Regionalpark Tour 3 – Art safari for the young and the young at heart

This tour is entertaining, a little bit cheeky and very diverse. It connects the GrünGürtel Frankfurt along the Nidda with the Regionalpark Rundroute through the Taunus slopes. A tour through a lively urban landscape that presents perpetual change in an extremely creative way.

At the former airfield in Bonames, the GrünGürtel-Tier has settled on the railing of the Robert-Gernhardt Bridge. The Frankfurt poet and illustrator described his creature as a cross between a wild boar, a newt and a starling, who loves everything beautiful. No wonder that the heraldic animal of the Green Belt feels very comfortable on this former military airfield. The flair of the airfield is still present in old buildings like the tower and hangar, but the crushed concrete and asphalt surfaces with their new emerging wildlife, the extensive Nidda meadow and the former airfield now offer an extraordinary spacefor fans of movement and discovery, so that the complex has a very peaceful and cheerful character. The traces of history are not only visible at the former airfield, but also in other places along this tour. On the Regionalpark Rundroute, we pass the Schiefer Wald. This work of art made of trees commemorates the battle at the end of the 14th century between the citizens of the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt and the Kronberg Knights from the surrounding aristocracy.

The people of Frankfurt suffered a painful defeat here on the Streitplacken battlefield.

On this section near Eschborn, we have particularly vast views of both the crest of the Taunus Mountains and the Frankfurt skyline. The fertile soils on the foothillsof the Taunus have been used for agricultural purposes for centuries. The Agrar-Kultur-Achse on the Regionalpark Rundroute conveys the high significance of agriculture. Every year, the local farmers cultivate current and historical crops, which are accompanied by an explanatory brochure.

Along the way, the A66 motorway represents a turning point between the wide agricultural landscape and the detailed city and park landscape. Giraffes have to take a detour at an underpass crossing the A66 – we are in the middle of the amusing safariroute between the Frankfurt Zoo and the Opel Zoo. Waterskiing ducks, crossing meerkats and other indications of roaming zoo animals provide cheerful company.

At times, the trip has the character of a lively openair museum. In a small, tranquil green area in the middle of the Sossenheim lower field, a traditional orchard landscape, we meet Chlodwig Poth with some of his caricatures. He belongs to the group of artists and satirists of the Neue Frankfurter Schule, who are responsible for the comic art in the Green Belt.

The Barfüßer, cast in bronze by Siegfried Böttcher according to a drawing by Kurt Halbritter, greets us with a mischievous smile. It almost seems as if the friendly animal wants to join us on the tour with its many feet.

But the drive along the Nidda is not only marked by artistic mythical creatures in the middle of the countryside, we also come across various parks: the Volkspark, Brentanopark and Solmspark. Even if we cannot see it, the GrünGürtel-Tier with its sense for beauty almost certainly feels at home here, too.

1. The TOUR START is at the train station in Eschborn: Roll down the Bahnhofstraße following the signs of the REGIONALPARK RUNDROUTE. These symbols will accompany you all the way to Frankfurt-Riedberg. In Eschborn, ride to the centre, turn left before the church and follow the Rundroute to the Lernbauernhof Rhein-Main (educational farm).

2. After the busy stretch beside the MAIN ROAD, you will reach the Schiefer Wald and can now look forward to gently riding up and down amidst the fields over the foothills of the Taunus. Over the Äbbelwoibrückchen, you pass by Steinbach and then head across the S-Bahn line. Pay attention in Weißkirchen: The Rundroute splits here, you should continue straight ahead to the Agrar-Kultur-Achse.

3. When you reach the AGRAR-KULTUR-ACHSE, the Rundroute turns right onto the open field with a sign pointing to the Hölderlin path. A cross from 1519 marks the highest point of the tour, from here, you roll right down to the Riedberg.

4. In principle, the route takes you straight ahead, but here you leave the REGIONALPARK RUNDROUTE and follow the sign Hölderlinpfad until you reach the Nidda. The Hölderlinpfad crosses the country road at the traffic lights and takes you to Kätcheslachpark. After about 700 m, turn left alongside the small rivulet, around the lake and towards Kalbach. Parallel to the stream, you continue downhill.

5. Leave the Hölderlinpfad behind the Alter Flugplatz Bonames and follow the REGIONALPARK NIDDAROUTE to the right. This always runs along the banks of the Nidda, but switches to the right bank at the Eschersheim swimming pool and back to the left bank in the magnificent Solmspark in Rödelheim.

6. After a stop at the Barfüßer at the end of the park, continue on the riverbank, now taking the SAFARIROUTE. Well signposted, it takes you to the north side of the Nidda near Nied and into the orchards of the Sossenheimer Unterfeld. On the roads in the town, pay close attention to the route signs (left-right / right-left). Once you reach the Sulzbachaue, it becomes easier: go under the motorway (push the bike here!), then continue through the fields in Sulzbach.

7. The Safariroute and the REGIONALPARK RUNDROUTE cross in a valley: turn right and you will soon ride through the amazing landscape of the Arboretum, afterwards, you will arrive back at the train station in Eschborn.

A – TOWER CAFÉ
tower-cafe.de

B – RESTAURANT NIDDA
restaurant-nidda.de

C – JESSICAS PONDEROSA
Eschborner Straße 34
65843 Sulzbach (Taunus)

D – NIDDASTRAND
niddastrand.de