Cologne · 50.94°N, 6.96°E · DE Rides · Expedition
Dresden, Eventually
Five stages from Cologne to Dresden and back, through the middle of the country you normally only know from the motorway.
- Total distance
- 1,368 km
- Elevation gain
- 10,600 m
- Stages
- 5
- Mode
- Solo
Honda NC750X DCT · Touring spec · Solo
To be frank, this was my first ever multi-day tour. It was a few years ago, so the details come from memory, which is a generous word for it.
The idea was simple: ride from Cologne to Dresden, spend the summer there, and explore the region on weekends. Cologne to Dresden is a distance you can dispatch in six hours of motorway. Which is exactly why I didn’t. I took the country roads instead — straight through the middle of the country, the part that normally just blurs past the window at 130 km/h.
The way there: a night in Flieden, a weekend with family in Gera, then the last stretch to Dresden, which involved considerably more construction sites and considerably less fuel than planned.
A few weeks in Dresden followed, including one day trip into my own childhood. The way back went through Halle and the Harz in a heatwave, via a night in a castle, and ended in the Sauerland’s idea of rush hour.
Would I do it again? Spoiler: I haven’t. At least not on two wheels.
Master route
Cologne → Flieden → Gera → Dresden → Heringen → Cologne.
Honda NC750X DCT
2022 Matt Ballistic Black Metallic- Displacement
- 745cc parallel twin 58 HP / 69 Nm
- Transmission
- Dual clutch (DCT)
- Range
- ~240 km / tank
- Luggage
- 68L hard cases
- Tyres
- Metzeler Tourance
Chronological logs
- 01Stage 01Cologne → Flieden250 km
Out of the Rhineland
A grand plan from Lisbon, several weeks of not doing it, and the discovery that western Germany is mostly villages.
Read dispatch → - 02Stage 02Flieden → Gera248 km
Over the Thuringian Forest
A shorter day on paper, the Thuringian Forest in practice, and a queue of drivers who wanted to overtake in the bends.
Read dispatch → - 03Stage 03Gera → Dresden160 km
Arrival on the Elbe
A weekend at home, 154 kilometers of back roads, construction sites around everything, and a closed gas station at exactly the wrong moment.
Read dispatch → - 04Stage 04Dresden → Heringen340 km
Childhood Places and a Heatwave
A few weeks in Dresden, a day trip into my own childhood, and the ride out through Halle and the Harz at 32 degrees.
Read dispatch → - 05Stage 05Heringen → Cologne370 km
The Long Way Home
A night in a castle, an early morning climb over its locked gate, and the Sauerland reminding me what traffic is.
Read dispatch →