Eifelverein - Felsenweg 10th stage

The Felsenweg is named after the red sandstone rocks of the Rur-Eifel, the dolomite rocks in the Gerolsteiner Land and the volcanic rocks of the southern Eifel. The 10th stage leads from Mürlenbach to Malberg.

This main hiking trail (HWW) of the Eifelverein connects the Rur Valley with the Moselle Valley, passing through the Kermeter in the Eifel National Park into the Oleft Valley, from there to the source of the Ahr in Blankenheim, on into the Kyll Valley, crossing the Gerolstein Dolomites and the Volcanic Eifel, continuing along the Kyll and ending at the Kaiser Wilhelm Bridge in Trier.

Route description

This stage leads through the >Kyllburger Waldeifel< with its pretty villages in the Kyll valley, where you can enjoy a good walking holiday, especially as each village has a railway connection to the Cologne-Trier line.

On the Burgring uphill via Bertrada Castle - the castle was probably named after >Bertrada<, Charlemagne's mother - then in a southerly direction on sloping paths through the forest. After several hairpin bends, briefly onto Mürlenbacher Straße, turn left over Kyll and railway to Densborn (4.3 km). Through the village, mainly in a southerly direction with several hairpin bends to Zendscheid (8.3 km). On the hillside path, parallel to the Kyll, to St. Johann (9.5 km). On forest paths, first upwards - later downwards back into the Kyll valley. Through the Bitburg state forest to St. Thomas (14.1 km). After crossing the Kyll and the railway, it is worth making a detour to the former Cistercian monastery. The tranquillity and seclusion of the Kyll valley are what make St. Thomas so attractive. The church and the extensive gardens are worth seeing. Forest paths lead to the >Strengen Hals< (17 km), a panoramic mountain around which the Kyll makes a loop and through which the >Dechen Tunnel< leads before Kyllburg. Past a refuge, on the slope of the Annenberg with Mariensäule, to Marienstraße in Kyllburg (18.2 km). 

If you want to visit Kyllburg with its worth seeing collegiate church with its three choir windows from the early Renaissance and the imposing cloister, it is best to walk from here along Hochstraße and Stiftstraße. 

After Malberg, from Marienstraße in a northerly direction on the road >Am Annenberg< - past the church and cemetery, to the church square and castle on a mountain spur (19.5 km).

Route: Mürlenbach - Bertradaburg - Densborn - Zentscheid - St. Johann - St. Thomas - Strenger Hals - Kyllburg - Malberg.

The gpx data for the entire route can be found at www.eifelverein.de or at www.outdooractive.de.

(Source: Eifelverein.de)