Leisurely stroll through the countryside
The fifth leg of the journey hasn’t been too severly affected by the flooding. At first you will walk over some pretty ridges and rather deep valleys, but at the half-way mark, the trail turns into, for the lack of a better description – a nice walk in the park. You will cross fields, walk along streams and the trail is wide and clear for most of this stretch. There are some instances where the trail is quite muddy at this time of the year – especially in the more forested areas, but with a good pair of boots that will not present too much of a problem.
I didn’t stop at the Steinfeld abbey as it had been booked solid several weeks beforehand, but instead continued down the valley into Urft, taking a short detour off the trail. Urft is yet another small town that was hit hard by the floods of this Summer. The hotel owner told me that the Urft River, which normally is a placid stream that runs through the village had risen over three meters in places, completely flooding several houses, and destroying the two only restaurants.
Review of the fifth leg of the Eifelsteig trail
What do these categories mean? Check out the explanations for the stars!
In summary, this is a nice part of the trail that isn’t too exciting. There is beauty, and I did catch a pair of peregrine falcons hunting, as well as a heron scaring off a kestrel among other things, but the general feeling is that it’s a pedestrian stretch. The abbey is utterly cool though, so even if you don’t stay there make sure to take a few minutes to explore their grounds.
