Bike Tour along the Ems River

Ever since we had to cancel our bike tour along the Danube two years ago - due to my broken foot - we've been dreaming of doing it.  And there was a brief time this summer thinking we'd pull it off, thanks to Joey and Michelle asking about our "bucket list."  However, the Danube trip was just too much to think of this year - BUT - could we do something a bit less dramatic and challenging?  YES!  You have to think:  the answer is always Yes.

The River Ems hasn't the cachet of the Danube, but it's pretty famous in our region and has a very popular cycling route. We've done part of it already, so completing it would be good, right?

So, take the train from Bremen to Münster, bike to Leer, take the train back.  About 145 miles of biking. Yow! Can we do it?

Day 1.    Münster to Middendorf.  56K (ca. 35 miles)

Up and out before 8AM, unusual for us. Really unusual.  Going by train means making reservations - for your bike!  There are limited spots and if you don't have a place, you don't ride.  Hanging them on the hooks is not the easiest thing we've ever done.  Thank goodness bikers are friendly folks and we had some help.

Day One would not be so strenuous, we thought.  First we wandered around Münster a bit. It has a beautiful old town center, cathedral, and fancy shops there on the left under the arcades.

Getting out of town was a challenge and we hoped our map reading would improve - otherwise, this would be a really long trip! Then we found the road!  Or path, as the case may be.

The weather was nice, but really, really cool - certainly not over 68° at midday - and we both put extra padding on our backs.

Naturally, along the Ems River, it's pretty flat which is fine with me since I'm still working on stamina.

No big towns either but villages with - you know it - charm. Cobbled streets, half-timbered houses, flowers along the street.

Not every village has a church, but many of them do and for some reason, this region is a Catholic stronghold in the otherwise Protestant North.  What that means is the churches are open in the week and you can go in and visit.

In Gimbte, the village above, St. Johannes:

 In Greven, St. Martinus:

Each of them are amazing considering the small parishes they serve.

And then we met up with a recreated village from about 800 AD, Sachsenhof.  Several of the towns we passed through had been established over 1000 years ago!

 

They've done a garden as well with some plants that folks at that time might have known. I do believe their time was fully taken with just getting enough food to keep body and soul together.

 

WE of course expended very little effort finding something to eat.  After checking into our B&B, we biked back into the little town for an early dinner and turned in early, too.  But it was Friday, and somewhere in the distance, heavy metal was playing.....

Day 2.  Middendorf to Emsbüren  52K (ca. 32 miles)

They serve a hearty breakfast on the farm!  Good grief, it was enough for three breakfasts!!  We ate as much as we dared and then hit the road again.

It was noticeably warmer, thank goodness, and in the next town, Emsdetten, it was market day!  Yea!  We looked around of course, checked out the church, and bought goodies for lunch - cheese, bread, fresh fruit, a bit of cured ham.

The Church:  St. Pankratius.  (I know, it sounds like pancreas, but it's the Latin version of the name Pancras, a early martyr of the church.  Nevertheless, they're related, of course, the words.)

There's a museum there we didn't visit - Das Wannenmacher Museum - a tribute to the craftspeople who made baskets like this for winnowing grain.

The town was famous for it about 200 years ago.  Werner has the idea to visit all the weird little museums around here in north Germany.  We missed the Leprosy Museum in Münster. We've had a start with the Straw Museum in Twistringen.   But that's another and very different trip. Put it on the list.

Out of town, along the river, there's a ferry, the sign said.  Well, it is, but pretty primitive!  A small boat that can ferry a few folks and maybe a bike or two, pulled by hand from an overhead wire.

And then we came across a fenced area with goats and  ----  deer ??  I had to wonder if they were being raised for the table.  

Pathways along the EmsBikeWay vary --  we encountered paved, gravel, packed dirt, wooded, sometimes along the street and sometimes along the railroad bridge!  It may be pretty flat, but it's never boring.

Next stop Rheine, but not before we have our lunch purchased from the market. Need I say it was really yummy?

In Rheine, the church is St. Dionysius. That was a hard one for me since Dionysus is the Greek god of wine and general wildness, but now I know that this is actually St. Denis, one of the saints I know well.  He's the one who walked for 6K with his head in his hands after he'd been decapitated before finally collapsing in the place that now boasts the very first Gothic arch - in St. Denis outside of Paris.   

And outside of town the former Cloister Bentlage.  Today it houses a museum, a cafe, and is a wonderful backdrop for weddings and celebrations.

While biking, we see signs for things we aren't prepared for and so there was a sign - The Half-Timbered Village and Linen and Artists' Shop. Could we resist?  Of course not, but the sign at the entrance to the place was a bit confusing and off-putting: PRIVATE.  Private?  Do we go in?  We did.  The owners were there, having an afternoon meal.  (Sorry!)  But they were congenial and explained they'd been there for 25 years, had bought and transported all the buildings from around the area into this one place.  Amazing amount of work!  There's a mill, several out buildings, the main house, a barn for the horses and the wagons.... and all lovely.  They do basket weaving, sell old hand-woven or hand-embroidered linens, give tours, and etc.  I'd love to go back there for a visit!

Finally, we reach Emsbüren, today's goal, and as we're checking out how we feel, we wonder why we didn't schedule a break.  Really.  We take breaks!!!  So we consider taking the train tomorrow and check out all the train schedules.  I don't sleep any better, but I am nevertheless a bit relieved anticipating a pause.

Day 3 - Emsbüren to Meppen  45 K

Well, we feel OK.  Breakfast, easy start, nice weather.  We'll try the first leg - to Lingen.

Most of what we see are fields:  here the asparagus resting for next year, the grain half harvested, and the straw waiting to be baled.

 

 It's really the perfect day - sunny, not too hot, gentle breeze.  There's smoke in the distance and as we get closer, see that it's a nuclear power plant.  They're being phased out, but there are still a few around.  Strange, looming and creepy, except those that were decorated.  :-)

We've passed a few locks along the way and it doesn't matter if you're big or small, you have to go through the lock!

 We hung around watching the water go up long enough to have someone take our picture! Like I said, it was a pretty day.  But someone seems to have lost his hair......

In Lingen there was a wine fest going on, wasps that wanted our ice cream lunch, and a human Foos Ball game. Not an even match:  7:2 was the final score !

And we check ourselves out and say, We're OK - so we keep going, but choose the shorter path along the Dortmund-Ems Canal.  Here we get more of a feel of the industry in the region - after all, that's why the canal was built.  Nevertheless, clean and neat.

Day 4 - Meppen to Papenburg.  66 K 

Oh it's warm.  Really warm.  Again there's some talk of taking the train, but we soldier on to Haren, about 18K. Much of the way is shaded, thank you very much.

 

Haren is small,  about 23,000 population today, but they have a church that is really impressive.  It's pretty new - only built at the the beginning of the 20th c. - but dominates the landscape as well as the town. The locals call it the "Emsland Cathedral".

 

Finding the local supermarket is a challenge. Sadly, the downtown area has lost its little markets; hate that! But we do what we have to, get some fruit and a sandwich and head out again.

Several benches and tables along the way were already occupied but we finally found a place along a camping ground and next to the river.  How idyllic!

Off again, though we're wilting.  We pass the grounds where a huge Western Show had been held over the weekend, two huge horse farms where kids (read:girls!) come for a summer riding camp, and an old windmill, closed.

Lathen, next town.  We quit.  It is toooooo hot!  Catch the train to Papenburg.  I am too old for heat.

Papenburg is so cute!  A canal through the middle of the town with anchored boats and barges, flowers EVERYWHERE, bike-friendly like you wouldn't believe.

But we are wrung out and after visiting the tourist bureau where they found us a bed for the night, we took a break. Nap time!

Finding dinner wasn't as easy as you'd think.  No sitting in the sun- too hot!  Avoid the restaurants facing south!  Where's the umbrella?? It took some doing to settle into the Greek place where it seemed half the town was sitting, but OK.  We were in the shade.

We did NOT bike 66K - it was only 35 or so.

NOTE:  Don't book a hotel across from the train station.  Don't book a hotel in the summer across from the train station if they don't have A/C or a fan and you have to leave the windows ajar for some air.  Ooooohhhh.  Not a good night.

But the morning????

Day 5 - Papenburg to Leer to Bremen (15K)

Gray.  Dull.  WET.  It's raining! We have breakfast and think of Plan B (the train to Leer and then home) but then it seems to lighten up and I so want to visit Weener just because it is a funny name.

It looks like it will pass, the rain, so we go.  It drizzles.  It drizzles more.  It rains....  Oh well.

We get to Weener and I am not disappointed (except for the rain).  The village is small and compact and clean and flowered.  They even have a computer where you can find out what to do and where to go.

And in the church, someone is practicing on the organ.  How wonderful is that? The church organ is from some famous organ craftsmen - Arp Schnitger - and it is such a treat to hear it as well as see it.  Serendipity.

But enough of being wet.  Off to the train station and end the tour. Sit in the train and slowly dry out.

We had a great time.  We had to push ourselves a bit physically, we saw some lovely landscapes, we visited some inspiring churches, and ate food that was fresh and yummy.  I think that's a more-than-positive review of a mini-vacation.