photo smuggling trail
  • Distance: 10.5 km
  • Duration: 3:16 h
  • Difficulty: medium

Schmugglerweg [60]

Nideggen-Schmidt

The road takes its name from the post-war period, when coffee smuggling from Belgium was one of the most important sources of income for the people of Schmidt. Schmidt was over 90% destroyed at the end of the Second World War, including the parish church of St. Hubertus. With the profits from smuggling coffee across the nearby border, the people of Schmidt got their families through and rebuilt their destroyed houses. Of course, this did not go unnoticed by the parish priest at the time, Josef Beyer. The reconstruction of the church initially progressed somewhat less quickly. He said in a sermon: "I know that you are getting a headache from all the money. For me, it's the other way around, because I don't know where to get the money to rebuild the church." From then on, the smugglers sacrificed part of their profits from the coffee business to rebuild the church. This is why it is popularly known as St. Mokka.

mehr lesen gpx: Smugglers' path [60]

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More information about this route

Distance: 10.5 km

Duration: 3:16 h

Difficulty: medium

Ascent: 361 m

Descent: 361 m

Map material

  • Hiking map no. 2 | Rureifel of the Eifelverein

These are available from our local tourist information offices.

Accessibility by public transport

  • Accessible by bus line 210: Bus stop Schmidt Schule

You can find the timetable for bus route 210 here.

Rureifel Tourismus e.V.

An der Laag 4
52396 Heimbach
Phone: 0049 2446 805790

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