Vulkaaneifel gravel ride

Hillesheim is on the border of the chalk Eifel, where I cycled yesterday, and the Vulcaaneifel, where I went today. Both the landscape and the flora are very different. The first few kilometres, I was still on chalk, following the little stream that flows next to our cottage down until it reached a larger river, the Kyll. As soon as I was over the little bridge spanning that, the landscape changed. Most noticeably, the hills were bigger and steeper. I seemed to spend all my time going up 8 to 10% slopes, only to lose the height I had gained almost immediately. The landscape was also notably more open with big fields and less in the way of hedges and copses. Kestrels, buzards and red kite circle around, looking for prey,
At one such point, apparently in the middle of nowhere and with only a footpath leading to it, there was a small hut with a large 'infopunkt' flag next to it. I diverted from my route to take a look. To my surprise, it was a small museum, with Roman artifacts. The Romans had built some burial monuments there and the huge stone eagle head outside was a small part of one. There was a large semi-circular stone bench next to the eagle head. It was from a different site, but they had placed it there so that walkers could sit and look at the view. Inside the hut there were more artifacts, drawings showing what the complete objects would have looked like and lots of texts explaining it all (in German and Braille).
I was doubly lucky to find the museum as a nearby road that I travelled along had been closed. It is always difficult to know what do to on a bike with a road closed sign. Mostly roadworks are perfectly passable with a mountain or gravel bike, but sometimes it means retracing your steps for some kilometres. In this case, it was no problem, it was a bit rough but perfectly passable.
The Romans site was more or less at the furthest point, and the steep hills meant that the ride was taking longer than planned, so it was time to stop taking photos and head along the route back towards Hillesheim.Read more