Between the Landwehr and the reservoirs

Expansive views, small hamlets, and the shores of not one but two reservoirs characterize this 14.1-kilometer circular tour. Along the way, you will need to overcome a total ascent of 250 meters between Radevormwald, the city with the highest elevation in the Cologne administrative district at 421 meters above sea level, and the shores of the Bever and Wuppertal reservoirs. Part of the route follows the hiking trail of the "Wasserquintett" (Water Quintet), with the rest on other marked paths of the Sauerland Mountain Association.
From the parking lot next to Radevormwald's town hall, whose name originates not from a "wheel" but from a "clearing before the forest," you cross Hohenfuhrstraße and walk straight ahead through Schützenstraße to Oststraße, where you turn right towards the marketplace. The Evangelical Reformed Church here is one of four religious buildings in the city center.

Follow Kaiserstraße to the left with the hiking trail marking of the "Wasserquintett" downhill, then turn right into the pedestrian zone of Schloßmacherstraße. From there, veer diagonally left towards a fountain, and then diagonally right towards the civic center down to the bus station. Two railway signals serve as reminders of the time when trains used to run here. Since the mid-1970s, the railway connection is history, and since the mid-1980s, parts of the railway track that once led from Wuppertal up to the city have sunk into the waters of the Wuppertal reservoir.

Turn right at the traffic light, cross the side street leading to the bus station to the left, then turn right onto the federal road. On the other side, a footpath leads to the left into a residential street, which you follow straight ahead until it turns right at a 90-degree angle into Jung-Stilling-Weg. Continue straight into Wasserturmstraße, which soon transitions into a gravel path. Follow the next residential street to the right uphill. At the top, take a moment to look back at the silhouette of Radevormwald.
Follow the road over the hill, soon crossing Hückeswagener Straße (B483) and entering the forest on a gravel path. At the first fork, keep to the right. After a few minutes of walking, you will pass by the old Landwehr: this wall-ditch system once secured the national border with impenetrable hedges. It separated the County of Mark, in whose historical territory you have just taken a detour, from the Duchy of Berg.
A few hundred meters further, continue straight ahead in a gravel turnaround on a forest path leading you to the forest edge with a charming view: diagonally to the left in the valley, you can see the Bevertalsperre reservoir. The visible section from here was initially dammed up in 1898 by a barrier dam near the village of Wefelsen. From 1935 to 1938, further down in the valley, the current dam of the Bevertalsperre, with a capacity of 23.7 million cubic meters since then, was built. It regulates the water level in the Wupper and is a popular destination for water sports enthusiasts and bathers.

Through meadows, you descend. Soon the Water Quintet trail veers left towards the forest edge. Continuing along the right, head towards Siepersbever, turning right around the farm buildings to the street. Here, you leave the main path of the Water Quintet and turn right onto one of the access roads. Walk along County Road 11 for a few meters, then switch to a gravel path on the left in a right curve, leading you downhill into a depression. Turn right onto the hiking trail "X 7," which serves as a path up to the village of Eckenhausen, where you turn right and then left with "X," crossing B483 towards Linde. From the hill behind the hamlet, Hückeswagen can be seen in the valley to the left.

A little further, turn right at the T-junction, following the "X" into a small forest, and just before its end, turn left onto a slightly overgrown path leading downhill to Neuenherweg. Follow the road to the right towards County Road, then walk left on this road, turning right at the next hill at the bus stop towards Oberhombrechen. Before the last house in the village, turn right at the "Wuppermannstein" and hike towards the Wiebachtal Nature Reserve.

In the valley, a gravel path leads through a left curve to a forebay of the Wuppertalsperre. It was built in the mid-1980s to improve flood protection along the Wupper and balance water flow in dry periods.
Cross the dam, follow the Water Quintet hiking trail again, leave it at a barrier, and hike to the right with "A3" and "Ra" through a stream valley, then uphill, turning left on bridges over two streams, and then diagonally left (!) with "Ra" steeply uphill. At the top, continue left on the cross path in the fir forest, then left at the fork, and after about 100 meters, turn right with "Ra." At the forest edge, turn right through a hamlet (beware of unleashed dogs!), cross a valley, reach the rest stop "Haus Siepen" on the next hilltop, and follow a residential street to the right until it meets Bahnhofstraße.
From there, turn left back to the bus station and then follow the same route back to the starting point as on the outbound journey.