Cloef viewpoint and the Saarschleife from Orscholz

The walk starts from the Cloef-Atrium car park in Orscholz, in the Saarland, Germany's small south-western state on the French and Luxembourg borders. It goes by a footway and forest paths to the Cloef, the cliff-top viewpoint over the Saarschleife, where the Saar turns in a bend of almost 10 km round a wooded spur. A narrow path in many zigzags drops about 180 m to the river, a gravel path follows the Saar to Steinbach, and a path climbs the Steinbachtal, a nature reserve, with small bridges and steps. It passes the Teufelsstein viewpoint and returns by forest paths to the car park.

It is 7.9 km with 233 m of ascent; allow up to 3½ hours: the Saarschleifenland tourist board gives 3½ hours for the Cloefpfad (8.04 km, 261 m of ascent), while our walking-time formula alone gives about 2½ hours. The grade is Moderate: the zigzags are steep and the Steinbachtal path climbs for a long way.

The zigzag down to the Saar has small scree slopes of quartzite, so take care on it, especially when wet. The Cloef is a cliff top: keep to the paths and away from the edge. The Steinbachtal is a nature reserve, so stay on the paths.

The Cloef-Atrium car park is mapped as charged in OpenStreetMap. The Cloef-Atrium also houses the tourist information.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.