Rureifel: Gravelbike-Tour "QuerfeldEifel"
Kreuzau-Obermaubach
This gravel bike route combines the two routes Schlossrunde (loop A) and Schöne Aussicht (loop B) of the "Freifahrt Eifel" mountain bike trail network with the cycle paths in the Düren area, creating a tour with a variety of landscapes. The Obermaubach stop on the Rurtalbahn and Langerwehe railroad station are both suitable starting points. The tour can be shortened thanks to the good public transport connections.
Merode Castle, which was severely damaged in a fire in 2000 and is gradually being restored by its owners, is well worth a stop. The magnificent moated castle is the ancestral seat of the now widely ramified Princes of Merode and is known nationwide for its Romantic Christmas Market, which takes place every year on the castle grounds and was voted the most beautiful Christmas market in NRW in 2011.
The Obermaubach reservoir also invites you to make a stop and scores with a superlative, as the highest fish ladder in NRW can be found here. The tour can also be started at Langerwehe railroad station.
Route description
From the Obermaubach reservoir, we first head north on the MTB tour Schöne Aussicht (Tour B). There is no signpost here, just a marker. We follow the signs for Tour B as far as Gey, where we change to the cycle path network of the cycle-friendly district of Düren in the direction of Düren / Birgeln. At junction 51 in Birgel, we follow junction 49 towards Derichsweiler and at junction 49 we follow the signs to junction 50 towards Stolberg / Schevenhütte (L 25). About halfway between junctions 49 and 50, we turn right and follow the signs for the Schlossrunde MTB tour (loop A) around the Merode forest, past Merode Castle, via Jüngersdorf and Schevenhütte along Schönthaler Straße (L12). At the point where loop A meets the cycle path network of the cycle-friendly district of Düren, we follow the signs to junction 50 in the direction of Düren. At junction 50, we continue in the direction of Großhau until junction 53, where we change to the MTB tour Schöne Aussicht (loop B) in the direction of Kleinhau / Hürtgendwald. At the point where Tour B meets the MTB Tour Seeblick (Tour C), we leave Tour B and turn left onto Tour C and follow it to the starting point of our tour in Obermaubach.
