The approximately 10 km, not continuously marked round around Esch, the pilgrimage site Klausen, and Sehlem starts at the parking lot at the community center in Esch.
Current information on departure times and prices of line 212 Wittlich - Esch can be found on the website of the Trier transport region: www.vrt-info.de
The circular hike around Esch, Klausen, and Sehlem starts at the parking lot by the community center in Esch. Over Brunnen and Kapellen streets, passing the noteworthy Zehntscheune, the Eifel village is left heading towards Klausen. After passing under the highway bridge, turn right onto the paved service road. After about 100 m, turn left and follow the path for around 3 km over the Krames district and parts of the Way of St. James to Klausen. People who today annually pilgrimage to Klausen, one of the most widely known pilgrimage sites in Rhineland-Palatinate, are drawn to a spiritual place of power with a history spanning over 500 years that began modestly. The Marian devotee Eberhard von Esch placed around 1440 at the site of today’s pilgrimage church a figure of the "Sorrowful Mother of God." Next to the wayside shrine, he built a small chapel with a hermit’s cell ("Eberhard’s Cell") in 1442, where he withdrew as a hermit. Over time, the place gained fame and popularity through reports of answered prayers, so that the small chapel of the Klausen man Eberhard was replaced in 1444 by a larger chapel. Today, in the main nave, there is a replica of the original Eberhard’s Cell. After Eberhard’s death (1451), Augustinian canon priests of the Windesheim Congregation founded a monastery on site in 1456, which would shape Klausen’s history for over 300 years. The current pilgrimage church "Maria Heimsuchung" was consecrated in 1502. With its stately dimensions, it is the most important building of late Gothic architecture in the South Eifel and Moselle valley. At the west end of the northern aisle lies the chapel of grace, dating back to the 15th century and remodeled in 1902, during which Eberhard’s mortal remains were rediscovered. Klausen is left via Trier street heading towards the Pohlbach district. Passing the Pohlbach mill, after about 4 km, Sehlem is reached. In the parish church from 1837, dedicated to Saint George, is the gravestone of Georg von Esch (1532 to 1560). Worth seeing is the lovingly designed shrine of Mary at the church entrance, opposite the village square. The route continues through the village along Kirchstraße to the Klausener Straße intersection. At the intersection, turn left, pass the "Coachman’s Drink," descend downhill, go under the bridge, and take the turn to the "sports ground." Via the paved service/Salmrad path, return to Esch.
The circular hike is not continuously marked; parts of the route are on the Salmrad path and the hiking trails KL2/1 and ES4.
