Page 29 - Willi Distel Diary

Start of a journeyman walking tour through Westphalia after leaving Bremen, spring 1926

Translated from Willi's German.

I. Journeyman travels. No one wept when I left Bremen, but the sky wept in their place. Yet already in the old episcopal city of Osnabrueck, where I broke my journey for three hours, the sun shone and rejoiced. In the cloth-town of Bielefeld I spent the night for the first time. The next morning I set off with a fellow journeyman for the Hermann Monument, which we reached towards evening. The climb was splendid; we were so merry and in such good spirits that we were the happiest people in the world. Towards three o'clock we reached Detmold. The next day the four of us went to the Externsteine, and after a short rest my friends left me. They went off to Hildesheim, and alone I wandered through the Baerental; at Kohlstaedt I made a delightful acquaintance with some farm girls. In the next village I stayed the night at an inn. Then I came to Bad Lippspringe, where I had my photograph taken. In Paderborn I stayed over Sunday, and with a friend I went to Lippstadt, and from there in pouring rain to Soest. On the way we had among us the finest choral society. The journeymen's hostel here was overcrowded, so I went on to Herten, where the board was very good. The last stage was to Dortmund, which I reached alone on foot - a factory city with very heavy trade. Very interesting is the Westfalenhalle, which I visited. The train took me

Places: Osnabrueck, Bielefeld, Hermannsdenkmal, Detmold, Externsteine, Bad Lippspringe, Paderborn, Lippstadt, Soest, Herten, Dortmund

Interesting facts

The Hermann Monument. The Hermannsdenkmal, near Detmold, is a colossal 1875 statue commemorating Arminius (Hermann), the chieftain who destroyed three Roman legions in the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9. It was a hugely popular patriotic excursion spot, reached by a scenic climb.
The Externsteine. The Externsteine are a striking row of tall natural sandstone pillars in the Teutoburg Forest, carved with a medieval relief - one of the most famous natural landmarks in the region and a favourite ramblers' destination.
Bielefeld, the cloth town. Bielefeld was long a centre of the linen and textile industry, which is why Willi calls it the 'cloth-town'.
Into the Ruhr. Dortmund, which he reached at the end of this leg, sits at the eastern edge of the Ruhr - Germany's dense coal-and-steel industrial heartland - hence the 'factory city' impression.
The Westfalenhalle. Dortmund's Westfalenhalle, opened in 1925, was one of the largest event and sports arenas in Germany at the time, so a brand-new attraction when Willi visited in 1926.