Eifel National Park by public transport – on winding paths

A lovely hike, thanks to our dear cousin Petra

A shorter hike was planned today because we wanted to use it to take pictures. That's why we decided to do the tour "On winding paths - theme tour 7" of the Eifel National Park. A path "... winding downhill in serpentines in spruce and oak forests". This is how part of this tour is described in the themed tour book. The hike lives up to its name, leading steeply up into the Kermeter and then back into the Urfttal. The tour led through really beautiful nature, where we caught many small crawling animals today... 🤩

Today it was supposed to be the "T7" - but right at the beginning there was a large construction site at the spa, so we couldn't cross the bridge. So we first did a loop through Gemünd. After a steep climb to Wolfgarten in the fog, a nice loop through the forest and back along the Urft. At the end I had to adapt the route to the current conditions, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to return to the car park.

I started today's tour in the Kneipp spa town of Gemünd from the parking lot at Marienplatz, which is not far from the actual starting point, the Gemünd National Park Gate. Passing the spa park, it soon goes over narrow paths up the oak-covered slopes of the Bernersknipp past the "Kaiseiche" in the direction of Wolfgarten. Shortly before the Kaisereiche, after you have mastered most of the steep ascent, a small seating area invites you to take a breather. Wolfgarten is a small, beautiful village in the middle of Kermeter that you cross on this well-signposted tour before heading back into the forest in the direction of Tönnishäuschen, where you have to cross the main road. Again and again one comes across groups of needleless tree skeletons of dead spruce, which stand out from the surrounding green deciduous forest. The desired self-renewal of the forest, from the commercial forest to the natural forest, can therefore be observed well here. After crossing the Kermeter more and more on wide farm roads, you now hike back down narrow paths into the Urft valley to follow the Maueler path back to Gemünd. The path along the river leaves mixed feelings. On the one hand, a very beautiful route, on which you can still learn about history from the region (West Wall, iron mining in the Schleiden valley), on the other hand, you are also reminded of the force of nature of the seemingly harmless little river, which was destroyed a year ago during the flood disaster brought much destruction to my homeland. Even if the traces are still clear, much has already been restored. All in all, a very nice, interesting and varied tour through the national park, which is very well signposted ("follow T7") and can also be shortened near the Tönnishäuschen car park ("T7 short").

Beautiful forest paths in idyllic peace. Gemünd is nowhere near as far as the Ahr Valley, Stolberg and Eschweiler. Here, many traces of the flood can still be seen in the city center

Today it was supposed to be quite hot again. So I needed a hike with a lot of forest! And if possible on higher ground. I found what I was looking for in the "pre-made" theme tours in the Eifel: No. 7 "On winding paths". The route is described on a whole number of websites, with variants between 10 and 13 km. In view of the likely course of the day's temperatures, I reversed the direction: first the section in the valley, then onto the plateau and the descent through the forest in the last third. It was a wonderful day. The air was downright pleasant until midday. It was only around 2 p.m. that clouds began to gather and it became sweat-inducingly humid. The village of Wolfgarten is really worth seeing. No wolves at all in the meticulously tended gardens. Instead, at the edge of the village, behind an electric fence, there are rams of a very old breed with impressive horns. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgarten https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soayschaf In the afternoon a spider caught my eye. It was apparently busy freeing itself from a cocoon. Strange! According to my research, these garden spiders tend to "hatch" in the spring. It was only when I looked at the photos that I discovered that a grasshopper was sitting on a leaf a little below, like a geomancy bug...

A challenging but beautiful route. There are many highlights! Highly recommended!

Thanks to @EifelFranke we discovered this themed tour of the national park - thank you! Start and finish are in the center of Gemünd, ideal for parking, grabbing provisions or for a final stop, ice cream parlor and restaurant are next door. Immediately after crossing the Urft, it goes up on a narrow path, after which it remains rather flat until it finally goes back down to the Urft. The route leads very nicely through changing forest types, mostly mixed and oak forest, but also longer sections through calamity areas with dead spruce trees. The National Park has called the tour "On winding paths", which is only partially true for us, in large sections the tour leads through great landscape, but on the usual farm roads. A wonderful round to relax or to start hiking in the Eifel. It offers variety, is easy to walk and is well signposted.