerous, less attractive and hardly traveled routes were closed. "The route network was shortened, but as a result it has improved significantly in quality," said Rainer Schlicht from the Goslar district, who coordinated the project work.
The main work of the EU-funded optimization program was done by the Harz Club, said Schlicht. The hiking, homeland and nature conservation association, which has been taking care of the care and signposting of the hiking routes in the Harz region for decades, had examined the existing routes intensively.
According to a spokeswoman, hundreds of members of the branch associations had taken a close look at them from the point of view of frequenting, quality, closeness to nature, sights, places to rest and competitive use by riders or mountain bikers. As a result, hardly used paths with unattractive routes have been removed from the network. Around 2,300 new information boards have been installed on the remaining paths.
"The hiking trail network is one of the most important offers for us," said Carola Schmidt, Managing Director of the Harz Tourist Association (HTV). "We are therefore very pleased that the optimization is now complete." Schmidt said that it was no longer a problem, on the contrary: "In many cases there were parallel routes that were used so rarely that they were always overgrown." Now the most attractive ways have been chosen, on which one can run best and see most.
The routes that have now been drawn up should also serve as the basis for the creation of new Harz hiking maps, said project coordinator Schlicht. The data had already been transmitted to the official Lower Saxony surveying system. Publishers could now access it and update their cards.
In the other two neighboring countries of Saxony-Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, efforts were also made to improve the hiking routes, said HTV Managing Director Schmidt. She hopes that an optimized network of trails will soon be available for the entire low mountain range.
Harz Club