German Fairy Tale Route: Kassel to Bremen

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Kassel

   Kassel is a city that rebuilt itself after being flattened by wartime bombing, so the first impression from the ring road is more concrete than fairy tale. Give it an hour and the other Kassel appears. This is where the Brothers Grimm lived and worked for years in the early nineteenth century, collecting the tales that would make them famous, and the city is the start of the German Fairy Tale Route to Bremen. A museum in the city, the Grimmwelt, tells their story and shows original manuscripts.

   Read the complete Kassel write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Kassel is where the day begins. Next is Hamelin.

2. 2. Hamelin

   In Hamelin, the rats are on the pavement. A trail of little brass rats leads through the old town to the Rattenfängerhaus, the house of the Pied Piper, and the town has built its identity around the legend. According to the story, in 1284 a stranger in colourful clothes came to Hameln, as the Germans spell it, and offered to rid the town of its rats. He led them into the Weser with his pipe, the citizens refused to pay him, and he returned and led away their children. The earliest records speak of a loss of a hundred and thirty children, and historians still argue over what actually happened.

   Read the complete Hamelin write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Hamelin comes up about 124 km into the recorded legs. Next is Bremen.

3. 3. Bremen

   Bremen is the city of four animals, and you will meet them before you have parked: a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster standing on each other's backs in bronze beside the town hall. In the Grimm tale they set out to become musicians in Bremen, but they never actually get there, finding a robbers' house on the way, so the city is the destination of a story whose characters stopped short. The statue's front legs are polished gold by visitors rubbing the donkey's hooves for luck.

   Read the complete Bremen write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 306 km.