Hohenfelden Reservoir

On the last weekend in June the weather was particularly good and so I planned a little trip again. Since we have already hiked enough lately, a bike tour was on the agenda. The plan was to cycle to the reservoir Hohenfelden early in the morning and have a nice day there. Unfortunately, the bike path turned out to be not that ideal at all. A significant part of the route led along main roads and unfortunately it was uphill several times. Somewhere between Weimar Legefeld and Bad Berka we finally stood panting in the indentation of a country road that led through the middle of the forest and wound its way uphill in curves. Our eyes stopped at a small forest path, which actually looked quite inviting and apparently ran parallel to the main road. That would at least be a little relief, as it would certainly not have been pleasant to push our bikes along the main road. We decided without further ado to turn onto the forest path, where the next nasty surprise awaited us shortly afterwards. As inviting as the forest path looked at the beginning, it quickly turned into a muddy path that was the work of some heavy forest vehicles. Mud and water built up in the tire tracks while the median was overlooked by branches and the occasional nettle. We were faced with the decision to push our bikes through here, or to go back to the increasingly steep main road. As uncomfortable as the forest path seemed, it was probably the safer option and so we fought our way through nature. Both Kevin and I slipped into one of the puddles at least once and came too close to the nettles at least once. It cannot be denied, the way was terrible. Shortly before a large field we should turn right according to the map to get back to the main road, which was finally flattening, but unfortunately there was no real path. So we struggled the last few meters through tall grass, bushes and nettles and all while we had to push our bikes next to us.

Punctually at lunchtime we arrived at the reservoir and ate at a bar which was located directly at the water. While I was ordering pasta with salmon and arugula, Kevin had a pulled pork burger with fries. He seems to have won the first prize. Subjectively, the burger seemed to be the most frequently ordered dish, which was due to the fact that it was really delicious. However, I have to say that, on the whole, I was also very satisfied with my pasta.

Next we went to the so-called active park. There were numerous small attractions there, such as a climbing forest, an adventure playground, mini golf, or a petting zoo. Another attraction that we tried out right away was archery. It was a bit strange that we had to queue up for the archery at the crowded snack bar, but we were able to find this out quickly thanks to information from a member of staff. After a short briefing, we were able to shoot different targets, such as targets at different distances or even small dummies of a duck or a beaver. Besides us there was another family at the archery, but they had taken the somewhat more expensive package where after a while they switched to a parkour with animal dummies. That way, we ended up having the facility to ourselves, which was pretty cool. Kevin and I did a little competition in which we took turns shooting at the same target and then comparing. To our astonishment, the result was always very even. It was a draw a few times and when one of us won, it was always a very close decision. The last shots went to the beaver dummy and with my very last arrow I even hit the beaver, which was a worthy finale.

After archery we wanted to go pedal boating. Of course we weren’t the only ones with this idea and so all the pedal boats were gone when we arrived. A long line of aspiring pedal boat captains had already formed in front of the jetty. However, there were still rowing boats for which one did not have to queue up, so we changed the saddle without further ado and booked one of the rowing boats for half an hour. I really wanted to row because I have never done that before. This made us an emancipated boat, where the man sat in front and the woman rowed 😉
Rowing was a lot of fun, even if our boat got stuck in the dense water plants for a moment when we got too close to the shore.

The excursion was slowly coming to an end. The exertion of the journey from Weimar to the reservoir was still in our bones, which quickly made it clear to us that we didn’t want to cycle again. With a look at the map we noticed that the Kranichfeld train station was just 3km away, from where a train to Weimar departs. At the train station in Kranichfeld you feel as if you have reached the end of Thuringia. The trains that approach the station also end here, since the tracks also end at this station.
After a short time our train came. All in all, the reservoir Hohenfelden is a great place to do a lot of cool things. However, I wouldn’t want to go here on my bike again.