Radau

Geschichte

The Radau is a river in the German state of Lower Saxony, a right tributary of the Oker. It rises in the Harz range, leaves the mountains at Bad Harzburg, and discharges into the Oker near Vienenburg.CourseThe river rises at around 800m in the Upper Harz region, in a bog known as Torfhausmoor or Radaubornmoor. The raised bog stretches from Torfhaus, a hamlet belonging to the Clausthal-Zellerfeld municipality, to the Brocken massif in the east. The historic peat (Torf) cutting area today is part of the Harz National Park and can be reached via the scenic Goetheweg trail.From its source, the mountain stream flows northwards through the Radau valley that it has carved out and feeds the 23m high Radauwasserfall south of Bad Harzburg, immediately next to the Bundesstraße 4 federal highway. The artificial waterfall was constructed as a tourist attraction in 1859 on behalf of the Duchy of Brunswick State Railway company, which had operated the Brunswick–Bad Harzburg railway line since 1841. Beneath the waterfall is a restaurant and a miniature railway integrated into the landscape.