New gravel bike routes in the Wiedtal - nominated for the Rhineland-Palatinate Tourism Award

Gravel, gravel, gravel - this is the ideal surface for all gravel bikers. Supplemented by forest paths, meadow sections, sometimes bumpy farm tracks, side roads with little traffic and asphalt cycle paths. In the Wiedtal, there are now four circular tours for gravel bikes with names such as "Holy Gravel!" or "WiedHeights".

Gravel bikes are the trend in the bike business, with sales figures rising every year. It is an all-terrain racing bike with wide, coarse tires, usually 12-13 gears, no suspension, no motor. It can be used on almost all surfaces. The proportion of root passages or trails is low, there are no installations or structures on the routes. They can therefore also be used by eMountain bikers.

Managing Director Florian Fark from the Touristik-Verband Wiedtal in Waldbreitbach adds: "We have deliberately kept the routes shorter - between 30-50 km. However, they are all positioned in such a way that they can be ideally combined with bike-packing tours in the Rhine-Westerwald Nature Park. And, of course, there is always a fair amount of elevation gain in the low mountain range."

The entire process from idea to completion took just under a year. In addition to finding the route, there were coordination meetings with the local communities, the responsible district foresters from Landesforsten in the Dierdorf forestry office, the Princely Wied Forestry Administration and the hunting tenants in the Rengsdorf-Waldbreitbach hunting association. Insurance issues also had to be clarified. The Westerwald Tourism Service with Managing Director Maja Büttner was also involved, as the topic of gravel also plays a role in the new Westerwald tourism strategy.

The first accommodation partners are already offering bookable packages: Hotel zur Post in Waldbreitbach, Gasthof Paganetti`s in Verscheid and Camping Wiedhof in Waldbreitbach. Bikers in any condition are welcome here, there is a lockable room, cleaning facilities and accessories. A bike service station will follow in Roßbach in the fall.

"Gravel bikers are an exciting target group, as they are also looking for supporting programs and events, prefer regional gastronomy and are active all year round. We won't be re-signposting the routes; the GPX tracks can be found on Outdooractive, Komoot and Stravavia our website www.wiedtal.de," adds Florian Fark.

Just in time for the publication of the routes, the project was immediately nominated for the Rhineland-Palatinate Tourism Award 2025 in the "Innovation of the Year" category.