The HIVE Tour - Episode 44 - Effelsberg, largest radio telescope in EU!

My dear host here at the South part of Nordrhein Westfalen in Germany is care taking enough to have the dinning table half flooded by brochures about the attractions of the area. Among them I see one about the local telescope. I instantly decide to put it as a top priority since it is one of the two largest Radio Telescopes of the world with a diameter of 100 meters! I've never seen anything like this! Have you?

The only issue is the weather which remains questionable. On a cold misty morning that looks like the heart of winter in Athens rather than the heart of summer (early July) I take the short ride up to Effelsberg radio telescope and I leave my bike at its parking lot to have a first walk around:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 43 - Hilltop church SE of Bonn Germany

Weather up here SE of Bonn is still challenging and though it doesn't rain it feels like it can do so anytime so I feel pushed once again to grab any chance given for exploration. And this one doesn't look bad at all:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 42 - Goodbye Rheinland Pfatz, Hello Nordrhein Westfalen

My last day here at Medard has come, world's least known village/town maybe but I find bits of interest wherever I go. Besides, I am not a "Mykonos" or "Ibiza" guy. So now I walk parts of the area that I haven't yet and I must say that Germans have a taste when it comes to road warning signs:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 41 - One tower, one too many exceptional views! (Aussichtsturm Prinzenkopf, Germany)

In the previous episode I showed you around Klopp Castle and its wonderful view to river Rhein. Now I am leaving the castle behind to head West and visit other beauties of this region. After an hour plus ride, I get wowed to the view of the river Moselle and the town of Pünderich in the background:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 40 - Klopp Castle and (almost) vertical vineyards @ Bingen am Rhein

And the HIVE Tour just became 40! It's actually older if you also count the sub Episodes (more like 50) and time wise it's also close to the middle so yes, mid life crisis is a challenge at this moment 🙂

So I'm leaving behind Medard village to head for the beauties of Rheinland Pfatz region as proposed by my good Bavarian biker friend Andreas and after some riding here I am looking for some privacy to... pee: