Eggeweg Trail: panoramic views of the Egge Hills from the Externsteine fissured rocks

Once a military and trading route, the Eggeweg Trail now gives walkers the chance to really get back to nature. It starts at the spectacular, Externsteine fissured rocks and features dense broadleaf forests, natural monuments and cultural places of interest.

The almost 70km Eggeweg Trail is dominated by woodland as the Egge Hills have more beeches and other deciduous trees than most other regions in North Rhine-Westphalia. This trail through unspoilt scenery follows the southern section of the Hermannshöhen Trail through a region rich in history where Hermann, leader of the Cherusci, put to flight the Romans at the Battle of Varus 2,000 years ago. From the mighty Externsteine, a group of fissured sandstone rocks near Horn-Bad Meinberg in the north, you pass through the romantic Silberbach valley before climbing up to the Lippe Velmerstot peak (441m) and the Prussian Velmerstot peak (468m), the highest summit in the Egge Hills. Heading south, you follow the wooded ridge trail, which offers a number of beautiful vistas across broad valleys. En route to Ober-Marsberg in the Diemel valley, an abundance of natural and cultural treasures await discovery, such as Iburg Castle near Bad Driburg, Eggedom – known as 'Egge cathedral' – and the site of the Karlsschanze fortress.

Tip

Externsteine natural monument
The Externsteine are five fissured sandstone rocks rising up sharply at the edge of a lake. Eight further rocks jut out of the ground, forming a natural wall across the landscape. It is not clear whether the Externsteine were a spiritual site in pre-Christian times, but this could well be the case.

At a glance

• Starts: Externsteine rocks/Horn-Bad Meinberg
• Ends: Marsberg/Diemel
• Length: 70km
• Number of stages: 3
• Altitude variation (approximate values): Ascent 2,200m, descent 2,300m
• Terrain: 45% unmade, 17% asphalt, 38% other, e.g. gravel