Emscher path

This long-distance cycle path is just over 100 kilometers long and is fully signposted and leads through the northern Ruhr area. While the Ruhr has always been a leisure paradise in the south, the Emscher has taken on the tough role of the workhorse. It had to drain the sewage of an entire region, because underground drainage was not possible for a long time due to mining and the associated mountain subsidence. Today, the sewage is laboriously laid underground and the Emscher itself is renatured - one of the largest renaturation projects in Europe.

The Emscher Weg trail starts at the Emscher Quellhof in Holzwickede. At first, the Emscher remains unobtrusively small, only from the Phoenix See in Dortmund does the cycle path run alongside the river. Exciting industrial monuments such as the Skywalk in Phoenix West or the Hansa coking plant are just a few pedal turns away from the route and are well worth a visit. From Dortmund, the Emscher Weg leads north past Castrop-Rauxel to Henrichenburg. From here, the Emscher Weg leads west again, passes under the Rhine-Herne Canal and finally reaches Herne. From here the Emscher increasingly changes into a sewer. The tour takes you past Recklinghausen and through the north of Gelsenkirchen. In Bottrop, the Emscher Weg leads through the Berne Park, a former sewage treatment plant that was transformed into a small cultural park as part of the RUHR.2010 Capital of Culture. In Oberhausen, the Emscher Weg runs right past the Gasometer Oberhausen. The path leads from Oberhausen to the newly created estuary in Dinslaken.