You have a chance to do that here on the Hohe Acht, the highest mountain in the Eifel! If you’re looking for the highest peaks in this region, it is often volcanoes which are top of the list. The Hohe Acht is itself a volcanic cone: Basalt was extruded through a vent in the old mountain remnant and now rises 50 metres above it.

Only the base is left of the old mountain range which once boasted alpine peaks. The mountain range has been subjected to erosion over millions of years, so that the mountains have been levelled, leaving a plateau split up into long ridges.

This means that many of the 'peaks' in the Eifel do not really stand out in the panorama as distinctive individual summits. It is only when we have to climb out of a deep valley to get up onto a ridge that the summit earns the respect it deserves. The Hohe Acht was named 'Hu-ac', meaning 'high peak', by the Celts, because it was one of the few distinctive jagged peaks in the old mountain remnant.

The woodland path on the opposite side of the road takes you to the summit, where there is a lookout tower and  a magnificent panoramic view of the Eifel, with the mountains of the Westerwald and the Hunsrück in the distance.