Cycling tour Ochtrup Fietsen Tours

On the first day of the cycle tour, you will explore the Münsterland pottery, textile and shopping town of Ochtrup in the charming border triangle of Lower Saxony-Netherlands-Münsterland with a variety of excursion options. It particularly delights cyclists with idyllic cycle tours such as the fascinating 100 Castles Route, the Ochtrup Fietsen Tours, the Vechte Valley Route, Aa-Vechte Tour or new NaTourism Route - and of course with picturesque Münsterland parkland. Interesting sights such as the pottery museum, Bergwindmühle, Villa Winkel, Wasserburg Haus Welbergen, Langenhorst Abbey or the imposing Beltman Building of the former textile company Gebrüder Laurenz whet your appetite for the history of the pottery and textile town of Ochtrup. Guided tours of the sights and the town bring Ochtrup closer to the visitor. The shopping town of Ochtrup invites you to take a relaxed stroll, shop and go out with specialist shops, traditional cafés, pubs, restaurants and the Designer Outlet Ochtrup with international brands, beautiful gabled houses and shopping ambience.

The first stop on the cycle tour through the Driland from Ochtrup to Gronau is Europe's first rock'n'pop museum in the former turbine hall of the van Delden textile empire in Gronau. Mill enthusiasts can visit Schepers Mühle in the district of Epe, a restored water mill. Beautiful cycle paths guide cyclists to Heek and Nienborg. Take a tour in Nienborg to a working corn mill dating from 1368 and through the picturesque Burgmannshof with gatehouse, church and lovely houses. Enjoy the ramble through the present-day home of the NRW State Music School with its sound garden and castle café before heading back to Ochtrup.

"Quiet country, wide country" - this is the motto of today's stage. An infinitely varied mosaic of meadows and fields, dense hedgerows, gentle hills and shady farm woods. The small villages with their red-tiled roofs are colourful dots in the vast landscape - the quiet Münsterland park landscape. In Metelen you should visit the corn water mill located north of the monastery on the Vechte.
The artists' village of Schöppingen has become famous far beyond the borders of the town of Schöppingen. Young artists show their creative works of art here. The spring on the Schöppinger Berg is also the basis for the Sasse grain distillery. Visitors can let themselves be initiated into the secrets of the famous "camp grain" during a tour. To this day, the medieval image of Horstmar's historic centre, which is well worth seeing, can be experienced with the church, town hall and the courtyards on an almost square town layout. Not only the moated castle of Haus Alst dating from 1624, but also four of the eight castle manors founded in the 11th century invite you to Horstmar.
You cycle over a small hill to Steinfurt. On the edge of Steinfurt town centre stands the oldest and one of the largest moated castles in Westphalia. In addition to a tour of the historic old town, it is worth taking a detour through the Bagno, an 18th-century park attached to Steinfurt Castle. The district educational garden in Steinfurt is unique in the Münsterland. It is a demonstration and school garden covering approximately 30,000 square metres.

Today, the route of the cycle tour runs in a northerly direction. In the municipality of Wettringen, the Ahlers house is the oldest building, being almost 500 years old. It represents an early form of the western farmhouse. In the north of the municipality, nestled in a beautiful heath and lake landscape, lies the Haddorfer Seen recreation area with a wide range of leisure activities. Your path leads past the Offlumer See lake, which was opened as a local recreation area in 2006. The attractions are the promenade and the funnel towers, from which you have a fantastic view over this recreational landscape. The landmark of Neuenkirchen is the church of St. Anna, built in 1899 in neo-Romanesque style. There are still a few Biedermeier-style houses worth seeing along the main street. The municipality has two completely different landscapes: In its northern part, a limestone ridge stretches out, covered by fertile clover soil; in the western and southern part, the Münsterland gravel sand channel crosses wide areas of heather sand.
The consistently flat cycle paths take you to Rheine. The town has a lively city centre with numerous shops, cafés and restaurants. Don't miss the Bentlager triad of Rheine Nature Zoo, Salinenpark and Bentlage Monastery. Enjoy the peace and quiet in the salty air of the salt works and don't miss a visit to the monastery. The cycle tour leads back to Ochtrup through the northern Münsterland.

The last day of the cycle tour also has a lot to offer. Many kilometres of cycle paths lead through enchanting landscapes into the Gildehauser Venn nature reserve. If you notice a flash of blue above the waters of the Dinkel, it is surely a kingfisher. And with a bit of luck, you might spot deer on a drive through the Bentheimer Forst. In Bad Bentheim, Bentheim Castle fascinates with its special features. It is the only preserved hilltop castle in the Münsterland and houses the early Romanesque stone crucifix "Lord of Bentheim", one of the earliest testimonies to Christian life in the region. Visitors can explore the castle with St. Catherine's Church, Kronenburg and Powder Tower themselves or take part in a guided tour.