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Start: Corner of Siegtalstraße by the Protestant church
(S) Ahead of us lies an exceptionally varied section of the Kölner Weg. We begin our walk at the corner of Siegtalstraße and the road branching off to the right from it, In der Raubach, in Herchen. First, we follow the ascending road until, on the left-hand side of the road, the Kölner Weg, together with the local high-altitude trail, branches off to the left up the hillside.
(1) The narrow path leads steeply uphill to the Thingplatz Herchen.
In 1935, the municipality of Herchen erected a memorial above the village to honour those who fell in the First World War. Originally, a rotunda built of rubble stone stood on a semi-circular foundation. Inside it were the plaques bearing the names of the fallen. The rotunda opens out onto the large, terraced assembly area, which was named the ‘Thingplatz’ after the Germanic model. The complex is bordered by a large terrace.
Below the Thingplatz stand the ‘Cologne Cannons’. They take their name from their original location on Cologne’s Heumarkt. The cannons date from the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 and were moved from Cologne to Herchen during the First World War.
(2) We then continue climbing steeply uphill and reach a fork, where we take the left-hand path uphill. The route continues along narrow paths that wind through the forest and along the hillside. Sure-footedness is absolutely essential. The path descends into a Siefen on several occasions, only to lead back uphill again via a hairpin bend. We cross gullies via wooden footbridges and tiny streams, and walk through unspoilt woodland. We should take our time on this picturesque stretch.
(3) Occasionally, the path climbs back up to higher ground, and we walk past meadows and fields for a short while, reaching vantage points from which we can look out over the Sieg and the Leuscheid rising beyond it. Eventually, the path descends into the valley.
(4) We pass Windeck Comprehensive School, walk downhill along a tarmac road and come to the L333.
(5) The Kölner Weg crosses the L333 and turns immediately left onto the L312, passing under the railway viaduct and onto the road bridge over the River Sieg. Ahead of us, the wooded slopes of the Leuscheid rise up above the River Sieg. The Kölner Weg has reached the northern Westerwald region.
(6) Just beyond the Sieg bridge, we turn immediately right onto the ascending road ‘Zum Werferstein’ towards Werfen.
The well-known cabaret artist, writer, children’s author and actor Hanns Dieter Hüsch (1925–2005) spent the final years of his life in Windeck-Werfen.
(7) The Kölner Weg soon leaves Werfen again, sending us right onto Hohnsiefen street and leading us towards a wood. The wide footpath runs about 100 metres above the River Sieg.
We are now in the Leuscheid area, a forested mountain range that forms the border between North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate and stretches between Hennef and Weyerbusch. At 388 metres, the Hohe Schaden is the highest point. Also part of the Leuscheid are the Höhensteine, the Eitorfer Schweiz and the Mönchskopf. In 2004, 1,380 hectares of the woodland area were designated as a nature reserve. In earlier centuries, buckthorn was felled in the Leuscheid at the beginning of May. Its bark was stripped using a wooden mallet, and the bark was dried. Gunpowder mills that had established themselves in the surrounding area bought the bundles and processed them into black powder.
The path winds its way high above the River Sieg, following its course downstream.
(8) From here, we are treated to a lovely view of the small village of Stromberg with its oak grove on the opposite bank of the Sieg, as well as the Nutscheid. Our forest trail continues to climb steadily. We walk through a beech forest and, a little later, a newly afforested coniferous forest, until we reach Schneppe.
(9) At house number 43, we turn right and continue through the woodland, emerging into open terrain below the 335-metre-high Hüngenhardt and enjoying the wonderful view. Eventually, we approach the woodland once more.
(10) We come to a cross-path, where we turn left; the ‘K’ sign directs us to the left and then to the right onto the L147.
(11) We cross the country road and carry on straight ahead towards Kuchhausen.
(12) But soon the Kölner Weg bends off to the left, leading us back into a wooded area. Once again, a magnificent view opens up over the Irsen Valley and the distant Beulskopf with the Raiffeisen Tower.
Here, it is worth leaving the Kölner Weg for a short while to take a detour to the Blauer Stein basalt crater. We follow the sign for Blauer Stein, walk straight ahead for a short distance along the road towards Kuchhausen, but are soon directed by the ‘Basaltkrater’ sign to turn right into a small wooded area. Passing Kuchhausen on the left, the path eventually runs along the edge of the woodland.
August Sander (1876–1964), one of the most important German photographers of the 20th century, lived in Kuchhausen from 1944 to 1963. Born in Herdorf in the district of Altenkirchen, August Sander began as an apprentice at the ‘San Fernando’ iron ore mine and first came into contact with photography at the age of 16, when an industrial photographer from Siegen was taking pictures on the mine site. Soon afterwards, Sander’s family pooled 100 talers to buy him his first camera. He completed an apprenticeship and, over the decades, developed into a significant photographer. During the Nazi era, Sander was subject to a limited ban on practising his profession. In 1943, he moved the artistically most valuable collection of photographs from his Cologne studio to Kuchhausen. In 1953, the City of Cologne acquired his collection ‘Cologne, as it was’.
(14) We soon reach a shelter. The sign for ‘Blauer Stein’ directs us to the right, into the forest. We walk along a narrow path towards the basalt crater.
Massive basalt columns rise vertically in clusters from a crater. Above the basalt columns, the treetops form a natural dome. The basalt was quarried by Linzer-Basalt AG. It was last quarried during the period of widespread unemployment around 1900 and used for road construction and dyke building.
From the impressive basalt crater, we walk back to the point where the Kölner Weg branches off towards Leuscheid. If we are coming from the direction of the basalt crater, we must turn right onto the Kölner Weg.
One last time, a sweeping view opens up to our right towards Kuchhausen, then the woodland engulfs us once more.
(14) Finally, we reach the Kuchhausener Kirchweg and approach the first houses of Leuscheid. The Kuchhausener Kirchweg leads towards the crossroads at Am Kurheim, where we turn left. A few metres further on, we come to Weyerbuscher Straße (the L147) and see Pesos Landhaus on the opposite side of the road, which is a great place to stop for a bite to eat or spend the night. If we turn right onto Weyerbuscher Straße, we reach the centre of Leuscheid and the church (E).
The Catholic church in Leuscheid was first mentioned in 1131 as the property of the Cassius Abbey in Bonn. The bailiwick of Leuscheid, which had belonged to the Cassius Abbey, later passed to the Counts of Sayn, who, following lengthy border disputes, were forced to cede it to the Duke of Jülich in 1477. From 1607, Leuscheid came under the control of the Dukes of Berg and, from 1808 – under French rule – was a ‘mairie’ in the canton of Eitorf. Finally, in 1808, Herchen and Leuscheid were merged to form the municipality of Herchen. Leuscheid remained part of Herchen until 1969.
During the Thirty Years’ War, the village was occupied by the Swedes (1632/1633 and 1645–1648), even though the inhabitants of Leuscheid had converted to Protestantism in 1565. At that time, the Protestant church served as a cowshed for the Swedes. – Even today, the white church with its slate-grey towers dominates the village of Leuscheid. It is a three-aisled basilica dating from the 12th century, with a transept, chancel and sacristy from the 13th/14th centuries. The Cologne-style altar dedicated to the Virgin Mary dates from the 15th century. The church has two towers of different heights, though the foundations for a third tower are visible. According to legend, three siblings are said to have vowed to have three towers built. As one of the three siblings died prematurely, only two towers were ever completed.
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