Wooden Boardwalks in Hohes Venn

Purely geologically, the High Fens is neither part of the Northern Eifel nor the Ardennes, even if both are said again and again. It forms the core of a large, vault-like arch with the oldest layers. Geologists have coined the term “Stavelot massif” for the area.

Large areas of the Fen landscape are formed as raised and fens, which is where the name comes from: Venn, Fenn (Dutch Veen) for moor.

The core of the High Fens area forms a ridge of old schist from the Cambrian and Lower Devonian that runs from southwest to northeast. The first raised bogs formed on the poor, poorly permeable soil 10,000 years ago. These owe their existence partly to the enormous amounts of rainfall. The High Fens consist of low peat, transitional peat and small areas of raised peat. Source and more about the High Fens and Eifel at eifelnatur.de/Niederl%E4ndisch/Seiten/Hoge%20Venen%20inleiding.html