Riding Around Kemnadersee

Not something I usually find myself doing... sitting in Starbucks on a Sunday afternoon. However, having to wait for two hours before my kids perform, on the stage just outside the window, was just too much time to waste. The free Wi-Fi, which is hard to get here in Bochum (especially on a Sunday), was too tempting. Plus of course I do get a cup of tea for the price, a warm environment (yes, it is just 20 degrees Celsius in August with no sun) and access to a clean toilet. Definitely worth it. I didn't realize that I'd get live classical music thrown into the package played by the Jungendsinfonieochester, Bochum!

Jungendsinfonieochester Bochum - Dr.-Ruer-Platz, Bochum

Initially I was a bit bummed that there were no free seats outside but now that a table has just freed up I've decided that I'm just going to stay inside so that my tea and my hands don't cool down too quickly. After all the view is not that bad.

The view from my seat

Although today is quite chilly, yesterday was perfect and a perfect example of how you can have fun in your own backyard and it doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. My girls were a bit disappointed since we decided the day before yesterday that we wouldn't go to Mallorca for 7 days over the fall vacation. They really want to make the trip because everyone else does. They expressed real interest in seeing what others do while on vacation. After all we are just a boring family. Pottering off to places across the world, never staying for long at one place, and always having something to do. So it was good to have a perfect day to have a vacation at home.

The sky was so blue yesterday and it was just warm enough to go out with a sweater. My husband and I could not help but have to go outside, so we decided on taking our bikes and riding around Kemnader See. I was reminded that a friend was coming over to play so we quickly called her up and asked her to come early with her bike. After blowing up everyone's tires and adjusting all the bike seats we were ready to go.
The weather turned out to be really great for biking and we all got rid of our sweaters within a short period of time.

As we headed down the hill we met the local grass management. Now it's not like we live in a rural area. Bochum has a population of about 370 thousand and we live right next to the Ruhr University. So it might strike some people as an unusual technique:

There was even a shepherd and a sheep dog :) Of course rather modern day with an SUV parked nearby and a radio blaring!! The kids were a bit unnerved but a short blast with our bicycle bells made the sheep move out of the way. Actually I'm rather glad it was sheep, we've had goats before and they are a bit shifty!

One thing that I realized on this trip was that it is really difficult to take pictures while biking! I didn't have any pockets that I could use while biking so my eldest took my camera in her backpack. That made things even more challenging.

The biking path around Kemnader See is just over 10 km long. It's mostly flat so quite easy for the kids to manage. For us the hard part is going back home since we live on a hill. But you could also drive down to the lake and then take your bikes around. Another wonderful thing about the biking path (which is separate from the pedestrian path) is that a lot of it has been newly paved. In actual fact it's been made into a, soon to be officially opened, inline skating trail but since the "inliners" (as they are called here in Germany) go as fast as the bikes it's not a problem to share with them.

I've made a map of the path we took on Google maps


Our first stop was for lunch.

We had fries at an Italian restaurant by the side of the lake. Not the cheapest fries but we got huge portions and huge amounts of ketchup and mayonnaise (yes, in Germany you eat your fries with a mixture of ketchup and mayo and it rarely comes for free, in this case each portion was 0.50 € ). This place also has regular Italian food and a fancy looking pizza oven. As the weather was good we sat overlooking the lake and enjoyed our lunch which we supplemented with cherry tomatoes and grapes.

As we were sitting there having lunch we noticed that there was a bike and inline skate rental place in the same building as the restaurant. We'd lived here for almost 5 years and never stumbled on it! This could have been really useful before I bought my bike last year. We didn't check the prices but I'm tempted to rent some inline skates next time and skate with the girls..

After lunch we continued our trip around the lake. The lake has been artificially created by damming the Ruhr so you have to cross the water at both ends of the lake. On the south western side one crosses alongside the dam itself. It's a bit hidden, and not marked, so you have to be a bit careful. At some point you come to a junction with 4 options. At this point you basically have to take the path that turns very sharply left (basically a U-turn). Once you've taken the turn you will see the bridge and the dam. There is a huge sign asking all bike riders to dismount and push their bikes across the bridge but, as you can imagine, most bikers ignore the signs. This really disturbs the kids. After all it's very clear, even they can read it, any adult must be able to understand what they are expected to do!

Once we were over the dam we turned left but had to stop immediately because one of the kids bikes started rattling. Hubby inspected the bike but couldn't figure out what was wrong. Luckily my older one figured out that it was just a piece of metal hitting the spokes of the tire. That was easy enough to resolve and then we were on our way.  If you go straight, instead of left, you arrive at Haus Kemnader which has a nice little music museum that is free of charge. They also have a fancy restaurant if you are up for something more fancy and relaxing. It does not over look the Ruhr. Just after the damn there is a small kiosk if you need to pick something up. It does not take long to get here from where we had lunch so we didn't stop. I've been there before though and it sells drinks and ice-cream. I don't think it sells any hot food.

I really like this part of the path even though it's squeezed between the highway and the lake. It's higher up than either the highway or the pedestrian path and both sides are densely overgrown with trees. This dampens a lot of the noise and makes you feel like you are in a forest somewhere as opposed to squashed between a highway and a lake.

At the end of the forest path we passed under the highway. Apparently, so I was told later, you can actually take a short cut and cross the river alongside the highway. There are ramps going up on both sides which are rather difficult to see, which is why I missed it even on my second time past! If you don't take the short cut just keep turning left at every junction. One of them actually opens up onto a main road and there are no signs as to where the bike path continues. But here you need to take a left turn which will bring you to yet another pub and most importantly an ice-cream van!! We really enjoyed having ice-cream here last time we were riding around the lake. This time we decided to have ice-cream once we'd finished the loop because we still felt like we had lunch in our tummies.

After crossing the bridge turn left again and follow the path all the way around back to the beginning. Once you get to the end you'll start bumping into people. I nearly had an accident with a zigzagging toddler. I didn't realize he was zigzagging because he had just got onto the path and his father just left him behind and rode off. I assumed he could ride. So since he was riding on the left I passed him on the right. On the right... probably a  big mistake but I was riding fast and he slow, really slow and he was almost on the grass on the left side of the path. My goodness he cut back into me and then after almost knocking me off my bike he cut back to the left and nearly knocked off the on coming rider (who was riding very fast). You know, if you're child can't handle the rules of the biking path it's totally fine to have them ride on the pedestrian trail. At one place, see map, even we rode on the pedestrian part because the bike path is just wide enough for two well experienced riders to pass. Last time when I took it it was disastrous, but I didn't know any better and was just following the signs. It's really dangerous to be  riding on a path with people whizzing past you especially if you don't know which is your left and right. The first time we did it, earlier this year, I spent my time riding behind the girls continually shouting, "bike coming, move to the right!" I felt like a broken record.

We ended our circuit with an ice-cream. It's not the best ice-cream but at least it is "homemade".

Of course once we got home it was time for a nice pot of tea and a cookie.

Right, the kids are ready to sing so it's time to for me to get going. Enjoy!