Hannoversch Münden is where two rivers lose their names. The Werra and the Fulda meet here, and from this point on the water is called the Weser, which flows north for more than four hundred kilometres to the North Sea. The town sits at the meeting point, with water on three sides, and has so many half-timbered houses, more than seven hundred, that it feels like a stage set, with carved beams, painted gables and a cobbled main street.
The old town has a Renaissance castle, built by the Guelph dukes, and a town hall with a lovely carved facade. The doctor and travelling quack Johann Andreas Eisenbarth, who became a legend in German folk songs, died here in 1727, and every summer, plays and processions recall him. The old stone bridge over the Werra still carries traffic, and the riverbanks have a long path for walking and cycling.
With about twenty-five thousand people, Münden is large enough to have fuel, supermarkets and a good choice of cafes, and it sits at the edge of the Weser uplands, a hilly, wooded region with roads that wind along the river and over the ridges. The ride along the Weser or the Fulda is a pleasure, with long bends, trees on both banks, and hardly any traffic on the minor roads.
The label calls this a swim stop, and in summer the rivers are popular for swimming, canoeing and sunbathing. The water is generally clean, but currents can be strong, and the banks steep, so take care. The best time is a warm summer afternoon, when the light on the half-timbered houses is golden. Mist rises from the rivers in the early morning, and the old town has a hush that disappears by ten o'clock. If you have time, walk up through the lanes to the church of St Blasius and look back across the roofs: the whole triangle of land between the rivers is laid out beneath you, and you can see how the town grew up around the water.