Along the river Düssel

I've moved a long way from the alps, but even in the more populated areas of Germany, you're never too far away from some countryside. After spending some time adjusting to my new work schedule and hurrying around Europe to multiple conferences I finally had a weekend free in Duesseldorf where I actually felt like doing something other than my laundry. Luckily I had picked up some maps in the weeks before and with the help of this extremely useful Nordrhein-Westfalen hiking website, I had everything I needed for my first trip.

Considering my lack of condition I picked a pretty long route, 18km, hoping that the lack of major hills would make up for the extra distance. Disembarking from the S-Bahn stop Wulfrath-Aprath after a pleasingly short journey, I was initially unimpressed at the scenery, but after only a few minutes the path turned away from the main road and everything became much quieter. Passing by a large village pond I quickly came out onto a low hill surrounded by farmland, giving me a good view of the landscape, which was low but rolling, featuring scattered woods, broad fields, and the occasional intrusion of modernity like church spires, cranes, high rise flats, and distant spoil heaps. Minus the spoil heaps it was not all that different from Britain, though still with different architecture and a notable lack of cows, sheep and hedgerows.

For the rest of the morning I hiked across varied terrain, crossing fields, through woods, and alongside rivers, every so often popping back into civilisation and crossing villages and towns. Many of the buildings I passed, both isolated farms and in the centres of villages, were all of the same old half timber design, painted a uniform black and white with green shutters and grey-green slates on their sides. Many proved to be extremely old, with dates going back to the 17th century! There was also a surprise 'castle' that had obviously housed a wealthy resident or two in the past.

After eating lunch in a small churchyard I began the second leg of my walk, from this point on almost exclusively shadowing the tiny river Duessel. Most of the time I was walking through trees slightly apart from the river itself, with small marshy riverside meadows and fields separating me from the water. On this leg mills became more common, and after crossing the fantastically picturesque and well-kept old centre of the village of Gruiten I entered the famous Neandertal. Here things were a bit more enclosed, with steeper limestone cliffsides often limiting the view out of the valley. The path is almost a road at points. It crisscrossed the river in broad curves, and the riverside meadows became yellower and more beautiful as the autumn sun sank lower in the sky.

Tired now after many kilometres of walking, I arrived in the more densely wooded and well-frequented part of the Neandertal, near the Neanderthal museum. Here some last surprises awaited me, first some 'wild' horses bred in the 20s to resemble their ice-age forebears, and then a small sculpture trail including a fantastic hidden Anthony Gormley sculpture lying peacefully and almost invisible at the bottom of the Duessel.

All in all a great first hike, and I took a bunch of pictures to prove it!

Bis bald,

Der Tom