Iterbachtour - Sahneschnittchen zum Wandern

When Benedict of Aniane was commissioned by the emperor in 814 to choose an area to found a monastery, he chose a real gem: The Kornelimünster area at the confluence of the Inde and Iter rivers offered attractive foundations for securing the abbey's future income. The area was rich in forests, usable watercourses and ore deposits. Conveniently, the Romans had already made use of all of this, cultivated the landscape and laid out an early network of paths.

Today, the Itertal valley is a gem for hiking and nature. On idyllic paths, we discover the free-flowing stream, walk across lush meadows and through the bushes. From the valley heights, we enjoy the far-reaching views over the gently undulating pastures and hedgerows of the Münsterland region and graze the outskirts of Walheim.

The quiet, secluded nature reserve hardly suggests that the hammers were pounding here in the days of early industrialization. When the Eifel iron industry developed into the cradle of industrialization, an ironworks and a hammer mill were also built in the Itertal in the 1780s. Shovels, plows, pots, furnaces and rollers were manufactured away from the settlements. The basics were available locally: the iron ore came from a neighboring mine, charcoal from the surrounding forests fired the blast furnace and the Iter operated the mill wheel with hammer, which shaped the iron plates into sheet metal. At 10 meters high, the Schmithof blast furnace was the highest and most productive far and wide. The ensemble of buildings of the ironworks further up the stream has been preserved to this day. We pass the hammer mill on our hike, buildings no longer exist, but the wet depression "Die Pletsch" suggests a former mill pond.

More mill sites can be found along the way. At the little bridge at the start of the hike, where the Iter flows into the Inde, there was a gold mill where people are said to have tried their hand at panning for gold. High up at 22 meters, a Vennbahn viaduct has spanned the Iterbach since 1885.

A little further upstream, buildings from the Königsmühle mill have been preserved. Its water wheels moved millstones instead of hammers. It was first documented in 1525 and was in operation as an oil mill until 1928.

Highlights along the route

1 Kornelimünster, historic town center, former imperial abbey, St. Kornelius provost church

2 Vennbahn Iterbach viaduct

3 Itertal nature reserve

4 Königsmühle