Legends of the Eifel

When COVID-19 restrictions slowly eased, we decided to let a new adventure begin: the Eifelleiter ('Eifel ladder'). We were excited to get away, we might have been a bit naive, but we were prepared to do this: hiking 54.2 kilometers in three days—our first hike lasting several days. The first two days were supposed to be moderate hiking trails, the last day a hard one. We were optimistic (or, in case of Ilse, just forgot immediately). And the backpacks were not too heavy. In the beginning.

After a shortish train ride, we began our adventure in Bad Breisig. We had to find the symbol marking our route: a green hill, parted by a white path, a blue tower on top and a blue creek below. Or: a sail boat, as Ilse understood it. Made far more sense than Else's interpretation! It wasn't easy, at times confusing. But alas! We ran into a local hiking group of experienced women, one of them even did this hike when the route was opened! With powerful, confident steps, she took the lead and guided us. Finally! After an arduous hike (Ilse: "if this is intermediate, how are we going to survive hard?!"), we reached our first scenic overlook. But: still no hill/sail boat symbol. We asked another hiking couple. And: we were on the wrong path! After some discussions, we decided to stay on this path, taking a different, slightly longer route. After a few hours, our new route would meet our originally planned one. No adventure without an adventure!

On our first day, we hiked woods with village views, colorful hills, and beautiful grain fields with a dramatic sky above. Although the first day was a public holiday in this region of Germany, we didn't come across a lot of people as soon as we were on our (adjusted) hiking route—apart from the natural burial site where Ilse was afraid that she had stepped on human remains. (She didn't—in Germany, you are required to use urns even for natural burials.)

But we did see and hear a lot of animals! Many of these were, of course, farm animals, particularly cows and horses. But we also saw two deer jumping through the woods and heard so many different birds. The one time we actually crossed a village felt weird after hours and hours in the rough wilderness. (Well, a wilderness from the city girls' perspective ...)

When we finally arrived at our hotel in Niederdürenbach at the end of this first day, after 21 kilometers, we were tired, exhausted, in pain, but happy. And we had something to look forward to: weeks before leaving on this trip, we had found a restaurant not too far from our hotel. The view from their terrace seemed to be beautiful. Else, a vegetarian, had immediately checked the menu to make sure she would be able to eat here—sometimes it is difficult to find vegetarian options in the German countryside. They had dumplings on their menu, with mushrooms—a dream come true! And while we fought through the last one or two hours of this first day, that's what we thought: we'll have amazing food, both of us. We'll have amazing food, both of us. We'll have amazing food, both of us. Well, the restaurant had changed the menu, the food really wasn't good, the innkeeper practically threw us out after we finished our meal. Anticlimactic end to our first day.

Our second day started with sore limbs, blisters, and an amazing breakfast. Fueled with new energy (more or less) and sunshine, we followed our route (no confusions anymore!) through the countryside, circling an old castle we had already spotted the day before.

Most excitingly, we spotted two deer in the fields right at the beginning of our second day! This time, we even managed to take a few pictures. But that wasn't the end to our wildlife excitements! We spotted a few hawks (we believe) and even saw an eagle (still believing here ...)! We never thought of ourselves as bird watchers, but watching these birds was so much fun!

The next hours were almost relaxing: after a few hours on field paths, we walked a few hours through the woods. We repeatedly found ourselves at scenic overlooks and enjoyed the nature surrounding us a lot! (This joy was a bit less euphoric when Ilse had to remove a tick from Else's leg and started googling borreliosis.)

After just about 17 kilometers (felt like nothing after our first day!), we reached our second accommodation, an Airbnb in the smallish village Kempenich. We found a traditional bar (or, rather, 'bar') that also served food—salad and fries the only vegetarian option on the menu. But the waiter was really nice and engaged and we enjoyed our evening a lot! (Particularly since we slightly 'escaped' the drunk, middle-aged man who wanted 'to keep us company.'

Our last day started with one of the best breakfasts we ever had—our host had even fresh strawberries! The day before we had decided that we would skip the first part of our hike and take a 'bus.' Being in a remote area, this meant that we had to inform the bus company of our plans 90 minutes before the bus was scheduled and they sent a taxi to pick us up—for them, it's cheaper to send taxis for the occasional travelers instead of having a bus running empty all the time. Our taxi driver was very chatty and helpful and we began the last day's hike with the highlight of the entire tour: a hike to a tower overlooking the entire region. We had the most beautiful views from this vantage point! (That's also where we took the picture at the beginning of this post.)

The last leg of the journey was hilly and we didn't really leave the woods. We mostly walked downhill, but occasionally uphill as well. We enjoyed our last hours in the woods a lot, although the Nürburgring, a popular race track for motor sports events, wasn't too far and we could continually hear the sounds of the racing cars. At the end of our journey, devout inhabitants had built the Stations of the Cross in the woods (between 1861 and 1863). Although we are not religious, these elaborate stations impressed us.

Although tired and exhausted, we were proud of ourselves when we finally reached our (motor sports themed, as we found out) hotel in Adenau after 16 more kilometers. We ended our trip with a pizza and well-deserved Aperol Spritz. We can't wait for our next hiking adventure!