With a population of around 17.9 million, North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous, with a surface area of around 34,100 square kilometres the fourth largest German state. 30 of the 81 German cities are in its highly urbanized area.
The northern part of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area is formed by the heavily urbanized Ruhr area with the centres of Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg and Bochum. Its economic rise in the early 19th century was based on industrialization and the mining industry, especially ore and coal mining.
The city of Witten, the destination of our visit last weekend, is located at the transition from the lower Sauerland to the Lower Mountainous hills in the west and the Emscherland in the north, framed by the cities of Dortmund, Bochum and Hagen.
Hattingen's old town with its almost 150 medieval half-timbered houses is a popular year-round destination, not just when the historic Christmas market is taking place.
Once again on the way to visit relatives and friends, this time we were heading for Dülmen - Münster.
Climbing has been in for many years. And the hype is continuing - and this is reflected in the number of climbing opportunities in the Ruhr area, too.
After a few years of abstinence, also due to the complex and sometimes far away leading project work, it finally should allow the time for small tour by motorcycle.
Every year, about 800,000 tourists visit the city of Xanten, located in the northwest of Germany, mostly because of its historic center, but also due to the archaeological park of the Roman Colonia Ulpia Traiana and the leisure center with its distinctive cycling and walking routes in the relatively flat terrain of the Rhine meadows.
A meeting with Andreas should happen in Cologne, which was supposed to serve "just" the testing of the touring bike HNF XD2, this is followed in an article shortly, quickly expanded to a visit of an old churchyard next to Vitalis Church, which we had agreed as a meeting point.
Once again on the way between the lock Herbede and the castle ruin Hardenstein on the Ruhr Valley cycle path, the ferry Hardenstein forms a possibility to cross the Ruhr, whereby the ferry closes the gap in the strongly frequented bicycle net along the Ruhr.
The Kemnader lake is located between Bochum, Witten and Hattingen and as a popular destination attracts outdoor fans from all over North Rhine-Westphalia.
Once again, one of our project supporters has send news regarding the installation of his new travel concept "BT Voyage", traveling by bicycle and the mini-caravan B-Turtle which origins from Vienna.
It was originally intended as the idea of a late summer walk that took us to Kettwig at Ruhr river on a lovely afternoon.
The beautiful weather had lured us again below the open sky to Baldeneysee near Essen, where we, supplied with coffee, homemade waffles, no longer hot cherries and whipped cream, wanted to hike the castle ruins New Isenburg, which are located in the Essen district Bredeney.
Our short walking tour through the centre of Cologne had lead us into the direction of Central Train Station and to Hohenzollern Bridge, where the architecture of the bridge does not only counts to the peculiarities of Cologne, but is also the original place, at least for Germany, of an interesting tradition to be seen in thousands: the Love Locks.