Rhön Sports & Outdoors

This free time activity has been winning on popularity for years. To paddle a canoe, you don't need a boating license, but you should be able to swim. Canoe trips are possible during all kinds of weather. To protect yourself against the rain, a bicycle pancho is suggested. Luggage or backpacks you might bring with you, should be put in plastic bags. You can rent clothes bags or barrels. Canoe trips are healthy, romantic and environment-friendly. If you make use of the service, canoe trips can be comfortable. Only official licensed boats are available for rent or hire. Canoe trips are traditional. Older people still talk about their trips with a geniune enthuiasm, when they used wooden boats and later with foldable boats. But now the younger people know about modern, light and more comfortable fiberglass or PE boats. The Werra River offers a charming landscape with wooded mountain hills and romantic castles. The flow speed is different, sometimes lively through curves and narrow ways, then again quiet and contemplative. When it becomes tiresome, the next lock dam is not very far, and then you can relax a little while the lock drains. The rental shop is in Eschwege at the Schwanenteich (swan pond) directly on the Werra River and at the Werra River valley bike path. Besides the canoe rental, the shop also offers a bicycle rental and a mini golf course.

Equipment: Boats, paddles & safety equipment are included. You need a minimum of 4 people to make a trip.

As mentioned above, the Rhoen is a natural sanctuary. Not everything here is completely harmless. Pictured is a plant known as Caucasian Bear Claw ( heracleum sphondylium ), also known as the Cow Slip. This plant generates a photoactive contact poison. If you have to touch this plant with your bare skin, it could cause 2nd degree burns. Pay attention to how it looks, and avoid it like the plague.

You will rarely come into contact with animals, but if you do, take care to leave them alone. The only poisonous animals are the diamond-back adder and/or black adder. Less than 10 people get bite annually, and the snakes are extremely rare. The snakes' last refuge is the Rhoen, and they are under legal protection. If you do happen to get bit, you will need emergency medical attention (dial 112).

Wasps are a real nuisance in the summer, and are attracted to anything open to the air that is sweet, including beer. If you are allergic to bee stings, please bring along your emergency medication. Wasps are 3 times more toxic than bees, and unlike bees, they don't die after one sting. Ignore wasps if they swarm around you. Swatting at them makes them angry, and if you run away from them, they will chase you. Remember that opening a coke on a warm summer day will generate a swarm around you in nothing flat. It's a good idea to buy a wasp sting / mosquito bite pen in the pharmacy or drug store. They really soothe the sting/bite afterwards, and reduce the swelling.

Large mosquitoes, known in Germany as "Snarken" are a living plague. These insects come out in hordes about 2 hours before sundown, and hover around during the day in cool dark forests. When they bite you it leaves you with a painful hard sore that itches for days. This makes mosquito repellant gel/lotion a must.

Here is a list of cross-country ski towns, where you can rent cross-country skis, boots and poles, a brief description of the Loipen (runs), and where you can get advice on planning a cross-country ski tour:

Gersfeld - 6 Loipen, the longest is 15 km
Bischofsheim - 2 Loipen 7 km
Hilders - Competition Loipe 10 km
Ehrenberg - High Moor Loipe 7 km
Poppenhausen - 3 different Loipen up to 8 km
Sennhuette - Long Bavarian Rhoen Loipe - 21 km
Feuerberg - Schwarzberg Loipe in Bavaria - 10-17 km
Wasserkupppe - most popular area, because it's the highest hill in the Rhoen with 5 Loipen from easy to difficult
Frankenheim - 10 km for advanced skiers.

I've never been to a country where bicycle theft was so rampant as Germany. If you bring your own custom bike to Germany, it's better to keep it permanently in eyesight. Anything else other than a simple cable lock is unpractical, because it would be too heavy. In this case, you should keep watch over you bike as follows:

Restaurants: Park you bike as close as your table as possible. This should mean that you should pick an outdoor table, whenever the weather allows it, and your bike shouldn't be anymore than two car lengths away. Do not lock just the front wheel. With quick releases, your bike could be gone in 5 seconds, on its way to the next bike shop to buy a new front wheel. Always thread the cable through the frame and wheels. Avoid bike racks. If you can, pick a private place for you bike, so you can see who approaches your bike. Always lock your bike, even if you just walk away for a second.

Hotels: Ask the manager if you can take your bike in your room. It's a good idea to carry along a cut-up giant trash bag to use as a drop cloth for parking it on hotel carpet. Assure the manager that you won't get his room dirty. Of course, to do this, you will need to give your bike a quick wash at the local gas station, before you check in. If he won't let you take it your room, then ask him if you can park it in his cellar or garage. Make sure that the cellar does not have public access, and doesn't have the door open or unlocked the whole day. If none of these alternatives are available, then park see if you can park your bike in the courtyard, if they have one. If all else fails, explain to the manager that your bike is very valuable, and ask him to make a suggestion where you could park it. When you take your bike in the hotel, remember to carry it, and watch that the pedals, handlebars and tires don't scratch the walls.

Do Germans have restrictions for bicycles? Do you need a license to ride a bike? Despite the over-zealousness of the Germans in regulating almost everything in life, you do not need an operator's license to ride a bike in Germany. There are no regulations for bicycles, either. There is a guideline for recommended equipment, but this is only a standard for bike manufacturers and sales shops. The standard states that bikes have to have lights, reflectors, a chain guard, brakes, fenders and a bell in order to meet a German industrial standard. It doesn't mean that you must have this kind of equipment on your bike. Except for brakes, everything can be optional if you want to. Like most other countries in the world, though, you cannot ride your back after sundown if you don't have a headlight and a tail light on your bike. Helmets are not compulsory, either, but it is rather foolhardy, if you don't wear one when mountain biking.

If you use public roads or highways, you must keep to the right and you have to yield to cars and pedestrians. You might see some German cyclists that ride right in the middle of the right side of the highway, as if they were a car, but this is not allowed. If a bike lane is available, you must use it.

You cannot ride your bike through crowded pedestrian areas. You may go against a one-way street, only if there is a bike sign allowing this. Getting into a left-hand turning lane is a "no-no" but many cyclists do it, and the police ignore it, unless it causes an accident. Red traffic lights also apply to cyclists.

Having a bell on your bike is a genuine advantage, because cyclists have to share bike paths with pedestrians, dogs, strollers, kiddy-cars and skaters, who don't know when you're going to pass them, even on mountain bike paths. Please slow down when you pass them, and be prepared to brake. Toddlers don't understand the rules of the road, and you must yield to them. Fenders reduce the amount of time spent washing clothes. In my personal opinion chain-guards are a nuisance.

Although you will find pick-nick tables and park benches in regular intervals, but you won't find drinking fountains anywhere. Bring enough drinking water with you (at least 1 liter - 2 is better). To keep you body salt household level in order, you should buy a tube of dissolvable isotonic tablets, which are available in any German market or drug store. The come as magnesium, calcium or multi-vitamin forms, and dissolve on contact with water. A tube of tablets is cheaper than a single isotonic drink. This is very important in the summer months, because Germany can have up to 96% relative humidity, which could cause a heat stroke, if your body salt household gets out of balance. If you have to refill your bottles along the way, you can fill them with tap water at any restaurant/bar bathroom. The tap water is perfectly safe to drink. Do not re-fill your bottles in town square fountains.

Germany is so green, because it rains a lot, especially in the summer. The rule of thumb is 3 days of nice weather followed by 4-10 days of rainy weather. This makes rain gear vital. The Rhoen has a somewhat cooler climate, which means it's apt to thundershowers in the spring and late summer. Thunderstorms pose a danger to bikers they might not realize if they live in urban areas, namely lightening strikes. If you get caught in a thunderstorm, you should seek immediate cover. Remember that trees DO NOT protect you. In fact they attract lightening strikes. Open fields are just as bad. If you study your map material, you will find that there often are huts or shelters along the way for thunderstorm protection. Make a footnote in the back of your mind, where the nearest shelters are along the way, if it looks like rain. Even bus stop shelters are adequate protection against thunderstorms. Once you safely reach a shelter, stay here, until the thunderstorm has passed.

The pictograph in the picture is the symbol for mountain bike trails. The Rhoen is a UNESCO biological reservation, or in other words, a wildlife sanctuary. In order that it remains this way for the generations to come, you should stick to marked trails. Anywhere where you see a sign with an eagle on it, and the word "Naturschutzgebiet", means basically "DO NOT ENTER", because this is an area where endangered plants or animals live. Likewise, you cannot do random downhill runs through the trees and bushes, and bushwhacker rides. If other German bikers see you doing this, you will probably get yelled at.

The Rhoen is also shared by other sport enthusiasts, such as hikers, Nordic walkers, riders, and hunters. If you wonder why the hikers / walkers always give mountain bikers dirty looks, it's probably because of the number of times they've been nearly run over by reckless mountain bikers who got caught up in the thrill of their downhill runs. Please be on the alert of hikers and walkers. Many German hiking enthusiasts like to wear clothing that blends in with the scenery; in shades of green and brown, which makes them hard to spot. Hunters represent an entirely different danger for bikers, so it is also not recommended to cut through open fields. Not just because it's trespassing on private property - you might accidentally get shot by a hunter. The best advice simply is: stay on the trails, control your downhill speed, and keep your hand on the brakes when going downhill.

Making reservations ahead of time for hotel accommodations is a good idea. Although you shouldn't have any problem booking a room anywhere in the Rhoen, it's nice to not have to run around at the end of an exhausting mountain biking day searching for a room. If you don't meet your schedule on some day, and you get to your destination too late to get to the tourist info office, it's no big deal - just go into the next pub and ask the barman where you can find a Feiernzimmer / Pension (B&B). The Rhoen is not like Upper Bavarian, which can be overbooked in summer. The biggest financial advantage about planning your trip to the Rhoen is that it is one of the most inexpensive vacation areas in Germany.

To make reservations, you can pick the town or village you want to stay in and enter "http://www.name of the town.de" (e.g. http://www.fulda.de). They all have some site tab for tourist information. Here you can find a service to help you book a room in advance.