Top 11 Gorges around Erpel

Many people combine a hike in the Kasbach Valley with a ride on the historic Kasbach Valley Railway. The railway line runs just over 20 kilometers from Linz am Rhein up the valley that gives the valley its name to Kalenborn (Westerwald). From there, you can enjoy a relaxing hike down through the beautiful, sometimes wild and romantic, countryside.

The train ride with the historic rail bus from Linz to Kalenborn and the hike from there through the Kasbachtal back to Linz are highly recommended.

"... The Nachtigallental in Königswinter, at the entrance to the Siebengebirge Nature Park, is simply wonderful, at any time of the year. If you walk up Bahnhofsstrasse there, you'll come straight there. You immediately feel like you are in another, serene world. The hiking trail goes around many curves up towards Drachenfels. The Mennesbach babbles next to the hiking trail and the birds sing. When you have arrived at the upper end of the Nachtigallental, you will already see the Drachenburg and then the Drachenfels castle ruins. Saint Bernard and the Nightingales: A legend from the Middle Ages tells how the Nightingale Valley got its name. Once, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, the great Cistercian monk, was very upset by the singing of nightingales during a visit to Himmerod Monastery. He was so angry that the birds migrated to a valley in the Siebengebirge, which was later called “Nachtigallental”. Saint Bernard moved back to Clairvaux, but from then on music was at home here. The Nightingale Valley is a bird paradise. But not all monks felt like Bernhard von Clairveau, just think of the famous monk von Heisterbach, Cistercians like Bernhard, he liked the singing of birds. ..." FURTHER INFORMATION: https://www.rheindrache.de/nachtigallental/

A few bridges were no longer intact and very shaky. But a nice change from normal paths.

Path through the creek valley, but actually a little too well developed due to the fish ponds.

Very nice valley, everyone can decide for themselves whether they really like the fish ponds.

Climbing on the Stenzelberg has been expressly forbidden since June 2005. Previously, the Rhein-Sieg district had tolerated climbing, although the Stenzelberg, like the entire Siebengebirge, had been designated as a nature reserve (NSG) since 1920. The climbing ban became necessary due to the new nature reserve ordinance in the course of the recognition of the Siebengebirge as FFH area 5309-301 (Fauna-Flora-Habitat) of the European Union. In particular, the occurrence of the wall lizard was concerned and egg-laying sites at the foothills of the fields were destroyed. Despite the ban, climbing continued illegally after 2005. The path to the rocks was therefore closed by the forestry department.

The Stenzelberg is geologically a spring dome from the volcanic rock Latit. The rising magma did not reach the earth's surface here, but got stuck in the surrounding tuff cover rock. The softer tuff was later eroded away, exposing the harder latite. The Stenzelberg has been used as a quarry since the 11th century, in which quartz latite rock was mined. The Heisterbach Abbey also operated a quarry on the Stenzelberg. The quarried material was also used to build the monastery buildings and the abbey church. Furthermore, rock from the Stenzelberg was used for the Propsteikirche in Oberpleis, the Nikolauskapelle in Heisterbacherrott and the Bonn Minster, and later also for the churches in Niederdollendorf, in Oberdollendorf and in Asbach. The operation of the quarry ended in 1931. Source: https://www.kuladig.de/Objectansicht/O-FJK-20100630-0032