High altitude views in the sunny south of Wipperfürth – hiking fun in the Bergisches Land

Before new challenges awaited me (as a test) in the afternoon, I made another attempt at hiking within the limits of my currently limited options. I chose a route in the area northwest of the Hanseatic City of Wipperfürth, which I've already visited several times. This time, the starting point was in the heart of the oldest town in the Bergisches Land. At the edge of the old town, which was still deserted at around 7:15 a.m., I soon headed uphill. I left the urban area through a small park and past the Leyesiedlung settlement. Behind the Münter Cross, located near the village of the same name, I reached meadow paths that ran over a ridge and thus offered the best view of the sunlit Bergisches Land landscape. The small villages of Wegerhof and Eichholz lined the path before I descended into the valley of the Dreker Bach stream. From here, the path continued uphill until I reached the former federal gold village of Thier, one of Wipperfürth's seven church villages. At the imposing church of St. Anna, I turned left, where I first reached Niederflosbach via a side road and then the Flosbach stream. There, from a small hiking parking lot, the most challenging climb of the day awaited me. It catapulted me once again onto a panoramic high-altitude trail via a well-maintained forest path. Forests surrounded me as I continued my journey to the village of Graben, where I switched to the L284 for a short stretch. I left the road in front of the elegant Landhotel Stüttem and made my way down to Fähnrichstüttem. In the valley of this remote village, where the well-known Jokey Plastik company operates its headquarters, I crossed a stream called "Die Lind" before—as you might expect—another climb followed. After this long stretch along roads, I was delighted to switch to natural paths near the Kremershof. Narrow, sloping paths led me to the extremely remote Spinnloch Hut, beyond which the climb to the highest point of my tour continued through lush greenery. At Agathaberg—dominated by the parish church of St. Agatha—I reached the top and enjoyed more magnificent views. Before the church, I turned left and headed down the Feinenberg. In Niedergaul, I passed another, significantly larger Jokey Group factory, before turning onto a shady forest path a few meters behind, which ran parallel to the Gaulbach stream, as a contrast to the industrial plant. I followed this path to the town of Wipperfürth, where I made my way through residential areas🏡 toward the center. I strolled through the rather busy market square and passed through the streets of the old town with its impressive churches before reaching the destination of my tour. Aside from the fact that the route had a fairly high proportion of asphalt🏘️ – and it was almost exclusively on very quiet side streets – it was an extremely successful route, which I was able to experience in perfect weather conditions☀️. Conclusion: A successful start to Sunday👍 – let's see what the day brings😳!

Today we went from Wipperfürth through farmland. The entire tour is a visual highlight. https://www.droste-verlag.de/buecher/titel/bergisches-land-wandern-fuer-die-seele.html - Tour 5. The weather wasn't so nice today. This hike is best done when the weather is nice. Then you have more views

I've been following "Das Bergisches" for a while, but never got any information about new tours. This is probably due to the fact that no new tours have been posted there since April 2022. 🙄 A few days ago I rummaged around there and saved two tours. The choice fell yesterday on this tour: https://www.komoot.de/tour/749930201?ref=atd (Original title: "Promising heights in the sunny south of Wipperfürth - hiking with pleasure in the Bergisches Land" Original comment: "South of Wipperfürth, this hike takes you on relaxing panoramic paths and only slightly uphill through the natural arena. You hike past many small towns and always around the 372-meter-high Hermesberg. You always have very wide views the hilly landscape.You will find rest stops at Fähnrichstüttern in the Stüttem estate and in Agathaberg. Otherwise, it's worth taking a few treats with you for an extended picnic in the countryside.") We have extended the tour to include the access from the parking lot, as you can only park for a maximum of 2 hours on the market square in Wipperfürth. We didn't take any opportunities to stop off on the way. The mentioned country estate is closed Mon-Wed and only open in the evenings anyway. Therefore, our culinary delight consisted of the cheese sandwich we brought along and a coffee/tea at the end of the tour in Wipperfürth. However, there were plenty of promising heights 👍. The path is easy to walk. In summer it offers little shade, so it is probably not recommended then. If you don't mind the tarmac (mostly side roads with very little traffic, plus a short stretch along a major road) and maybe looking for a stretch with little mud, you might like the trail as much as we did. But we also had really great weather and so we could enjoy the many panoramic views. Wipperfürth is the oldest city in the Bergisches Land. The name comes from a ford through the Wupper (Wipper) at the intersection of important trade routes. Link to information about the Hanseatic League: https://hanse.org/de/hanse/wipperfuerth Link to Wupper/Wipper: https://www.wupperverband.de/service/wissen-und-lernen/themen/die-wupper I won't say anything about spring now. The temperature around freezing yesterday morning was too cold for that 🥶 and nature was still pretty much back. PS In case anyone misses it... The robin had yesterday off 😉 and sent some other 🐦‍⬛🐦 friends over instead.

A tour from the Bergisches Land. The circular route is actually 14.5 km long, but we shortened it a bit. We simply skipped the Wipperführung completely and only stayed on panoramic paths in the Bergisches Land. The tour leads past many small villages peppered with great views over green and hilly landscapes. Today, due to the cloudy weather, we didn't get to see any great views 🙈 but it was still beautiful and just relaxing.

Despite the cold, stormy weather, we really enjoyed the tour. It is mostly on field paths over hills that offer great views into the distance... just meadows and forest... you pass many farms and small villages with beautiful half-timbered houses... just wonderful 😀 The Hanseatic city of Wipperfürth has a historic town center with beautiful shopping streets, which we also liked. We will go hiking here again in the summer

A beautiful tour with magnificent views far to the horizon, again planned and guided by Gerd.

Wonderful hike with great views of the Bergisches Land near Wipperfürth. There are apparently two parking lots at Ohler Wiesen (at the old wire drawing factory and at the stadium), but they are not far from each other. The entrance to the actual hiking trail was a bit hidden and not very clearly described: you have to cross the zebra crossing directly at the bus station and not walk past it. Otherwise, some of the traffic lights in the directions seem to have been replaced by roundabouts. The only slightly critical point - especially when hiking with children - is the approximately 500 m long section along the country road from the Stüttem estate down to Graben. There is no real shoulder or good opportunities to pull over at the side of the road (guardrail, barbed wire fence) and the cars rush past quite quickly at the speed limit of 70 km/h on a winding road with only moderate visibility.