Another ride along the Weser cycle route – a real “path of tales”. Today we started at Bodenwerder, paused in Hamlin and ended our ride in Minden. The first part of the ride was still along the river, enjoying some forays into the forest alongside it. There are regular little villages alongside the river, some with small ferries crossing to them. We saw our first Weser tourist boats leaving from Bodenwerder. We note that we have never seen anyone swimming in the Weser – we are told that it is too fast flowing.

This statue is of men who worked pulled boats up the river. There is a story about how they stole a rabbit stew from an inn keeper. When they returned to the inn he recognised them and got his revenge by serving them a stew made from a cat!

We also saw this nuclear power plant (using river water for cooling) before Hamlin.

And this old mill.

This is the riverside as you come into Hamlin

We did some quick sightseeing at Hamlin and bought some ice cream. Kris bought a pack of 8 from the supermarket. It was more than we could eat, so he gave some away to old people and children on the street.

Hamlin has a beautiful town centre with busy pedestrian only streets surrounded by ornate old buildings. Kris was told off by the Police for riding his bicycle in the pedestrian only street. There are also lots of references to rats and pied pipers.

    

           

         

The landscape flattened out after Hamlin – travelling through farmlands with fields of vegetables (runkeln (root crops) – for animals to eat), wheat and corn. There were also heaps of other cycle tourists on the path after Hamlin (many with electrical bicycles). We notice that the buildings are all made of red bricks, with some huge brick farm buildings.

This monument, found at the side of the road, is to the Eisberger woman who crossed the Weser to milk cows in the pastures from 1820 until 1970.

After Rinteln we took a short cut through Porta to Minden. Kris helped a couple of older ladies on touring bikes, one a tiny cheerful Chinese lady, find their way along this route.

The monument we see on the hill is the Emperor William Monument from 1896 at Porta Westfalica.

     

At Minden the host from our bed and breakfast came to fetch us from the tourist info office and gave us a guided town tour. Minden used to be a military town and has a number of interesting buildings.

        

This is a pole they used to tie people to, as a punishment.

The bed and breakfast rooms are really beautiful – with a shared kitchen and bathroom. We bought some food to cook in the kitchen.

We had some beer in a beer garden before coming back to the house to make our evening meal.