Ruhr Valley Cycle Path
The way is the goal and the Ruhr is the compass: On the 240-kilometer Ruhr Valley Cycle Path, the bikes roll from the Sauerland to the Ruhr region mostly downhill or on flat terrain. There is plenty of industrial culture to experience along the way. Staging posts such as Bochum, Hattingen, Essen, Oberhausen and Duisburg have long since transformed former factories, smelters, coal mines, power plants and train stations into visitor hotspots. In the Sauerland region, dams, visitor mines in Ramsbeck and Nuttlar, and museums in Arnsberg, Fröndenberg and Hagen provide industrial cultural variety. And the fact that idyllic Ruhr reservoirs, such as Lake Baldeney, were artificially created to cleanse the formerly polluted Ruhr of industrial pollutants is hard to believe today.
The "Steel Time Travelers" Luise & Alfred: Ruhr Valley Cycle Path
Al:
Now let's go all the way back to the beginning. Let's go to the source of the Ruhr, always against the current, Luise. On to Winterberg!
- Full dialog text
-
Al: Now let's go all the way back to the beginning. Let's go to the source of the Ruhr, always against the current, Luise. On to Winterberg!
Lu: Take it easy! For you steeled pedal knights, that may be an incentive. But the source of the Ruhr is almost 700 meters high! Here in Duisburg we are only a few meters above sea level.
Al: We ride along the river! You won't even notice the incline. Pleasure cycling with a high goal. You are ambitious and used to mountains, aren't you?
Lu: Where there's a river, there's a train. We take the new train to the high Sauerland. So we can enjoy the ride and only the anticipation rises.
Al: Get on, you've convinced me. Then we cycle down the Ruhr, "rolling home" as the British say. In two to three day's stages we'll be back at the mouth of the river.
Lu: Then we'll surely stop at some excellent inns and let ourselves be spoiled with local delicacies and cool refreshments?
Al: You said it. Hospitality has always been very important in the Ruhr. The Benedictine monks and other religious already knew that.
Lu: ... and how to brew beer or how to extract the delicious juice from the fruits of the forest and meadows! Good luck, Alfred.
Visitor information
The Ruhr Valley Cycle Path begins at the source of the Ruhr at the Ruhrkopf near Winterberg and ends in Duisburg.
Informationen about the The Ruhr Valley Cycle Path:
www.ruhrtalradweg.de
