Spring has finally arrived in the Ruhr area, the sun is shining, and it's supposed to get warm! So, time to hop on my bike and do my usual route in the radrevier.ruhr cycling region. The RevierRoute GartenStadt (Garden City Route) is just under 50 kilometers long, leading from Essen-Kettwig to Mülheim, past the Gruga Park, up to Essen, and back down to the Ruhr River, then via Lake Baldeney back to Kettwig. Perfect for warming up in March, and almost entirely without car traffic.
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Let's start in Essen-Kettwig
After a quick breakfast, I set off. It's still quite chilly in March, just after eight in the morning; the thermometer reads a mere four degrees, but it's supposed to reach 19 degrees by midday. Layering is definitely the way to go when choosing my clothes. My ride through the radrevier.ruhr region starts at the Ruhr bridge in Kettwig. A small information panel provides a bit of history about the bridge.
Cycling through the fields of the Ruhr Valley
On the left bank of the Ruhr, I follow the Ruhr Valley Cycle Path Through the fields to Mintard. The path is a classic farm track, where on rainy days the bike and rider get nicely coated in mud in places. On dry days like today, however, the path is very easy to cycle on. Fortunately, large sections of this route are now paved, so cycling through the fields is quite relaxing.
My eye is quickly drawn to the A52 motorway bridge, which not everyone may find beautiful, but is nevertheless part of the route. Industrial Culture It belongs to and plays an important role in car traffic in the western Ruhr area. In Mülheim an der Ruhr, you finally get right back to the water.
City – Countryside – River: Mülheim an der Ruhr
At Broich Castle in the center of Mülheim, I leave the Ruhr Valley Cycle Path and cross the Ruhr River to the main train station.
The first cycle superhighway in Germany: the RS 1
From now on, we'll be discussing the future of cycling: the RS 1 cycle highway, which is eventually planned to run from Duisburg to Hamm, right across the Ruhr region. Currently, only a few sections are complete – including this one from Mülheim an der Ruhr to Essen. I really enjoy cycling on the RS1, even if this section isn't exactly scenic. I can make good time and enjoy the relaxed ride.
Don't miss the turnoff to the Gruga Park on this tour, otherwise you'll quickly end up in the center of Essen. I then cycle along the Gruga Trail, which climbs gently up to Margarethenhöhe. Halfway there, I'm greeted by the European Green Capital 2017.
Cycling through the Margarethenhöhe district in Essen
You should definitely take this short detour through Margarethenhöhe. Even as someone from Essen, I always enjoy cycling through it. wonderful settlementAn extraordinary and wondrous mixture of individuality and equality pervades the garden city, which was once built by Margarethe Krupp.
Relaxed cycling along railway lines in Essen
The railway line then continues uphill to the Gruga, I highly recommend visiting it at almost any time of year. The entrance is directly from the railway line, just beyond the striking Hundertwasser House.
For me, however, it's a pleasant downhill ride straight on to the Ruhr River, where I turn sharply right behind a road underpass back onto the Ruhr Valley Cycle Path.
The Ruhr Valley Cycle Path
So, my tour through the Ruhr cycling region will be nice and flat again, and I'll roll relaxed through the Ruhr valley towards Lake Baldeney.
Just before reaching the lake, I pass a little gem of industrial heritage that hardly anyone knows about. At the "Kampmannsbrücke Geological Wall," two historic mine entrances, known as adits, can still be found. The coal wagons and the rotary tipper truck in front of the Angelika mine are popular subjects for photographs.
Lake Baldeney in the south of Essen
Next comes the largest lake in the Ruhr region – Lake Baldeney, which was built between 1931 and 1933 for water supply and is now a popular local recreation area and, of course, a beautiful cycling region. However, on weekends it can get a bit too crowded for my liking; it's best to avoid the lake then.
Today is a good day and I drive quickly towards Essen-Werden along the southern bank with a beautiful view of the Karl Funke colliery tower and the world-famous Villa Hügel.
In Werden, I also passed two small, almost unknown, but truly beautiful sites of industrial heritage. The former Neukirchen lock and the paper mill lock no longer serve any function, but have been preserved for posterity and tell the story of industrial shipping on the Ruhr River.
Where horses once pulled barges up the Ruhr River, the former towpaths (or towpaths) have in many places become the present-day towpaths. Ruhr Valley Cycle Path.
After a fantastic spring tour through the Ruhr region in perfect weather, I arrived back in Kettwig at midday. The cafes and restaurants were already quite full, and I was delighted to see that some of the trees in front of Kettwig's old town were already adorned in a beautiful white floral display. But what I'm most looking forward to is the start of the cycling season here on the Ruhr, here in the radrevier.ruhr region!
