Kassel Loop Cycle Route 2 - Stage Hessisch Lichtenau - Rotenburg a.d. Fulda

Mainly downhill and flat from Melsungen via the Fulda cycle path, asphalted and well signposted. Suitable for families except for a 3 km section via B 487;
Alternative: Via L 3147 via Günsterode directly to Melsungen

Difficulty level: rather easy
Trail quality: ★★★★☆
Signposting: ★★★★☆

From Hess. Lichtenau via Spangenberg, the route is almost exclusively downhill to Melsungen. Caution: the B 487 between Retterode and Spangenberg is very busy.
As you continue, you cycle away from the main road on asphalted farm tracks. From Schnellrode, follow the Chattenau-Fulda cycle path R 12. Spangenberg has a small old town and a castle. The R 12 takes you quickly to the Fulda valley near Melsungen.

The Bartenwetzer town boasts around 350 half-timbered buildings and a stately town hall on the market square. The Bartenwetzer Bridge is an old stone arch bridge very close to the market square. This is where loggers used to meet to go into the surrounding forests. But before they did so, they sharpened their axes (baleen) on the sandstone of the bridge. A monument and a figure that appears in the tower of the town hall at 12 noon and 6 p.m. commemorate this time.
From Melsungen, the route takes you comfortably along the well-developed Fulda cycle path towards Rotenburg. Between Beiseförth and Binsförth, cyclists can expect an unusual river crossing by cable ferry, which you have to operate yourself using a crank. In Morschen, the medieval Haydau Monastery lines the route. It is the best-preserved Cistercian convent in Hesse. Today, the convent is a center for communication and culture.
A good hour later, the stage destination of Rotenburg an der Fulda is reached. The old landgrave town from the 12th century has been preserved with only minor interventions despite a few fires. Half-timbered houses dominate the townscape. The wonderful row of half-timbered houses with the landgrave's castle on the left bank of the Fulda is particularly impressive.
We recommend a visit to the doll and toy museum with its collection of German porcelain dolls, doll's houses and stores as well as rocking horses and doll's prams.

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Service and service on site

Melsungen
E-bike charging stations

At the market square in Spangenberg
At the water playground in Mörshausen
At the Culture & Tourist Info in Melsungen (in future also separately at the market square)

Repair facilities:
Zweiradhaus Bischoff Melsungen (also rental of (e-bike) bicycles), Vorstadt 4-8,
Radhaus Melsungen, Nürnberger Str. 13
As a self-use station in the anteroom of the Melsungen Culture & Tourist Information Office

Lockable bike boxes at the Melsungen service center (with own lock; subject to charge)