Eifelsteig – Day 11 – Daun to Manderscheid

After a relatively good night’s sleep and a lavish breakfast at the castle (real espresso!), I tried to set off at 8:15. I say tried because the lady at reception wasn’t expecting to see someone check out so soon and hadn’t turned her computer on. Then, when she found out I was from the UK, she insisted on telling me about her dream in life: retiring to a deserted island in Scotland to look after sheep because she had seen a documentary about it. She was sweet enough but held me up for a good quarter of an hour.

When I finally got away, I walked down through the village to the beautiful Kurpark where I was able to pick up the trail after around 2 km. It was a nice easy walk to begin the day, and the Kurpark was particularly impressive with all kinds of facilities: a Kneipp bath, fitness equipment and lots of benches for relaxing.

At the end of the park, the first climb of the day began. Daun is famous for three volcanic crater lakes that lie to the south of the town and the trail took in all three. The first, the Gemündener Maar was surrounded by thick forest, and very difficult to make out at first. There was a café and restaurant on the shore and, on the opposite side of the lake, a bathing spot. It was closed, but on a September morning I was never going to get in the water anyway.

The trail climbed quite steeply to a ridge between this first lake on the next, the Weinfelder Maar. At the top of the ridge, there was a small lookout tower, and, from the top, I was finally able to see the Gemünder Maar far below.

The trail then followed the ridge before descending to the second lake. Even though it was only 9:30 or so at this point, I was already in a T-shirt as the day was getting warmer and warmer (but not warm enough to go for a dip).

The second lake was the one I preferred as there were no buildings around it and the reflections of the surrounding woods were particularly beautiful.

The trail circled the lake, descending to the very water’s edge at one point before rising back up to a road that I crossed to reach the third lake, the Schalkenmehrener Maar. This third lake was the most touristy of the three, with a pathway running all around it, and a number of tourist hotels in the village of Schalkenmehren at the far end of it. Because of the tourist infrastructure, and the private homes lining the lake, it was impossible to get a decent photo of it. Even so, the village came in handy as I was able to buy a few snacks for my lunch there (wisely as it turned out since the only restaurant along the way looked as if it had closed down a few years ago).

From Schalkenmehren, the trail led steeply uphill through fields to a ridge where I found a great bench to take my two-hour break (I have been pacing myself on this trail by taking a rest every two hours or so). The spot I chose provided a fine view of the lake below, but photos were unable to do it justice.

When I set off again, I discovered that there would have been a fourth lake at one point in the distant past but, because of its higher altitude, it has drained away over time. The round crater was visible but now forms a grassy dip in the terrain.

The trail then reached a road and, after crossing it, entered the woods for a lengthy descent to the Lieser valley. Having spent most of the day until then in open fields, it was good to be back in the cool of the forest. Just before the village of Trittscheid and the final steep descent to the valley, there was a pretty little lake where, once again, there were some wonderful reflections.

The first couple of kilometres along the Lieser valley were on a beautiful tree-lined path above the meadows where the babbling river flowed.

Then, after crossing the river, the trail headed steeply uphill into the woods, still following the river, but far above it now. At one point, there was a rock face where people had placed slates as a token of their love. A much more interesting idea than the tacky padlocks that one finds in every city these days.

By this point, I was looking for a spot for my four-hour rest. It took a while to find, and I was already up to 20 km when I spotted the perfect bench.

I sat in the sun and ate the goat meat sausages and butter biscuits that I had bought in Schalkenmehren. As a plaque on the back of the bench said, it had been placed there in memory of Jörg by his friends.

I felt very grateful to Jörg’s friends until I set off again and found myself unable to get the grizzled voice of Lee Marvin out of my mind, singing (if you can call it that) “I was born under a wanderin’ star” from Paint Your Wagon. Even worse, the words seemed to match my pace as I went along, and I just could not get the song out of my head. I find this kind of thing happens a lot on a hike. Something calls to mind a song from the past and it haunts you for the rest of the day. But Lee Marvin was a first for me!

The final section of the trail to Manderscheid was on a beautiful and narrow forest path high above the river, offering views of the two castles perched above the village as I approached.

The lower castle was barely visible because of the trees, but there was a terrific view of the other one just before the final bend before the village.

Manderscheid turned out to be a glum little place. Numerous businesses along the main street had closed down (post Covid?), I had to walk 2 km out of town to find a supermarket to buy supplies for the next day, and when it came to dinner, it turned out that every decent restaurant was closed for the day. I ended up in the local Turkish kebab joint! Despite all that, the little guesthouse that I had found for the night was absolutely perfect, so not everything was lost.