DiVa route

Its name is derived from the first two letters of the stations that make the DiVa route a star among the cycle paths in the Osnabrücker Land: the fossilized dinosaur tracks in Bad Essen and the exhibition on the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest at the Museum and Park Kalkriese. 

Red is also the signal color for cyclists to stop – especially at the Cloth Maker Museum Bramsche. Here you experience historical machines in action. And you see how wool fabrics were produced here until 1972 that were sought after worldwide. Especially those in the shade of Bramscher Red, which clothed Hanoverian and English soldiers. It is obtained from madder plants grown in the dye garden of the industrial monument. 
Outside the gates of Bramsche it becomes green. Either you first enjoy nature along the Mittelland Canal on flat paths. Or you climb the gentle hills of the Wiehengebirge and indulge in the alternating shade of forests and open heights with wide views.

From the lookout tower on the Kalkrieser Berg you look down on the Museum and Park Kalkriese and the historical site of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. The quick ride down is definitely worth it. The impressive exhibition shows how generations of researchers searched for the place of the legendary “Battle of the Teutoburg Forest”, which they ultimately found here at the Wiehengebirge. The museum and park also offer deep insights into the life of Romans and Germanic peoples 2,000 years ago. And before the Romans came? People lived as shown by the Iron Age House in Venne. 

And even before there were humans? Dinosaurs took beach walks near Bad Essen. The tropical ocean of the past retreated into the North Sea, the giant lizards became extinct. Only their tracks in sandstone remain, found almost 100 years ago in the Barkhausen quarry. Today they are one of the best-known experience stations in the TERRA.vita Nature Park. Life-sized models show exactly which animals immortalized themselves here. Information panels explain how hard stone formed from a beach. That this stone became attractive buildings is shown by the further route of the DiVa tour. Churches for example and the Alt Barenaue Water Castle, the neo-Gothic Ippenburg Castle and even the old town of Bad Essen. While you enjoy tea, a hearty potato dish, or something sweet at the cozy church square of the spa town, you do see wooden half-timbered houses, but the square and alleys are paved with stones. Stones that have been polished by countless walkers, strollers and cyclists over the years. In the sun they shine almost like gemstones. They really suit the DiVa well.