Premium hiking trail Galgenvenn - Water.Hike.World

It all started in Kaldenkirchen, near the Dutch border. I don't even know what to tell you today; the pictures speak for themselves, except that I didn't realize I was already in the Netherlands when I took picture number 9 😆. Beautiful paths and trails, some sandy, some muddy, through typical moorland vegetation. It was fun exploring another corner of North Rhine-Westphalia again 😍

Nice weather, nice tour, nice and muddy 😂 Definitely recommended. Info at: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjW7KnogqOLAxXaxAIHHS8iO8kQFnoECCMQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wa-wa-we.eu%2Fde%2F&usg=AOvVaw05fLP0pKixkO-xtAcCtnbU&opi=89978449

The weather was nice and I wanted to get outside, so I hiked the Galgenvenn premium hiking trail for the first time in a while. I started at the parking lot at Haus Galgenvenn. This trail should be avoided on weekends and public holidays, as it's very busy. Today, there were pleasantly few hikers 😊 This cross-border hiking trail mostly follows nature trails and paths. You'll repeatedly pass small bodies of water and moorland areas – impressive. The route is inspiring, even if you've done the trail before. Well worth it 😃 The planned detour to the Sequoia Farm unfortunately had to be canceled, as it's only open on weekends 😒

This circular hike took us through the border forest and heathland on the German-Dutch border in the Nettetal valley near Kaltenkirchen, in the "Galgenvenn" nature reserve. The name "Galgenvenn" derives from a medieval execution site in the fens. I've never seen so many and so diverse mushroom species on any other hike. So keep your eyes open if you're out here during mushroom season!

Today I hiked with @Elisabeth in the Galgenvenn in the Water.Hiking.World Schwalm Nette. A tour that has been on my to-do list for ages. We started in Nettetal at the hiking car park, not far from the Galgenvenn forest inn. The Galgenvenn premium hiking trail is part of the Water.Hiking.World in the Schwalm Nette nature park and was voted the second most beautiful hiking trail in Germany in 2016 by the hiking magazine. It leads through impressive nature - sometimes on the German side, sometimes on the Dutch side. If you start south from the Galgenvenn forest inn, you first come through the enchanted border forest. The idyllic Sonsbeck-Venn and the beautiful Langen-Venn together form the Heidemoore nature reserve. The trail continues through a tall forest to the picturesque gravel pit, which lies in the middle of a renaturalized landscape. Sky-blue lakes invite you to linger. Heading north, narrow paths take you to the Maas slope to the "Schlucht" nature reserve with a wonderful view of the valley. From there you can reach the Dutch Holtmühle nature reserve and the open "Hühnerkamp" heathland. You then return to the starting point through an oak avenue and past giant sequoias, streams and flax pits. The Galgenvenn was once a courthouse. In the 19th century, flax fibers were decomposed in the pits. The small bodies of water that were created are now a habitat for newts and dragonflies. The Hühnerkamp heathland owes its name to the black grouse. The heath now offers shelter to field lech and heath lech as well as tree pipits. In the immediate vicinity of the starting point is the Sequoia Farm Kaldenkirchen, which contains 36,000 square meters of giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum). Giant sequoias are among the oldest and tallest trees on earth.  The farm has belonged to the Sequoiafarm e.V. association since January 2013. There are around 400 different species of trees and shrubs on the site, some of which are very rare, as well as many different species of birds. I have never seen so many puffballs at once, and some of them are even the size of a fist. There were alternatives on the paths where there was water. The weather was perfect, apart from a heavy 10-minute rain shower at lunchtime, we had blue skies and sunshine. The sun often glitters through the greenery, simply beautiful. Dear @Elisabeth - I enjoyed hiking with you again after such a long time. We ended the tour with a cappuccino and apple pie by stopping at the Galgenvenn forest inn.👍🏻👍🏻

This is a premium hiking trail in the Schwalm-Maas-Nette region. It's a great circular route with some surprising ascents and descents. The signage is generally good and consistent in both directions of the circular hike. Here's a link to the hike: https://www.wa-wa-we.eu/de/wanderwege-details/galgenvenn.html

The full tour description is available here: https://rudiandus.de/wanderung-galgenvenn

Like all previous routes in the Water.Hiking.World series, this route was once again very beautiful.