Zähbasaltweg (Tough basalt trail)

Parking lot & start at the town hall in Hohenfels-Essingen, length: 7. 1 km, duration: 2 hours 25 minutes

Experience the almost 7 km long route around the Mühlenberg. The millstone caves are a highlight of the tour.

The 583 m high Mühlenberg and the caves are found by large and small cave explorers near the village of Hohenfels near Gerolstein. It is a basalt mountain. In the quarries around the Mühlenberg, tough Eifel basalt has been and is broken for centuries and is sent out into the near and far world as millstone, paving stone or ornamental stone. Whether as a millstone to India, as a paving stone on the streets or as a monument in El Alamein, the quality of the viscous basalt from Mühlenberg near Hohenfels-Essingen is legendary. Workers beat the millstones upside down from the rock and finally released them from the ceiling without explosives using a special technique. After the closure of the quarries, the millstone caves with the sonorous names "Schwedenfeste", "Borussiahöhle" and "St. -Martin Cave" at your own risk. For families with children, the area with its playground and the many tables and benches offers space to laze, play and picnic .

The circular path over the height of Gonnenstall also offers magnificent views over the Eifel landscape. Also striking are the many reclining benches, which invite you to linger again and again.

The starting point of the circular hike is the town hall in Hohenfels-Essingen. We follow the markings and the signs to the grotto, where the path leads us further and further uphill, past old crosses and finally to the grill hut. From here, explore the caves and turn left after the Grotto of Mary, following a small path downhill. Along the way you can still find old millstones lying in the forest. Arriving on the broad forest path, we continue to the right, past the quarry Schlick. until we finally leave the forest. Now turn right uphill to the Gonnenstal. From the height we have wonderful views of the beautiful landscape of the Eifel . Here we keep to the left and after some time turn left onto a dirt road, which turns right before the small forest and then turns left. We follow the serpetines downhill and leave the forest. We keep to the left, go past the cemetery and ponds and follow the tar path
then down into the valley. This road leads us to the town hall.