The Vennbahn cycle path is a cycle path that was once used by trains, soldiers and smugglers.
Vennbahn cycle path is a bicycle path that was created on the site of the former railway that connected the coal mines and the steel mill. A cycle path of more than 125 km runs through it Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg and winds through beautiful landscapes and medieval towns. With its attractions, it attracts cyclists from all over Europe, especially with hosts who tell the stories of these districts.
This area has repeatedly found itself at the crossroads of history. The cycling route starts in Aachen, where Charlemagne himself once lived and commanded his empire. Napoleon built roads there to connect the cities, which were later to be connected by a railway.
In 1940, Hitler took control of the area and the railway, as evidenced by the concrete barriers he erected to stop the advance of Allied tanks. Four years later, American soldiers broke through these barriers and reached the present-day enclave of Roetgen, - the first German village liberated during World War II.
Smugglers also loved these places in their time. The Hugh Fens marshes, not far from the Vennbahn and the town of Mutzenich, were once real meccas for smuggling. A bronze statue of a man with a bag of coffee also reminds of those times. They smuggled coffee on bicycles, on foot, in ambulances and hearses. If tracked by the police, the smugglers threw sharpened metal spikes onto the road to stop them.
For this purpose, the police later attached these plows to their vehicles. Today, the border between the countries is almost obliterated, and only a street sign reminds of it. Along the bank of the Vennbahn, on the other side, some signs “B” for Belgium and “D” for Germany appear.
