Ems-Radweg

The Emsradweg is a long-distance cycling route in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony, stretching over a distance of 379 kilometers from the sources of the Ems between Schloß Holte-Stukenbrock and Hövelhof to its mouth at Emden into the North Sea. It runs mostly in immediate proximity to the Ems. Generally, the route follows paved side roads or bike paths away from traffic roads. The path is very varied: fields, forests, meadows, and cities alternate. The Emsradweg crosses a total of five vacation regions. The Teutoburg Forest offers good viewpoints with its hill chains, in the Münsterland the route passes through the Ems floodplains, and the northern part with Emsland and East Frisia impresses with the vastness of the landscape and maritime flair. In the southern Emsland, the Ems carves its way through moor and heathland. Just before the town of Lingen (Ems), the three watercourses Ems, Dortmund-Ems Canal, and Ems-Vechte Canal intersect. Behind Papenburg, the Ems is subject to the influence of the tides of the North Sea. Here, it may happen that the Ems suddenly flows 'the wrong way'. Those traveling beyond Emden to the coast (about at the height of Campen) can see the transition from the Ems to the North Sea in the riverside vegetation (algae, etc.).