Day 54, Aachen – Zweifall Kartoffelbaum

Weather: ☁️☁️☁️🌥️🌥️ (perfect hiking weather)
Lunch: 🥪🥪🥪🥪 (4 out 5, strawberries as an appetizer along the way, Bread and coffee at the bakery in Kornelimunster and waffles with strawberries on our surprise stop! Would have been 5 our of 5 if they would have made Mark a savory pancake)
Track: 🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪 (4 out of 5, beautiful hilly forest track)
Campsite: ⛺⛺⛺⛺( 4 out of 5, flat, quiet with a shelter nacht to a potato tree. That’s definitely a first…😂)
Name of followed trail: Krönungsweg

We walk from our appartment back to the trail. We seem to have stayed in one of the lesser parts of Aachen, having seen a lot of involuntary campers or people that seem otherwise challenged by life in general. Luckily our trail takes us through a better part of the city towards the forest and hills of the Eifel. Within an hour we leave the city behind and walk through a beautiful forest. Incredible how quickly the surroundings can change!

With a change of scenery we also get a change of trail. For the next 5 days we’ll follow the Krönungsweg (apart for our detour). This trail is made by the Eifelverein and is very well marked, we soon find out!

The trail leads us through the forest to Kornelimunster, a beautiful little town where we find a bakery for lunch. Before we walk into the village, we spot a strawberry stall…😋

After a good lunch, we walk through the village along a stream into the forest again. It’s a great day for hiking, weather and scenery wise!! My shoes are also doing well so far, so I’m happy with my choice. We walk past a café, and since we have plenty of time, we go in for a snack. I order a strawberry and cream waffle and Mark a savory pancake. Unfortunately we are too early for pancakes, so no nomnoms for Mark 😢.

We continue to the village of Zweifall, where we get water from a very friendly couple that point us in the right direction where trail markings were a bit unclear due to an old detour. When we tell them we’re on our way to the Potato tree (yes, Potato tree), they tell us the story they heard from their parents and grandparents about a foreman who told his friends that he had seen a tree in the forest that grew potato’s. Of course his friends didn’t believe it, so they made a bet on it. Together they went into the forest and indeed the tree was full of potatoes! (he had gone into the forest the night before to hang them there himself). Since then, the people from the area come here to hang potatoes in the tree, completely decorated!

With our, now slightly heavy, backpacks we go up to see this wonderful tree. And indeed, full of potatoes!

There is a nice little shelter next to the tree, so we sit here for a while and make our dinner here. After dinner we go into the forest behind the shelter and find a place to pitch.

A great day of hiking and a beautiful and fun campsite. What more does a hiker need?