Right at the start our tour takes us to the picturesque floodplain area along the wild Worm River. The water rushes by, its flow repeatedly interrupted by small rapids. Ponds peek out from the floodplain forests. Rotten trees and riverbanks are a paradise for beavers, kingfishers, and other wildlife. While fallen and gnawed trees make the beavers’ work evident everywhere, kingfisher “Kiri” shares interesting facts about the region’s natural and cultural history on 13 information boards.
At a centuries-old Worm crossing, we cross a bridge dedicated to Anna Nöhlen, a woman from the nearby village of Nivelstein, which has since disappeared due to mining damage. During the Nazi era she helped Jews from the nearby village of Wildnis escape across the border. In 1939 she was betrayed, arrested, and murdered in 1942. In her memory the bridge bears her name.
Passing by the small village of Worm we hike through the Worm-Wildernesss Nature Reserve, which has developed on the site of a former sand quarry. We now continue along a picturesque valley slope above the Worm River, parallel to the railroad tracks, back to our starting point.
The cross-border Worm Water Trail between Herzogenrath (Germany) and Kerkrade (Netherlands) was developed by the Herzogenrath-Merkstein Friends of Nature as part of the “WaterTrails” project of the Friends of Nature, North Rhine-Westphalia.
