Moselsteig Trail Stage 14: Reil – Zell (Moselle)

'Cannon's Railway' and the Black Cat.

Route information

Route length : 12,4 km

Difficulty : easy

Hiking time : 3:30 h

Ascent : 299 m

Descent : 326.12 m

Start Point : Reil: Railway station on Kaiserstraße

End Point : Zell (Moselle): Moselle riverbank by the 'Black Cat' fountain

GPX KML

Directions

The leg starts at the Reil railway station in the Kaiserstraße. The first meters of the Moselsteig Trail run on the same route as the Cannon Route (Kanonenbahn), across the railway station into a quiet residential road. This road leads to the outskirts of the village, and after you have crossed the tracks, you continue uphill through the vineyards. The path passes multiple railway crossings. At the Reiler Hals saddle, the Moselsteig Trail then reaches a chapel and a wayside cross at the car park. There are benches for you to rest a little, and the view of Reil is well worth it! Downstream, you can already see many stopovers of today’s route, for example the viewing tower on the Prinzenkopf or the Marienburg.

The tour continues on a steep uphill path through the forest and to a hilltop, where the forest opens up and shows a beautiful view in direction Alfbach Valley (Alfbachtal). The path continues downhill, and on a wider path, the Moselsteig Trail now takes you through the diversified high forest on a relatively level path, and approaches the Leo Rock (Leo Felsen), which is only a few steps away from the main road. Here, you have a magnificent view towards the Moselle and Alf from the pavilion on the rock. In the other direction, you will see the Alf Valley (Alftal) with its steep, forest-covered mountain tops. An access path leads to the Castle Arras (Burg Arras) which majestically sits on top of one of the mountains. At the edge of the forest, the path through the high forest takes you to the Driesch Hut (Drieschhütte). There are lots of seating areas here and you have one of the most beautiful views of the Marienburg. In summer, when the hut is open for business, it’s hard to leave this place.

However, the path offers even better views, which you will enjoy soon. The Kammweg quickly takes you to the Ehrenfriedhof (cemetery). From here, following an access path, you will reach Alf. The Moselsteig Trail now continues steeply uphill to the Prinzenkopf viewing tower. Don’t miss out climbing the tower, the view up here is truly breathtaking! Both arms of the Zeller Moselle loop are so close together, that you can see the Moselle from lots of different locations! The view spans Reil, Pünderich, Briedel up to Bullay, Alf, St. Aldegund and Neef. And towards Zell, the Marienburg majestically sits on the saddle covered in vines. The view up here is so beautiful that it is no surprise that the iron tower is not the first one here. There used to be wooden towers.

A path offering lots of stunning views now continues to the Marienburg. Here, a Moselsteig Trail access route branches off and leads steeply downhill to a ferry. Hop on the ferry if you would like to visit Pünderich which is on the opposite (please observe operating times). The Moselsteig Trail crosses the grounds of the Marienburg and changes into a path behind it. Here, you can also descend to Bullay. Towards Zell the path runs along the access road through the vineyards on the saddle between Marienburg and Barl. Then it ascends again - first moderately, and later quite steeply, through a small forest.

A diversified slope edge awaits you at the edge of the forest: to the right it is flanked mainly by vineyards and falls steeply down to the Moselle Valley, and to the left, there is a mainly low deciduous forest. Throughout, the view is simply magnificent! Above the Briedeler Herzchen vineyard you will notice the town on the other side of the Moselle. As soon as the Moselle comes closer to the path, you can reach Briedel via an access path (observe the operating hours of the ferry).

The Moselsteig Trail now continues through vineyards, also after you have crossed the access route to the town district of Barl. The descent to Zell and to the Moselle starts at a valley cleft. A path that runs straight through the vineyard takes you to the B 53. Carefully cross the B 53 and arrive at the cemetery at the Zell town district of Kaimt. Now continue further downhill on several steps to the pedestrian bridge. Cross the bridge (the only pedestrian bridge at the German Moselle!) and the Moselsteig Trail continues to Zell. Along the water promenade and a little bit upstream of the Moselle, you will reach the Zeller Schwarze Katz-Brunnen (Black Cat Fountain), which is also the end of this route.

Public transit

You can reach the stage towns Reil (bus stop B 53) as well as Zell (bus stop Lindenplatz) with the bus line 720.

There are regular connections. Please note that during the school vacations of Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland, at weekends and on public holidays there may be restrictions on the frequency! Please check the daily timetable on the website of the Verkehrsverbund Region Trier (VRT):

www.vrt-info.de

Parking

Reil: There is only limited parking at the railway station but plenty of parking spaces along the riverbank.

Zell (Moselle): There are pay parking spaces along the Moselle promenade. There is free parking a little way downstream on a large open square directly adjacent to the Moselle riverbank.

Getting there

Starting point: Reil, branch off the B 53 between Traben-Trarbach and Zell, cross the bridge, branch off the B 49 between Wittlich and Cochem then follow the L 105 to Reil

Destination: Zell (Moselle) via the B 53

Literature

"Moselsteig" - Offzieller Moselsteig-Wanderführer von ideemedia, 14,95 €

Authors: Ulrike Poller, Wolfgang Todt, publisher: ideemedia, 300 pages with around 300 images, altitude profiles, QR codes and GPS Tracks (in German), Format 11,5 x 23 cm, ISBN: 978-3-942779-21-0, 14,95 €

"Official Moselsteig Trail hiking maps" in pocket format:

The entire route is divided into 3 maps:

Leisure Map Moselsteig - Map 1: Perl - Trier (Stages 1 - 4), ISBN: 978-3-89637-419-6

Leisure Map Moselsteig - Map 2: Trier – Zell (Moselle) (Stages 5 -14), ISBN: 978-3-89637-420-2 Leisure Map Moselsteig - Map 3: Zell (Moselle) – Koblenz (Stages 15 -24) ISBN: 978-3-89637-421-9