LIVCO-25

A 10 day trip road trip which began and finished in Hamburg, Germany. This expedition had echoes of previous early IBRG trips which covered large distances and visited many countries. Unlike those trips however IBRG members joined at different times and visited different POI’s.

In total, 10 IBRG members participated on this trip from the UK (1), Austria (1) Czech Republic (1) Denmark (4), Germany (1),the Netherlands (1) and the USA (1).

This expedition focused initially on the historic inner German border and the Czech-German border, before focusing on the borders and tripoints of the countries near Lake Constance which include Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. The final section of the trip focused on the Italian borders with Austria and Switzerland. As with most IBRG trips the focused shifted between current and historical tripoints, rare quadripoints, current and historical borders, border markers, border crossings and their infrastructure.

Our first meal and overnight in a German Castle

For those who were there for the whole trip there 6 tripoints (2 historical) to bag.

As with all the IBRG trips there was lots of discussions, food and drink! This page is an introduction to the trip with individual reports being accessible by clicking on either the photos or the links (in red) either within the text or via the menu of the right hand side of the page.

Please click on the images to access full trip reports with maps. photos and analysis.

Stage 1

This part of the expedition focused initially on the historic inner German border and the Czech-German border, very different from what was to come but nevertheless fascinating. The inner German border element involved visiting the Michael Gartenschläger memorial which commemorates the death of an activist who highlighted the use of SM-70 self-firing devices which the DDR denied installing. It was great to meet Per Broderson, a new member of IBRG who guided us around the site. Other POI’s included a railway station which acted as the main route to West Berlin and Deutsch-Deutsches Museum at Mödlareuth which recreates dramatically what life was like in a village divided by the Iron Curtain.

An added bonus for those of us who like collecting tripoints, we had the opportunity to visit the Drei Freistaaten Stein which marks the point where the 3 German states with “Free” in their title meet and was established in 1854. In 2007 the current monument was created. We also visited the historical tripoint where East and West Germany met Czechoslovakia. None of these states remain but Bavaria, Saxony and the Czech Republic have marked this point with a series of markers and information boards.

What remained was to drive south and explore further POI’s on the Czech – German border. These included 2 road border crossings, a fascinating railway station divided by the border and the westernmost point of the Czech Republic. Lot’s of border markers , signs and other points of border interest including a wall in Doubrava which had lots of old border signs. As well as lots of Goulash and Czech beer, Eva was in her element.

Please click on the images to access full trip reports with maps. photos and analysis.