Travel report: Cycling Holiday in Westphalia and Lower Saxony
From our guests Romy and Egbert
Course of the Hase-Ems cycle path
Choice of trip and weather
After our Lake Constance tour in 2022 and the Five Rivers Cycle Route 2023 in Franconia and the very positive cycling experiences we had had, this year we tackled the circular Cycling Holiday in Westphalia and Lower Saxony. The documents offered a landscape of tranquillity and vastness with many bodies of water, especially the Ems, corresponding canals and the Hase, as well as bathing lakes, moors, heathland and forests. In essence, this was true: we had plenty of peace and space and only a few cyclists accompanied us or met us on the route; even residents or even crowds of people did not disturb our circles. The weather was quite nice (in the south of North Rhine-Westphalia it rained almost the whole time) and we faced only a few physical challenges and were able to finish the tour after 350 kilometers with the usual afternoon iced coffee in the sun. We only had to put on rain protection once. We can highly recommend this tour to any cycling enthusiast.
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Organization
As usual, the cycle tour was prepared quickly and in detail by Radweg-Reisen. However, a partner organization took over the implementation. Route guides and travel information were immediately available in a very well-prepared form. Included in the services of the tour was a good weather guarantee (!!!), which we did not have to make use of (guarantee means: return transport by vehicle in the event of continuous rain). The booked luggage transfer worked without any complaints. We were very satisfied with the hotels and the accommodation for the bikes; the convenient location of the hotels meant that we were able to explore the surroundings of the towns or the rivers/canals after arrival. The signposting of the cycle route and the paths to be taken were excellent.
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The round trip
The starting point was Osnabrück, situated between the Wiehengebirge and Teutoburg Forest. We experienced an eventful landscape, which is easy to master. You need some time in the city, both on the outward and return journey, to be able to explore at least a small part of this important city. A must-see is the historic town hall where the Peace of Westphalia was proclaimed in 1648, the citizens' fountain on the Peace of Westphalia Square, St. Peter's Cathedral and the popular old town for strolling and stopping for a bite to eat. Our Hotel Westerkamp was halfway up the hill and is highly recommended with its beautiful terrace.
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The following day, we set off for Bersenbrück along the River Hase, of course. On the way, we passed the "Hollager Schleuse" (Hollager lock) and the confluence of the Osnabrück branch canal and the Hase, the cloth town of Bramsche with its 1st May celebrations and the Romanesque church of St. Martin.
St. Martin
On the way to Bersenbrück, we visited the Malgarten monastery and saw artfully trimmed hedges. After cycling around the Alfsee, a flood retention basin for the high water of the River Hase, we reached our overnight stop in Bersenbrück with its large monastery complex.
Church tower
Malgarten Monastery
On the morning of the next day, we reached
Quakenbrück in the company of deer.
On the way, asparagus was being harvested
and potatoes were being grown on a large area of land.
In the lower land areas with high
groundwater levels, the soil was peaty black.
The town, formerly part of the Hanseatic League,
is characterized by many half-timbered houses
and makes you want to stroll around.
High gate Quakenbrück
Quakenbrück
Quakenbrück marketplace
Despite the wolf warning, we were not dissuaded from continuing on to Löningen. Numerous signs along the way pointed out the renaturation of the Hase water network. We arrived in Löningen towards the evening. The route guide there was an iron bicycle figure that led us to the medieval town.
Wolf territory
The Hase (which means "grey" in Germanic) now deserves a short introduction, as it is omnipresent and clearly shapes the landscape. During the last ice age, the Hase river, coming from the south, dammed up at the newly formed Cloppenburger Geestrücken to the north of Quakenbrück, turned westwards and dug itself into the ground in numerous large and small rivers. Before and after Quakenbrück as far as Löningen, we therefore discover larger and smaller rivers everywhere, all of which form the Hase. The experience of this inland delta is impressive and exciting. The compilation of various Hase photos is intended to encourage a really worthwhile cycle tour through this wet region.
Hare river course
The next beautiful and lively town was Meppen (advertised in the town logo as mep-pen, like mack-pomm by analogy), where a new and comfortable hotel and a town entrance decorated with lanterns awaited us. Even in the hotel, the course of the Hase was very well depicted on the carpets. The onward journey along the confluence of the Dortmund-Ems Canal, Ems and Hase took us to the moor museum in Hesepe, the largest moor museum in Europe: a visit is definitely highly recommended.
The cycle route was often lined with very well-equipped rest areas, the Dortmund-Ems Canal and then Lingen, the town of the Kivelinge. These are or were young, unmarried youths who defended the town. This is how the Kivelinge festival is celebrated every year, which was currently in preparation.
A special experience was the accommodation in the Hotel Am Wasserfall in Hanekenfähr south of Lingen on a headland between the Ems and the Dortmund-Ems Canal. A place for exploring, walking and boating.
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The cycle route to Rheine took us via Bentlage Castle and monastery to the Gottesgabe salt works with its graduation house.
It is well worth a stop. A very beautiful park surrounds the buildings.
Rheine has an old town worth seeing, beautiful farms can be found along the Ems and attractive cycle paths along the river.
On the sixth day of cycling, we cycled back to Osnabrück and said goodbye to the Hase with a city tour!
Gottesgabe Salt Works
Rheine marketplace
The cycle tour was a special experience for us and showed us an enclosed natural area worth exploring with some very beautiful small towns along the way. The Emsland is highly recommended for cyclists and is essentially flat.
