2-valleys route

The hike starts at the church in Kesternich. The altar cross from the 19th century has a special story. It has only hung again in its original place since 1983. This is thanks to a former US soldier: When the church fell victim to fierce house fighting between Germans and Allies in 1945, a US sergeant saved the old cross and took it to his homeland. There he entrusted it to a monastery. Only decades later was the original owner identified, and the cross was returned.

We leave the village and walk through the extensive fields and meadows southeast of Kesternich. We soon encounter scattered farms known as resettler farms. Shortly after, we reach the Eiserbach and follow the lively brook for about one kilometer, surrounded by a natural landscape protected due to the occurrence of various rare animal and plant species. The path leaves the valley and we walk surrounded by trees through a peaceful mixed forest before the tree stand gradually thins, and the path leads us along the forest edge in a southwesterly direction.

We finally meet the Tiefenbach, whose babbling and banks with floodplain areas will accompany us for the next kilometers. We pass a former oil mill where edible oils were produced in the 17th century. Shortly before Kesternich, we leave the Tiefenbach and the path leads us back to the starting point.