The tour takes us a long way through the Burgauer Wald nature reserve and along the water through the Rurauen and the Rurpark. Lots of greenery and water accompany us on our way through the southern district of Düren and the municipality of Kreuzau.

Burgau Castle, whose origins date back to the 14th century, is well worth a detour. It was acquired in 1917, together with the surrounding forest, by the town of Düren with the support of the Benno Schoeller Foundation. After its destruction in the Second World War, the romantic moated castle was rebuilt with the help of the citizens' campaign "Save Burgau". In addition to exhibitions, events are also held in the festival and concert hall.

The Rur is the lifeline not only of the town, but also of the district of Düren. Due to the good water quality, the paper industry settled in the Rur valley, which is still an important economic sector in the paper town of Düren today. If you would like to find out more, you should visit the Düren Paper Museum.

Directions

At the Tuchmühle stop, we carefully cross the tracks, keep straight on at the junction after just 150 m and soon reach the RurUfer cycle path. We cross the Rur on the pedestrian bridge (Schwanenbrücke) and then immediately turn right. We follow this path in the direction of flow of the Rur for a good 2 km. We cross under the highway bridge of Renkerstraße, cross the Rur again at the next pedestrian bridge and follow the path straight ahead. After a good 300 m, we carefully cross the tracks of the Rurtalbahn again. At the traffic lights, we cross the main road and continue straight ahead towards Gut Weyern. The listed ensemble with its imposing manor house is partly surrounded by a moat and once belonged to the Counts of Jülich; it is now privately owned (trespassing not permitted).

We pass Gut Weyern and turn right at the fork in the road marked with a large stone, following the cycle path and hiking trail 01 (Beckmann circular trail of the Eifelverein) along the moat of Gut Weyern. After approx. 400 m, we branch off to the right onto the main path (follow the cycle path signs for Burgau Castle) and after approx. 300 m, after the signpost for the motte, we turn left onto a path. We walk along this path through the Burgau forest and, looking to the right, initially keep visual contact with the meadow. We have to climb over fallen trees from time to time or walk around them. At the next fork in the path, we turn left and climb slightly uphill. At the top, we meet hiking trail 01 again, which we follow to the right, always below the tank road and along a small stream. At the end of the path, at the bench by the red barrier, we turn right and follow the main path straight ahead for a good 500 m. Shortly before a tree stump with a bench, turn right. At the next crossroads, turn left towards the refuge. We walk past the hut and follow hiking trail 01 and the fitness trail straight ahead (a detour to Burgau Castle is possible on the way). At the point where the hiking trail splits, we keep left and follow the forest path to the T-junction. At station 16 of the Timm-Dich-Path, we turn right and follow the path until we reach the L 327. We cross the country road, the cycle path and the parking lot and follow the path into the forest.

At the next fork in the path, we keep left, turn left again at the end of the path and right at the next opportunity. We now walk downhill on this path until we reach the Wasserburgen-Route cycle path again at a bench, where we turn left. We continue straight on until we reach the Mother of God's hut, where we first turn right and then left again.

The initially paved path leads into an unpaved path through a sparse wood and at the end we keep right. At the next crossroads, we go straight on and cross the Drover Bach stream over a small bridge behind the last house (please note the detour at the end of the route description.) Along the Ziegelfeldgraben (the Hoesch Villa Niederdrove once stood on the right), we reach the L 249 below the Drover traffic circle. After crossing the main road, we keep right and turn left uphill into Lohberg before reaching the first houses. At the next junction, we turn right onto hiking trail 82 of the Eifelverein. We follow the hiking trail, carefully cross the tracks of the Rurtalbahn again and continue our route to the left at the T-junction. After a few meters, the footpath leads directly behind the last house on the right into an unpaved path, which first takes us to the mill pond, which we cross on the wooden bridge. We follow the path until we reach the RurUfer cycle path at a large hut. We turn right and follow the RurUfer cycle path in a northerly direction, passing the Monte Mare leisure pool, a large weir and small ponds with ducks and geese. On the 3 km stretch of the trail, we always keep eye contact with the Rur and numerous resting places invite us to linger. The Rur Park begins behind the grounds of a dog school and offers us three options (see below). We follow the RurUfer cycle path along the Rur to the pedestrian bridge (Schwanenbrücke). Here we turn right and follow the cycle path signs towards Burgau Castle to the starting point of our hike at the Tuchmühle stop.

Options

1) A pushchair-friendly option is available if you do not turn left onto the path behind the motte in the forest of Burgau Castle, but stay on the main path and follow the cycle path signs to Burgau Castle. Shortly before the castle, we keep left and follow the signposted Wasserburgen route towards the animal shelter. We walk past the animal shelter, cross the parking lot and the L 327 and continue straight on until we reach the Mother of God's hut. Then continue as described above.

2) At the start of the Rur Park there are three options:

a) Either the variant described above on the RurUfer cycle path to the Schwanenbrücke bridge or

b) a shorter route, straight through the park and parallel to the Rur Valley Railway to the starting point of the hike at the Tuchmühle stop or

c) a short stretch on the RurUfer cycle path, then turn right at the next opportunity and continue on the winding path through the park to the sign for the nature reserve. Turn right there and continue directly to the starting point of the hike at the Tuchmühle bus stop.

Detour

The bridge over the Drover Bach is currently (as of May 2022) no longer in place. Do not attempt to cross the stream at this point under any circumstances, but use the following short detour route: We walk along Niederdrove street past the houses to the main road, cross it at the Kurt-Hoesch-Kampfbahn and keep left. At the end of the development, we turn right and walk uphill along Lohberg street. We are now back on our main route.