Hiking country beyond Egen

Yes, there is a land beyond Egen. And what a land it is! Even if this outpost of Wipperfürth's seven church villages is probably the most remote. The charming village center, with its church, inn, and former school building, lies in a hiker's paradise characterized by scattered farmsteads between the Bever and Neye reservoirs. And especially on weekends, the numerous day-trippers, particularly from the northern Bergisches Land region, prove that this hiking paradise beyond Egen isn't so remote after all.

From the hiking parking lot in Oberröttenscheid, follow the district road a few meters to the left towards Wipperfürth and then turn right onto a footpath newly constructed as part of the Regionale 2010 project. This path leads you through a valley up to a forest, through which you continue straight down to the Bever Dam. The dam was originally built to store water during rainy seasons and release it during drier ones, thus enabling the year-round use of hydropower on the Bever and Wupper rivers. It was also intended to reduce the risk of flooding in the Wupper Valley.

Between 1935 and 1938, up to 650 workers used approximately one million cubic meters of soil and 33.000 cubic meters of concrete to construct a 520-meter-long dam. The dam is sealed internally by a steel sheet wall and various layers of clay on the water side. During a major renovation in 2000, the steel sheet was further reinforced with a plastic seal.

The parking lot on this side of the dam is a popular meeting point for motorcyclists, while the reservoir itself is a paradise for water sports enthusiasts. From the dam, which you cross to reach the other side of the valley, sailboats on a sunny day draw the eye across the water. On the other side, you'll pass the operations building of the Wupperverband, the organization that manages the reservoir, and then turn right onto a path that soon leads past one of the designated bathing beaches with a lifeguard station and a large sunbathing lawn. Before reaching the "Zornige Ameise" (currently closed), turn left and walk uphill to the parking lot. From there, follow the Water Quintet trail marker diagonally to the right, descending again. Continue past a campground, always parallel to the shore, until you reach the campground exit. Turn right onto the road and descend over the dam of a pre-reservoir. At the T-junction, turn right and walk uphill to the roundabout on the outskirts of Wefelsen. At the roundabout, take the first left and follow a dirt road out of the village.

At the top, the trail leads through a forest before you reach a junction where the Water Quintet hiking trail takes you diagonally down to the right towards the reservoir's shore. Follow this trail to the left, skirting several small bays, until the gravel path joins County Road 11, which you follow to the right. You will pass Siepersbever and Stoote. In Stoote, first mentioned in 1514, a deep well was drilled in 1898 to supply Radevormwald with water. A steam-powered pump transported the groundwater through a pressure pipe to the water tower in Rädereichen. Part of Stoote had to be demolished in 1938 when the Bever Dam was expanded. A new well house was built above the county road at that time, which is now used as a residence.

Follow the road across the dam of a reservoir and continue until just before the hamlet of Levenhausen. There, turn sharply right and hike uphill to Egen. The onion dome of the Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception is a striking feature; it was built around 1850 through the initiative of the traditionally independent residents of Egen. Behind the church, with a restaurant opposite, the path leads to the left, past the old school, and out of the village.

At the fork, keep right and turn right again at the next junction. Follow the small road to Gardeweg, cross the main road there, and walk diagonally left onto the lane that soon leads you downhill into the forest. In the valley, continue straight ahead at the first intersection, cross the Neyebach stream, and then turn right. Now, always parallel to the Neyebach, the path descends, passing several ponds, until you reach the shore of the Neyetalsperre reservoir. The Wasserquintett-Weg (Water Quintet Trail) now leads uphill to the left, but you continue along the shore path beside the reservoir, which was built between 1905 and 1908 to supply Remscheid with drinking water. Soon, a structure becomes noticeable on the shore: Here, a tunnel opens, through which water from the neighboring Schevelingen reservoir can be diverted into the Neyetalsperre. Three reservoirs and a pond near Wasserfuhr, northeast of the Wupper River, are connected by such tunnels to form the so-called Beverblock. Continue straight ahead along the path until it reaches a hilltop and runs alongside a forest edge. After a few meters, follow the "Bergischer Heimatweg" marker (white "3" on a red background) to the right through the forest to the Neyetalsperre dam. Walk along the top of the dam to the other side of the valley, then turn left onto a small asphalt road. Follow this road uphill to the left back to Oberröttenscheid.