Route of industrial culture by bike and B-Turtle

Wednesday, 17 October 2018 17:45
Written by Portal Editor

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.

In addition to the newly established rental station in Vienna, two other rental stations in Switzerland and Germany, there is now one more rental station in Duisburg. Here, Wolfgang is active as an organizer of guided bicycle tours, now he has extended his concept of guided bicycle tours with the component "Overnight stay during the guided tours". With the takeover of his first B-Turtle, he now started a test tour with the mini-caravan on sections known to him on the "Route der Industriekultur", to learn about the driving conditions, the additional load of the wheel trailer and the usability of the route, and for sure to be able to give lot of experienced ideas to future users of the B-Turtle. Of course because you can also rent the mini-caravan for your own tour.
First pictures of the test tour in the appendix in the picture gallery! A review will follow a little later.

To the Route of Industrial Culture in the Ruhr Area

The rental offer for the B-Turtle started in September with the test operation of the rental directly from the company headquarters in Vienna's 12th district.

Testing Tour passing through & around Vienna

A taster tour is thought of as the chance to get to know the B-Turtle and its possibilities. The taster tours offer varied terrain with different road conditions. After the test round, a campsite will be set up, where the construction and dismantling can be tested. After a first night in the B-Turtle is dismantled and the return trip started. Now there is a comparable offer also in Duisburg on the route of the industrial culture.Despite its name, "Route der Industriekultur" is not a single route, but a network that links museums, exhibitions, panoramic viewpoints and historically important settlements. The individual places represent the industrial developments of the past centuries in the Ruhr area. This should be one of the world's most extensive tourist networks for the development of the industrial-cultural heritage of a contiguous region. For cyclists there is even a separate network of trails, as the network of cycle paths with a total of about 700 km in length which includes the sights of the Route of Industrial Heritage for cyclists, e-bike users and trike enthusiasts.

Bicycle network for long-distance cycle paths

The core of the cycle path network form the two long-distance cycle paths Emscher Park cycle path (225 km long, in the interior of the Ruhr) and round course Ruhrgebiet (350 km long, on the outer edge of the Ruhr), the latter runs in the south over long distances identical to the Ruhr Valley Cycle Route. The long-distance cycle paths are supplemented by signposted connections, the so-called R-roads (eg R10, R27, R31) and other cycle paths such as the HOAG-Route, the "Erzbahn" or the "Grüner Pfad". The trail network usually leads through forest, economic and riverside paths, using former railway lines and low-traffic roads. Slopes vary greatly depending on the situation in the Ruhr, from virtually zero at the canals to very low on the railway lines to strong on the edge of the Sauerland.

The tour then continues in the north to the Roman Route, the 100-Schlösser Route, the cycle route on the Dortmund-Ems Canal, the Hellweg Route in the east, the Kaiser Route and the Lenneroute in the south, and the Rheinradweg in the west.
Extensive maps with detailed descriptions of the sections and the attractions can be found in the bookstores and visitor center at Zollverein Colliery in Essen. Operator of the cycle path network is the Regionalverband Ruhr, which also provides GPS tracks to the main routes.

Please read as well:

Bike Tour Lednice - with AZUB Recumbent and B-Turtle
Jean-Yves - Solar trike and the B-Turtle - just a try