Category: Eifelsteig

October 3rd is not the best day for visiting a German city. It’s a national holiday to celebrate German reunification and, apart from a handful of restaurants and cafés, everything in Trier was closed. Even so, there were a lot of visitors in the city, as I discovered on going for breakfast after a rough… Continue reading A day in Trier and my final thoughts on the Eifelsteig

For the first time on this trip, I found myself unable to write up this blog last night. The reason will become apparent as I go along. I knew this would be another long one. The guidebook said it would be around 30 kilometres, but as I have ended up systematically doing a longer distance… Continue reading Eifelsteig – Day 15 – Zemmer to Trier

After an excellent night’s sleep (not surprising given the previous day’s efforts), I set off from Wittlich at around 8:45 to return to Bruch to pick up the Eifelsteig again. The charming lady running the hotel was delighted that I had enjoyed her restaurant recommendation and told me that I’d be eating well again that… Continue reading Eifelsteig – Day 14 – Wittlich to Bruch, then on to Zemmer

This post maybe a little shorter than the others because I am writing it after a very long day of just over 32 km. It all went well, with mostly easy walking, but I’m feeling a little tired this evening. I set off from Himmerod at around 8:30 after discovering at breakfast that I was… Continue reading The Eifelsteig – Day 13 – Himmerod to Bruch, then on to Wittlich

On the paper, or rather in the guidebook, this looked like one of the shorter days of the whole trail, with a distance of just 18 km to cover. However, the guidebook had been systematically underestimating distances from the very beginning, and, as usual, there were an extra three or 4 km on my Garmin… Continue reading The Eifelsteig – Day 12 – Manderscheid to Himmerod

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,… Continue reading Eifelsteig – Day 11 – Daun to Manderscheid

This was a tough one with a number of very steep, long climbs on what turned out to be a very warm day. The hotel did breakfast from 7 and I was the first one down. Knowing the day was going to be hard, I wanted to get an early start and so have time… Continue reading The Eifelsteig – Day 10 – Gerolstein to Daun

This was another terrific day in great weather with a host of new discoveries and some interesting encounters. I woke in great shape after about ten hours’ sleep. It was another chilly morning, but I decided to risk it in shorts, with three layers of clothing on my upper body all the same. After a… Continue reading Eifelsteig – Day 9 – Hillesheim to Gerolstein

I was up and out early, before they had even unlocked the hotel front door. Luckily, as so often in Germany, my room key had the front door key attached to it. Breakfast had consisted of a Cliff bar and a cup of instant coffee in my room, but I had more snacks with me,… Continue reading Eifelsteig – Day 8 – Mirbach to Hillesheim sticking to the trail

This turned out to be another long hike because of the lack of accommodation in Mirbach. I had booked a hotel in Hillesheim, the destination for day 8, for two nights. Because it was Sunday, there was no bus between Mirbach and Hillesheim and I had to walk the extra 10 km. However, a bus… Continue reading The Eifelsteig – Day 7 – Blankenheim to Mirbach (then to Hillesheim)