Stage Münster-Gütersloh

Starting at the Mauritztor you leave the bicycle city of Münster towards the east. The number of "Leezen" accompanying you slowly becomes less. At the historic Pleistermühle you cross the Werse, a tributary of the Ems. The idyllically located, eponymous country inn next door prompted the poet Hermann Löns in 1890 to write a romantic poem.

Through typical Westphalian farming communities it goes south past Telgte to the Warendorf district of Müssingen. The Münsterländer park landscape determines the picture. A detour to the pilgrimage town of Telgte rewards you with a beautiful old town, the Lady Chapel with grace image and the Marienlinde, with 750 years one of the oldest trees in Germany.

Between Müssingen and Warendorf hide behind trees and shrubs the Kottrup Lakes. Do not miss the time travel through the frames along the iron time shelf to the observation tower, rest area and terrace on the water. Sand mining here brought to light numerous contemporary witnesses from the Stone Age to the early Middle Ages. Spectacular was, in addition to the discovery of ice-age remains of mammoth and Co. the discovery of a Neanderthal bone, one of the northernmost evidence of this human form in Europe.

Continuing eastward, you will soon reach the horse town of Warendorf. Here, in addition to the North Rhine-Westphalian State Stud, the German Olympic Committee for Equestrianism and the German Equestrian Federation are located. After you have left the worth seeing historical center of the former Hanseatic city behind you, you cross the Ems and cycle through the Emssee Park towards the east. The R1 now runs on the EmsRadweg until Marienfeld. Several times you will cross the Ems, Germany's shortest stream, before you Harsewinkel streak and cycle past the factory site of a major German agricultural machinery manufacturer.

Southeast of Harsewinkel you cross the Boomberge, the most important inland dune area in the district of Gütersloh. Soon after you will reach Marienfeld, the eastern district of Harsewinkel. Marienfeld gained supraregional importance through its monastery, a former Cistercian abbey. Part of the monastery buildings now houses a hotel.

In Marienfeld separate R1 and EmsRadweg, the R1 you follow further east. Soon you touch the millennia ago in a drainless depression between sand dunes created Hühnermoor. Later you head south and reach the former airfield area of Gütersloh, last used by the British forces. It is now partly protected due to the occurrence of rare plant species and breeding birds.

You continue cycling south, then turn east and follow the small river Dalke to the center of Gütersloh, headquarters of the global companies Miele and Bertelsmann. Historic buildings, museums worth seeing and numerous parks invite you to extended visit.