HeimatSpur Afelskreuzrunde – GesundLand Vulkaneifel

The current fuel prices let me explore the surrounding area again at the moment, which turned out to be quite positive again today. The Afelskreuz - Runde starts at the hiking car park in the center of Sarmersbach, directly at the town hall, and initially leads almost 2 km uphill, for me a very exhausting air pump, but once you have arrived at the Eifel - Blick Schloscheid, it compensates for the hardships. It continues through the forest and over country lanes (where the farmers are busy driving out liquid manure on the fields 😖) in the direction of Katzwinkel, but before the village I turn left to the Afelskreuz. I light a candle in the Afelskreuz chapel because the statue of Mary is inscribed with "Queen of Peace pray for us". Even if I'm not strictly religious - it can't hurt to pause a little and commemorate the people who aren't doing as well as I am right now. Not far from here I reach the huge XXL panorama bench. Here you can take a break, no one around, the sun is shining and the view is fantastic. Only the rustling and whirring of the nearby wind turbines disturbs the idyll, but that can sometimes be ignored. My little, fluffy companion looks much smaller on the huge bench - before he gets complexes, we put down an Eifelstein and make our way back to Sarmersbach. Shortly before the end I discover another Eifelstein who wishes me a happy Easter! What a great joy!!! Thanks very much! So, now I've also got to know this Sarmesbach group. And I discovered the other end of the "Retiree Climb", which I chose as "my way" on another Sarmersbach circuit 😅. But it doesn't seem to be very long, I see the other end, which I also took a picture of at the time. The round is very well signposted throughout, Komoot was not absolutely necessary for orientation. I only deviated from the signposted path behind the Afelskreuz in the direction of the XXL bank because the path was very muddy and an alternative path went right next to it.

I really wanted to follow this home trail to find the memorial stone of the Matthias Brotherhood Adenau. On our hikes we have already found so many memories/memorial stones of the pilgrimage from the Rhineland to the Matthias grave in Trier, but not yet the stone of the Adenau group. The supplication procession to the grave of St. Matthias originated in the 11th century and is still alive today. According to legend, the Roman Empress Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, commissioned Bishop Agritius to bring the body of the Apostle Matthias to Trier, along with other valuable relics. Afterwards, because of the turbulent times, the relics were buried near the graves of the first Trier bishops Eucharius, Valerius and Maternus, i.e. in the ring of St. Matthias. Then they were forgotten. It was not until Emperor Henry III that they heard about them in the middle of the 11th century. It is possible that the grave was discovered during demolition work on the predecessor building of the current St. Matthias Church in Trier (previously St. Eucharius), some relics were left to the emperor, but the grave was then closed again. There is no evidence of any particular veneration of the Apostle Matthias before the 11th century. However, after information about the discovery of the grave was spread, a stream of pilgrims began to arrive, whose catchment area stretched from the North Sea to the Alps. To this day, St. Matthias Abbey is the center of veneration of the apostle, although the relics probably cannot be attributed to the saint. In any case, after a bit of searching and a little extra round, we found the hidden memorial stone between two bushes: It stands directly opposite the chapel, slightly to the left. The chapel was once dedicated to St. Bridget, but it is now a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary. When the patron saint of livestock was still venerated here, processions to keep the livestock healthy also took place here. Many centuries ago, the Romans expanded the trade route into a Roman road. The location of the Afelskreuz is exactly halfway between the connection between Trier and Cologne, namely exactly 90 km in both directions. This location, where several paths cross, is therefore interesting from several points of view: as a procession route for people and animals, as a trade route and a historical Roman road. Directions: https://www.gesundland-vulkaneifel.de/heimatspur-afelskreuz/ About the brotherhoods: https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthiasbruderschaft To St. Matthias: https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthias_(Apostel) About the Afelskreuz: https://www.katzwinkel-vulkaneifel.de/index.php/kultur/afelskreuz or https://www.sarmersbach.de/afelskreuz/ St. Brigitta or Brigida: https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigida_von_Kildare or https://www.heimatjahrbuch-vulkaneifel.de/VT/hjb2015/hjb2015.113.htm

Sarmersbach has a few hikes up its sleeve and today we wanted to tackle the second. Wonderful weather, you can already see the first small forest berries. The round didn't have the mega highlights, but it was well signposted, easy to walk on and had views to offer. We rested at the XXL bench with a view of 5 wind turbines. The electricity has to come from somewhere. laid out a stone. In Sarmersbach there is another organic farm that we visited afterwards. Fine, but expensive :).