Exploring the Dutch Mountain Trail: Bocholtz to Vaals

On our third and last day we decided to opt for a shorter section of 15k, starting in Bocholtz where we stopped the day before and walk to the drielandenpunt at Vaals, where The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany meet. After checking out of the hotel we drove to the drielandenpunt and parked our car. We walked down the hill into the centre of Vaals where we took the bus to Bocholtz to start our walk. We had to do the reverse 2k walk from the day before from the bus stop to the start of the route. Where the end of the route the day before had been a bit boring, the start today was quite the opposite, with a lot of vegetation and a path not beaten. It was a different type of landscape then encountered on the previous 2 days. After walking for 2k along the edge of a plateau with a view over the land below we turned towards Orsbach. We met the same couple we saw the day before. The woman told us she was preparing for a hiking vacation later in the summer in Austria and was feeling her legs already from the climbing. The stretch into Orsbach was along a broad, unpaved road. Not interesting from a landscape point of view but we saw some birds of prey sitting on a fence not too far away from the road. After a short section through the village centre the path went along a hollow road with a lot of vegetation and shade. Coming out of the vegetation we could see Vaals in the distance on the slopes of the hill at the other side of the valley. We climbed the Schneeberg after which we came to the outskirts of Aachen into the Vaalserquartier, passed several holes of the Aachen Golf club and then climbed the Vaalserberg to the drielandenpunt again to our parked car. The Vaalserberg is not one of the seven summits, allegedly because it lacks a true mountain feeling. I have to admit that arriving at the top you have more the feeling to have arrived at an attraction park. During our recent stay in De Lutte and Leiden in The Netherlands we had planned to go for some typical Dutch pancakes but somehow we didn’t manage. This time, there was no stopping us. Based on Google reviews we decided to go for the pannekoeken molen in Gulpen nearby. It was not exactly on our route back home but worth the detour. Besides the large amount of choice, they also had gluten free pancakes on offer which my wife took advantage of. This third section of the Dutch Mountain Trail was on par with the first day and an agreeable walk for sure. Over the 3 days we walked some 55k over hilly terrain, very untypical of The Netherlands. At times it looked a lot more like the Ardennes in Belgium. The statement that is quite like walking in the mountains is a bit exaggerated but it serves a good preparation for a hiking vacation in the mountains, or, better still, just as a unique hiking vacation in its own right.