The hike starts at the church in Kesternich, where the altar cross from the 19th century has a special history. It has only been back in its original place since 1983. This is thanks to a former US soldier: When the church fell victim to the fierce house-to-house fighting between the Germans and the Allies in 1945, a US sergeant rescued the old cross and took it home with him. There he placed it in the care of a monastery. It was only decades later that the original owner was found and the cross returned.

We leave the village and walk through the extensive fields and meadows to the south-east of Kesternich. We soon come across scattered farms, which are known as Aussiedlerhöfe. A short time later, we reach the Eiserbach stream and follow the lively little river for around one kilometer, surrounded by a natural landscape that has been placed under nature protection due to the presence of various rare animal and plant species. The path leaves the stream valley and we walk surrounded by trees through a tranquil mixed forest before the trees slowly thin out and the path leads us along the edge of the forest in a south-westerly direction.

We finally come across the Tiefenbach stream, whose babbling waters and banks with floodplain areas will accompany us for the next few kilometers. We pass a former oil mill where edible oils were produced in the 17th century. Shortly before Kesternich, we leave the Tiefenbach and the path leads us back to the starting point.